Putting Your Weight Into Perspective
Sometimes we don’t realize how much extra weight we’re carrying around until we put it into perspective and understand it by looking at it a little differently.
What does that mean? Let me explain.
When we gain weight, we do it a little at a time, ounce by ounce. So it sneaks up on us a little bit at a time, and before we know it, ounces turn into pounds and our clothes sizes start increasing.
Sometimes we might see ourselves in the mirror or in a photo and see that we’ve gained weight, but it’s easy to shrug it off and just keep moving on.
When we carry extra weight on our bodies, we don’t necessarily comprehend how much weight it really is until one of two things takes place.
First, when we lose the weight we start to grasp how much extra we were carrying around as extra baggage. We “feel” how much weight we lost after it’s gone.
But how about before we lose it? How can we better understand how much extra weight we’re hauling around before we actually get motivated enough to start on our weight loss adventure?
Sometimes understanding it better will actually spur us on to get our butts in gear and do something about our weight. So let’s take a look at some stuff here that might just do that.
Let’s use some common everyday items to help us see how much excess weight we’re carrying around.
How about a gallon of milk? We all recognize something like this. We go to the store and buy a gallon of milk. We carry it out and take it home, No big deal, right?
It might not seem like a big deal to grab that milk and put it into the shopping cart. But how about if you had to carry that gallon of milk for more than just a minute?
Carry that gallon of milk for 3 or 4 minutes and your arm will start getting tired. No doubt about it. I think we can all agree on that fact.
How much does that gallon of milk weigh? 8 lbs, roughly. So if we’re 8 lbs. overweight, we’re carrying a gallon of milk around with us 24/7.
When we climb the stairs, we’re carrying that gallon of milk. When we get up in the morning, we’re carrying that gallon of milk. When we carry our children, we’re also carrying that gallon of milk.
So what happens if we’re 20 lbs. overweight?
That would be 2 1/2 gallons of milk! So now you’re walking around with a gallon of milk in each hand and a half gallon in a backpack.
Again, if we only have to pick this up and put it in a shopping cart, it doesn’t seem to be such a big deal. But when we’re lugging it around every minute of every day, it becomes a big deal in a hurry.
Now, we’re increasing the weight on our joints, increasing the stress on our heart and making our lungs work harder than they should be, with out ever increasing our physical activity.
Now let’s look at being 40 lbs. overweight.
Have you ever picked up one of those 5 gallon buckets that was full, or close to full of water? Pretty hefty, aren’t they? Not something you’d want to have to walk a mile or two while carrying. Heck, it would be tough to carry that up a full flight of stairs, never mind walking a mile or two with it.
But if we are 40 lbs. overweight, we are carrying one of those buckets, full of water, every minute of every day, with every move that we make.
Our knees, ankles, heart and lungs are bearing that burden every time we move around.
Hmmm… are you starting to get the picture now? Seeing extra weight compared to common, everyday items definitely helps us better understand how much extra we’re trudging around with, doesn’t it?
So if our knees are hurting or our ankles are aching and swollen, now we can understand why. To pick up a heavy bucket and carry it a short distance isn’t a big deal. But when we force our bodies to carry this extra burden day after day, month after month or year after year, it’s easy to see how it can take a toll on us.
So today is the best time to start doing something about this, before more time goes by. Maybe you’ve been overweight for a long time and you don’t think losing weight now will help. But it’s never too late to start!
The longer we put it off, the more damage we do to our bodies. And if we’re not careful, some of that damage can be hard to repair.
So take a few minutes and check out my extremely simple system for losing weight. Click Here
There are absolutely no gimmicks, no diet pills, no crazy exercise programs, no expensive equipment needed and no special meals to buy. It’s all straight forward and easy to understand.
And I hope it helps transform your life. It did for me!
Keeping it lean,
Curt
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