Every Pound Makes a Difference!

As much as I LOVE camping and now a love for running and hiking and have become somewhat of a gym rat, one thing I'd never done until this past weekend was gone backpacking.

This is one of those things that I've always been curious about as it's one of my husband's loves in life. It's something he's grown up doing and continues to do with friends, but it's not something I've ever done with him probably for a couple reasons. 

1. People who backpack are skinny and in shape. (I've never experienced that until now.)

2. It's hard work.

3. When you're body is unhealthy, you're unmotivated to do such things. (I was never motivated for that type of excursion until now.)

For this particular trip we ended up going to a lake my husband had never been to before. It was a 1.7 mile hike in, so he thought it would be perfect for a first time backpacking experience. (Getting used to the balancing of the pack as well as hiking.)  He was aware that we were going to have an elevation gain of about 1500 feet in that short 1.7 miles but with how active I've become we hadn't given it a second thought as far as it being any problem. I must say it's a different experience hiking with a 26 pound pack on your back. Between that, my feet still not 100% from my surgery last year and the fact that we were going straight up the mountain, things got a little tough. 

Several times as we were hiking along I thought to myself..."this is only 26 measly pounds, come on. I should be used to 133 pounds to be exact!" The crazy thing is it sure felt like 133 pounds. It was hard to walk up the steep rocky trail, huffing and puffing along. I was tired, sweating (and I usually don't sweat easily), and feeling like I was taking a rest stop every 10 feet. The thought kept coming to me..."How did I ever do this? How did I ever walk around like this?" I couldn't fathom such a thing. I mean here I was, barely moving as it is, and I was 133 pounds lighter carrying only a 26 pound hiking pack and I was moving at a turtles pace.

What joy it gave me to reflect again on where I've come from and what my body can do now. It was a reminder to me that every pound counts! Even if you don't think you're losing the weight very fast but you're at least losing, you're headed in the right direction. Miracles don't happen overnight, remember. We have to work for them. In some ways I'd love to have my husband next time fill my pack with 133 pounds and let me take that for a hike and see how I do. Humbling I'm sure. The thought of what life was like for me then seems very sad, especially after carrying only 26 pounds around for a couple days when in all reality I should be used to carrying around a whole lot more.

Regardless of where you're at in your journey, one thing is for sure.....every pound makes a difference!