POUND for POUND

I spent most of 1989 in physical therapy learning to walk again.

Imagine 25 two pound blocks of cheese - 50 pounds,
 along with a few more I already carried 

I gained a pound a week that year - yes about 50 pounds in all - as 'jelly' from sitting around in casts slowly became muscle - the physical therapist promised the muscle is there!

She told me muscle weighs more.

She told me to think about my priorities - did I want to walk or not?

ONE pound

Visualize a pound -
a pound of sugar,
a pound of tomatoes,
a pound of butter...
what do you see as a pound?

3 medium tomatoes = 1 pound

Those pounds have stuck. She promised I could worry about subtracting them later.

I never stopped 'worrying' about subtracting them until I read Isaiah 55:2

"Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness."

two substantial fish fillets
are less than one pound

I wondered,
"what do I delight in?"

 A favorite food is fish,

and I adore blueberries - why buy candy when I can buy berries?

1/2 pound of fresh peas

Or peas?
I am sure I would die
without fresh peas.

1/2 pound of hot dogs

Some things are obviously better for me and others maybe not.

 I love creamsicles - each 4.5 ounces - 4 are only a bit more than a pound

Reading Isaiah was an answer to private prayer and I began to place my attention on eating and doing the things (in the ways) that bring health and accepting my body for all the ways it is wonderful and functional.

1/2 pound cherries - not counting pits!

If pounds can creep on - surely pounds could creep off!

My desire was/is to be more healthy and 'able'.

My mother, after living many years weighing more than she wished, shed most of her excess weight. I asked her what she did.  She said, "I eat less food".  I happen to know she also makes sure to walk as much as she can. She has always eaten healthy food and been as physically active as she could be (although some health problems have interfered at some times).

Several years have passed.
I may have subtracted 10 pounds - maybe ...

Two pounds of cheese - half a pound for each arm and leg ...

A pound or two added or subtracted is not easy to see on a body.

2 pounds of some cereal
goes a long way 

And not all pounds are equal.

This snack WEIGHS
significantly more than the
same snack that is not
saturated in oily garlic!

Some things may seem like treats
but satisfy hunger, or cravings,
with fewer ounces and calories.

An outing to some grocery stores convinced and surprised me.

Five pounds can even be hard to notice -

5.5 pounds of whip topping

unless you are carrying potatoes.

5 lbs of potatoes

My niece pointed out a fun blog about only
one quarter of a pound.

A quarter pound seems impossible to notice until you think of it as a stick of butter - melting off a 1/4 pound at a little bit at a time is not unrealistic.

How many small indulgences -
scorned -
can subtract those unnoticed pounds?

are these really only a couple ounces? 

And which occasional indulgences provide more satisfaction

I am amazed that it takes THREE bags of these to make 2 pounds - so 1 1/2 per pound

for the least or greatest caloric expense?

1 pound bag of potato chips

We all have favorites - what are yours?

I may notice ten pounds I carry. You likely won't.
You may notice ten pounds you carry. I likely won't.

Two, Ten, and Five pound bags of flour

Would we notice 20 pounds?