The day I realised

This is what 25.5kg of corn, spaghetti, baked beans & tuna looks like

One of the awesome QLD Crew members, Ingrid, organised an event today, where we had the opportunity to donate goods to charity.  The idea was that we donate goods to the weight value of kg's that we've lost.  It was called "Our Loss, Their Gain."

It sounded like a lovely idea and I was keen to be involved.  Helping charities out, especially at Christmas, and thinking of the disadvantaged people who would get comfort out of these goods: win/win.

It was actually our gain

I soon realised that 25.5kg in food/drink is quite an expensive little venture!  I considered donating Diet Coke - how cool would that be for me :)  But 68 cans is expensive and there's more healthy things I can donate ;)  Instead, I emptied out my pantry of all of the tins of stuff that I have had stocked up but tend not to use.  I made up the rest of the tins at the shops - I think the check out lady thinks I have a baked beans addiction!

It was heavy!

All good, I put the cans together, and as I stacked them up...it hit me.  I started to get overwhelmed.  This used to be inside of me.  It was really heavy!  Like really heavy!  I used to carry this around every day!  Have you ever bought this many cans at the supermarket?  It wasn't until I did this, that I realised what 25.5kg was.  I know I've lost weight and I have seen some benefits - clothes are looser, I've tightened my HRM strap, that kind of thing.  But doing this exercise was epic!  I was actually proud of myself for the first time.  When you have a long way to go, like me (ie. a lot of kg's to lose), it can be easy to get caught up and not see the little picture.  I see the big picture all the time.  It's actually the little picture that I haven't seen yet.

The little picture is 25.5kg.  25.5kg that is gone from my body.  Fat that has disappeared from me, never to return.  I didn't realise this would be such a moment of truth.  I was just a chick donating some stuff to charity!  I believe I got just as much out of it.  I lined the cans up and took the photo above and got emotional.  I carried the cans to the car this morning, almost breaking my poor fingers!  Thank goodness that weight didn't all come from my hands hahaa!

Trailer full of donated 'weight': 216kg

We all gathered the goods up this morning and I realised that I wasn't the only one who felt overwhelmed.  The beautiful Rina and I threw our bags of stuff onto the ground, AKA The Biggest Loser style, representative of the fact that the weight is donated...for good.  Throwing it to the ground was amazing - it was such a special moment - kind of like a promise to myself.

All up we donated over 200kg - from a small group of amazing people, this was a fantastic effort.  I recommend doing this yourselves.  Even if it's just for yourself, at home, weigh things around your house and see and feel how far you have come.  Whether it's 2kg, 20kg or 50kg.

This was the day I realised how far I have come (so far).  I told Ingrid that this event for me is no longer called "Our Loss, Their Gain."

"Our Loss, Their Gain."

"Our Gain, Their Gain."

:) 

Rina and I throwing away our weight for good!  This is a real donation!