I couldn’t believe my eyes. I got off the scale and on it again. The reading was the same.

It’s been months since I’ve been to the gym. I knew I’d gained weight, but this was ten more pounds than I expected. Sheesh!

I mounted the cross-trainer and got to work. Thirty minutes went by at a snail’s pace. I panted and tried not to stare at the slim, fit people around me. While I passed the time, I made a mental list of all the foods I would have to give up eating forever. Losing this weight was going to take a lot of time and persistence.

When the half hour was up, the machine congratulated me for burning 350 calories. Hmm. Only 34,650 more to go. And that’s just the first ten pounds. I sat down for a while to catch my breath then wandered into the room with the weights and another scale.

“Oh, what the heck,” I thought holding a glimmer of hope that this scale would deliver better news.

I couldn’t believe my eyes. I got off the scale and back on again. I weighed ten pounds less than I did on the previous scale. I wanted to kiss my new friend. Before I let myself get carried away, I went to the front desk and talked to the woman who had checked me in. “I just weighed myself on both scales and…”

“Don’t trust the one in the other room. It’s really off. I keep telling the manager it needs to be recalibrated.”

“Really?” My whole body lightened.

“Really.”

“This one, in this room, is accurate?”

“That’s right.”

Wow. I lost ten pounds in thirty minutes. 35,000 calories gone. Poof!

I picked up a pair of five pound dumbbells and pumped iron like I was Jillian Michaels–for a whole ten minutes. Because I could.

Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. -John 1:16

Credits:
Scary Scale [explored] by Chelsea Panos. Used with permission.
Dumbells by Garen Meguerian. Used with permission.

© Esther Hizsa, An Everyday Pilgrim 2014
Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without permission from Esther Hizsa is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used provided there is a link to the original content and credit is given as follows: © Esther Hizsa, An Everyday Pilgrim 2013, 2014  http://www.estherhizsa.wordpress.com.