I eliminated 11 pounds on vacation. Most people gain weight after a trip. That is an amazing number that I would have never accomplished… until now. During the rest of June, I plan to apply the things I learned on the trail about myself and weight loss. I did a lot of the right things to lose weight and didn’t do things that could have helped me lose more than 11 pounds. There are many contrasts after reviewing the events of my trip and comparing it to my everyday life.
My activity was consistent throughout the day. We averaged about five miles a day of hiking a day with forty pounds on our backs. The amount of calories I consumed was reduced to around 2000 calories a day. My food consumption was even for most of the day. My food didn’t stay in my body long enough to be converted into stored energy. Despite eating energy bars and freeze-dried food, my diet ended up healthier and better balanced than my diet at home. All I drank was water because I was afraid a bear would sniff around my Gatorade tainted Nalgene bottle. Based on a calorie burned calculator, backpacking for four hours burned all the calories I consumed for the day.
Home is very different. I eat more on an average day. My diet isn’t as healthy as it was on vacation. I’m consuming much more empty calories (more calories, low nutritional content). My exercise is limited to about an hour a day. The rest of the day is behind a desk or a cash register. Our lifestyles lead to sedintary lives and it’s time to adjust it.
While on the trail, I prepared a menu and rationed my calories. Each morning, I would decide what I am going to eat for day and limited to 2000 a day. Each day in our lives is pretty consistent and it’s possible to accomplish this each day. Our eating plan becomes automatic. The menu I create everyday needs to reflect variations in my mood and environment I am in. It has to be flexible. I have to be flexible. For example, it’s okay to eat at McDonald’s as long as I don’t order an entire meal and it stays within my menu plan. I can either order a large fries or a McDouble. I can’t have both.
At the beginning of our road trip to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, we purchased a box of delicious donuts for the trip. We ate at a great barbecue joint called Bennett’s before we headed back home. I ordered the pulled pork, cornbread, potato salad, and fried okra. It’s okay to splurge here and there as long as we stay on task on other days. I can still eat a delicious meal and drink a quality beer. It needs to be accounted for in my plan. Our problem is that we splurge too often. Besides, who can stick to a boring and unsatisfying diet? I sure can’t.
I ate or kept busy while we hiked. Constant eating kept me satisfied and when we were at the barbecue joint, I wasn’t ready to consume an entire cow or pig. I was surprised but I was glad it happened. I didn’t feel sick after I was done with my meal and savored each bite slowly.
I need to increase my activity. Simply going to the gym or riding recreationally won’t cut it. I have to find ways to increase my activity. For me, it has to be purpose driven activity. Over the next two months, I will be experiementing with commuting on my bike. This will be a hard transition as commuting on bike is counter to American suburban culture.
One things I failed to do while hiking was staying hydrated. I had difficulty keeping hydrated during the first few days of our trip. I found that I drank less water out of a water reservoir in my backpack than if I filled two one liter Nalgene bottles. I stayed hydrated on the last two days of our trip. I had more energy and I could have lost more weight. Many books and online articles found that water increase the body’s metabolism, acts as an appetite suppressant, and it keeps everything in our body functioning normally.
By adapting what I learned on the trail, I’ll be able to eliminate more unhealthy weight. It’s going to be a steady process of eliminating bad habits and picking good ones. It will also be a lifestyle change that will shake the bedrock of suburban culture. My weight loss at home won’t be as dramatic as it was on my hiking trip. I like being the tortoise. Slow and steady wins the race. I’ll be in the best shape of my life for my August half marathon.
Thanks for the useful info. It’s so interesting