Hiking

[JAVO]

Get lost for a week or two in the wilderness without any food. With only worms, bugs, and unfamiliar, potentially poisonous plants to eat, it's easy to drop pounds. I drop at least 3-5 pounds just by spending a day hiking, and that's while munching on store-bought food, and eating a good breakfast and dinner at home.

 

[Ivy]

Get lost for a week or two in the wilderness without any food. With only worms, bugs, and unfamiliar, potentially poisonous plants to eat, it's easy to drop pounds. I drop at least 3-5 pounds just by spending a day hiking, and that's while munching on store-bought food, and eating a good breakfast and dinner at home.

Don't you think that's mostly water loss? I don't think you're losing 3-5 pounds of fat in a day of hiking. However, it is good exercise and soul-enriching and all that. I hiking.

Also, Wolf says he's not doing this blog because he wants to lose weight.

 

[JAVO]

Don't you think that's mostly water loss? I don't think you're losing 3-5 pounds of fat in a day of hiking. However, it is good exercise and soul-enriching and all that. I hiking.

I stay well hydrated. (It's no fun getting a bad headache due to mild dehydration.) I weigh myself 1-2 days after the hike. Some of the loss I attribute to increased metabolism which I attribute partially to slightly increased leg muscle mass. I'm usually pushing pretty hard in hilly terrain averaging about a 20-25 minute mile, including short breaks and getting stuck on a narrow trail behind slow pokes who fall down in vicarious exhaustion when I tell them how far I've already hiked.

Also, Wolf says he's not doing this blog because he wants to lose weight.

I didn't actually read the first few pages yet. Details, details.

 

[Ivy]

I don't think I could keep up with you!

(Posts above split out of Wolf's Diet Blog.)

 

[Totenkindly]

Get lost for a week or two in the wilderness without any food. With only worms, bugs, and unfamiliar, potentially poisonous plants to eat, it's easy to drop pounds.

Now you sound like a stand-in for "Man Vs. Wild"!

Hiking is great. I set a mean pace too -- I rarely stop in mid-climb, and I like to scale ridges. I just walk up and up and quickly fall into a groove (although it takes a minute or two for my breathing to stabilize), so it's very good exercise that way... plus the views are gorgeous, depending.

 

[curmudgeon]

I love hiking, too. Preferably up steep inclines over large rocks and roots.

I haven't been climbing the last two summers, but this year I am. When I met my spouse, we climbed nearly every weekend for 6 months. I lost almost 50 pounds and was in fantastic shape.

Whenever we do through hikes I lose my appetite. Spike in cortisol, I guess. Wo cares. Aside from having to put on yesterday's wet clothes the next morning and fighting off mosquitoes, deep in the woods is my favorite place to be.

 

[MacGuffin]

No one loses 3-5 pounds in a single day just by hiking. You would be jeopardizing your health doing that in a week.

 

[darlets]

No one loses 3-5 pounds in a single day just by hiking. You would be jeopardizing your health doing that in a week.

It's not actually possible I don't think. Well not to lose that much fat. You body can start to break down muscle if it needs more energy quickly but yeah, it's not healthy. Your body can only convert fat to energy so fast and it will start on the muscle as well if required

I find hiking across rugged terrain quite relaxing because you have to be in the moment. You're concerntrating on wher eyou're puttin gyour feet and climbing through and over stuff, it's great.

 

[niffer]

Ah..I love hiking. B.C.'s pine forests are perfect for it. I've never hiked alone before, though. Nature's beauty is often amplified when one is alone. I can also imagine it must be very refreshing to be able to think without interruptions when you're alone deep in a forest.

 

[Geoff]

Nature's beauty is often amplified when one is alone. I can also imagine it must be very refreshing to be able to think without interruptions when you're alone deep in a forest.

What she said.

 

[JAVO]

Now you sound like a stand-in for "Man Vs. Wild"!

No one loses 3-5 pounds in a single day just by hiking. You would be jeopardizing your health doing that in a week.

It's not actually possible I don't think. Well not to lose that much fat. You body can start to break down muscle if it needs more energy quickly but yeah, it's not healthy. Your body can only convert fat to energy so fast and it will start on the muscle as well if required

I don't lose it all in one day. A 3-5 pound loss is what I see as a result of one day of hiking, measured a few days later (whenever I happen to step on the scales again). I'm walking fast enough to exceed my minimum target heart rate, and the terrain helps build some leg muscle mass. I attribute it to the increased metabolism and slightly decreased appetite resulting from the prolonged aerobic and bursts of anaerobic exercise (hill climbs). I feel fine the whole time, and eat as much as I need to, including during the hike. (Well, light snacking during the hike anyway.) If I didn't have extra pounds already I would be concerned, but then I probably wouldn't be losing this much either.

 

[JAVO]

You'll have a blast on this hike...

 

[niffer]

Were they designed to look like feces on purpose?

 

[JAVO]

Were they designed to look like feces on purpose?

Yes. That's so people will be more likely to avoid stepping on them.

And if they do step on one, well, refer to your blog title.

 

[quietgirl]

I love hiking and I also climb a bit. I spent a summer in CO so I could hike a few 14'ers and I'm planning on completing a thru hike of the Appalachain Trail or Pacific Crest at some point in my lifetime.

What do you like particularly about hiking? I have a feeling this will differ from type to type...

 

[JAVO]

Cool that you climb some! I have been thinking a little bit about getting started in that. Right now, I'm just happy to find time to hike though.

For me, hiking involves so much of my thoughts and interests and even my emotions that I get lost in it like a good movie. Some teenagers in unhappy homes turn to drugs to escape, but I turned to nature instead. I now work indoors and sit at a computer all day, so it's still an excellent escape from the daily grind. I'm also very interested in both landscape photography and wilderness survival, and hiking is a perfect complement to these interests.

Sometimes, I take a very introverted intuitive approach to hiking--just wandering down a trail thinking. Other times, I take an adventurous extraverted sensing approach--plotting a course off trail to explore an area which looks interesting on the topo map and running down slopes like a crazy man, or Bear Grylls.

 

[quietgirl]

Cool that you climb some! I have been thinking a little bit about getting started in that. Right now, I'm just happy to find time to hike though.

For me, hiking involves so much of my thoughts and interests and even my emotions that I get lost in it like a good movie. Some teenagers in unhappy homes turn to drugs to escape, but I turned to nature instead. I now work indoors and sit at a computer all day, so it's still an excellent escape from the daily grind. I'm also very interested in both landscape photography and wilderness survival, and hiking is a perfect complement to these interests.

Sometimes, I take a very introverted intuitive approach to hiking--just wandering down a trail thinking. Other times, I take an adventurous extraverted sensing approach--plotting a course off trail to explore an area which looks interesting on the topo map and running down slopes like a crazy man, or Bear Grylls.

Ahh, climbing's fun! I originally started because I wanted to learn basic climbing skills so I could see more places &/or see the same place from a different perspective. It gave a few tried and true trails a whole new twist. Now I'm hooked! I've considered taking a Mountaineering class to see if that would be something I am interested in...

I completely understand how you turned to nature from an unhappy home. That's actually very similar to my initial motivation. My father & I have never gotten along well, but hiking was the only way we could connect. He got me started at a very young age, as he is an avid hiker. Once I was old enough to drive, I started driving to trails myself when things got really difficult at home. I started thinking of the mountains as symbolic of my problems - and if I could get to the top, then I could conquer them. It may sound silly, but it really did help me put my problems into perspective. I also liked that for a few hours, there was nothing else I was supposed to be doing but thinking without interruptions.

As for distance hiking, I do it partly for the peacefulness I feel in the woods & the time I have to think. But I also do it for the accomplishment - I set a goal (to finish) and I am constantly working towards it.

 

[spirilis]

I don't hike much these days but I did a few years ago. For me the act of rising above the mountains is somewhat symbolic to me "conquering that which always seems above me", and I've always had a respectful fascination with mountains.

But there is something more about hiking a mountain alone--I find a strange spiritual connection that is triggered by sensory input, notably when a cool mountain breeze passes through with the associated whistling sounds. I love laying on an overlook rock and listening to the breeze, while observing the majestic rugged landscape around me... there is just something about that *moment* that I crave.

 

[cascadeco]

I just got back from a trip to So. Cal. where I did some hiking. One day my friend and I did a 6.5 mile hike at Point Maguo State Park, and then on Sat./Sun. we drove out to Joshua Tree Natl Park and camped for two nights there, and did some short hikes.

Back home now. ***SIGH*** Being away and being out in nature makes me really question my routine life at home. Existential crisis right now. ;-)

But anyway....hiking is pure joy for me. I really don't think there are words for it. I am completely at peace, completely happy, completely at one with the world around me, and completely in the moment, just existing and being alive right then and there. I don't think it's the 'challenge' of it, and I don't think there's any goal-oriented nature about it....I just like being out, and being active, and seeing as much as possible. However, I DO enjoy doing long hikes because I like working my body, and I like the feeling you get when you've been laboring and really wear your body out.

I guess I like to wander. For example, when camping, I wandered off for an hour or so into the desert, just taking photos of the birds I came across, and a wonderful little jackrabbit that actually didn't get scared off by my presence!

And we did a fair amount of bouldering too, because Joshua Tree is full of giant rock piles, so we'd climb up them to look at the stars, or to have an elevated picnic lunch.

Sigh. Hiking is great.

 

[JAVO]

Good to hear about your trip, and that you had such a good time! I know what you mean about the existential crisis upon returning! :sad: