Hiking Everyday Lose Weight

Welcome to How I Got This Body , our look at some of the amazing things the human body is capable of and the s who put their bodies to the test. Want to share your transformation story? Email ccunningham@washingtonian.com .

What inspired my change: “I decided to hike the entire Appalachian Trail (2, 190 miles from Georgia to Maine) while living in the woods and take 5.5 months off of work to do so. I thought it would be a cool challenge and accomplishment.”

How my body transformed: “I lost 45 pounds. Since my exercise was only walking and climbing mountains and all day with no other strength training, my upper body became weaker, but my legs became much more conditioned to long-distance exercise. My overall health improved by living in nature for 5.5 months and exercising from sun-up to sun-down every day.”

Top 5 Benefits Of Weighted Hiking

My diet plan: “My diet did not do any favors to my body since in consisted of trail food, i.e. Pop-Tarts, Sour Patch Kids, ramen noodles, Knorr rice sides, granola bars, protein bars, cheese, pre-cooked bacon, Snickers bars, Slim Jims, peanut butter, wraps, crackers, sodas, chocolate milk, and lots of water.

How I stuck to my goals: “The thought that if I didn’t finish the trail, everyone I know would think I am a quitter and couldn’t finish this incredibly hard goal that I had set my mind to.”

How I feel now: “I felt good before, but not as confident as I do now. That in part is due to my body transformation, but also in part due to the great sense of pride I have in my accomplishment to finish the entire Appalachian Tail and the obstacles that I had to endure out there.”

How Many Calories Do I Burn Hiking? [calculator]

One piece of advice: “Stop talking about it and do it. The world has two kinds of people: 1) People who watch others achieve dreams/goals and talk about how they want to do it and never do. 2) People who stop making excuses and take the steps

To accomplish their dreams. There is no time like the present. Stop waiting and making excuses and just start doing it now.”This is what hiking 20+ miles a day, for 6 months, will do to your body! In all Sunsets lost 54 pounds and I lost 38. All the while we ate as many calories as we could (especially when in trail towns). And while on the trail, we ate candy bars and pop-tarts and jolly ranchers on a consistent basis. For the first time in our lives, we could in NO WAY fill our bodies with as many calories as we were burning off with hiking all day. And when I say “hiking, ” I mean with 28-30 pound packs on our backs in rough terrain (roots, rocks, boulder climbing, up and down mountains…). With the thru-hike being as hard as it was, being able to eat whatever we wanted was one of the things we looked most forward to in town!

Of course, our goal was not hiking for weight loss, we just wanted to complete a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail. The weight loss and getting fit was an added bonus to our adventure.

How Often Should You Hike For Mental And Physical Benefits?

One time we stayed at a B&B that had it’s own store with trail supply food/items (including frozen pizzas, ice cream, sodas,

That night, a bunch of us went out to dinner and stuffed ourselves silly. On the shuttle ride back to the B&B, which took about all of 10 minutes, everyone was quite for a while. Then someone said “is anyone else dreaming of a pint of Ben & Jerry’s?” And we ALL were thinking the same thing!! We proceeded to get back to the B&B, went in the store, and everyone got a pint of Ben & Jerry’s, EACH — and we all ate our whole pints. It was crazy how we could eat, get really full, and then an hour (or less) later – be hungry again.

Of course, now the hard part is keeping they weight off without having to strenuously hike 20 miles a day. We are keeping active (hiking or walking 4-6 miles a day) and will be incorporating weight-lifting soon.  Trying to eat less calories and a more healthy diet has been quite challenging, but finally we feel our “hiker hunger” dissipating. Now, to get rid of the soreness in our knees and feet…

Common Myths About Hiking For Weight Loss — Miss Adventure Pants

 is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, as well as other affiliate programs. These affiliate advertising programs are designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to applicable products.I’ve missed writing my blog, so as I finalize my plans to go back to the AT and hike the NJ/NY section in the next few weeks, I thought I’d publish a couple short post-hike reflection and realizations thoughts to keep me busy. First up … physical transformation.

Going into the hike, I read many first-hand accounts of hikers losing significant weight while on the Appalachian Trail. I even discussed my expectations early on in this meal planning post. Using the science and math outlined there, I expected to lose weight, and in the comments conversation with my friend Jeff, I had hoped to keep my total weight loss at 10-15 pounds … spoiler alert, wrong again.

The Process:  On average, it is expected that male thruhikers can lose up to 20% of their body mass by the time they finish. Although a thruhike is not a good weight-loss strategy, the science doesn’t lie. Because men tend to carry excess bodyweight in their torso, and a thruhike is basically just 150 “leg days” in a row … the upper body withers away while your lower body becomes a lean muscular machine. Women tend to carry more weight in their lower body on average, so this statistic is different for female thruhikers, most of which actually end up gaining weight. I’m not a dietician nor physical trainer, but in chatting on the trail, many women I hiked with validated this fact being true for them.

How Thru Hiking The At Affected My Body Image

The Result:   Although I tried to plan for minimal weight loss, I knew it was coming and therefore “let myself go” a bit in the 6 months prior to my departure. When I took the before pictures above on February 28, I weighed 189 pounds. I never did a BMI measurement, but I expect it was disgustingly high at that point. Then it was hike hike hike hike. When I returned home and stepped back on the scale on July 24th, I weighed 153 pounds.  Whoa. After 145 days hiking the Appalachian Trail, I lost 36 pounds (or 19% of my entire body mass). Looking at the after pics, I am all muscle, skin, and bones. Can a BMI measurement go negative? I think mine would be.

Side note, I kept tabs in my blog posts throughout the hike, and recall most of the weight understandably coming off in the first half of the trip. By the time I reached the middle of Virginia, I lost 15 pounds and my waist size dropped from a 33 to a 30 (forcing me to buy a new backpack).

The Aftermath : It is generally understood that the weight lost on a hike comes back twice as fast. Unfortunately for me, my “hiker hunger’ only hit in the last couple weeks of the hike and it is painfully obvious now. Even without hiking at all, I am insatiably hungry.  ALL THE TIME!  I am trying to maintain a healthy diet and exercise regiment, but my 5-day drive across America did not help with this goal (oddly, there are no fast food salad restaurants along I-40). Now that I am stationed comfortably in the DC metro area, I am running a few times a week and desperately trying to hold off my desire to eat constantly. It’s nice to at least have healthy snack options now though (mmm, fresh produce…).

Walking: Does It Help You Lose Weight?

The Conclusion:  Looking at the “before” photo now disgusts me, as its the most I’ve ever weighed by far. Since college, I typically work out 3-4 times a week and weigh between 170-175 pounds. But knowing the hike was coming, I subconsciously decided to not care and let my fat reserves store up like a hibernating bear or an OCD chipmunk. #winteriscoming.  However, at 153 pounds, the after is also too skinny. This is unhealthy and unrealistic for me. Plus, none of my clothes fit! Seriously, future thruhikers should plan post-hike budgets for new clothes.

In retrospect, I had planned/hoped to not lose too much weight, but it was inevitable. And now I realize the hike provided a nice “reset” of my body, giving me the opportunity to get back to a more comfortable shape. I’ve always believed in a healthy lifestyle and diet, but damnit if I don’t still want pizza, burgers, and beer every single day. Sort of tough to justify a high-calorie diet when you sit on a couch all day catching up on all the Netflix shows you missed.