I Have a Dream

I am what is affectionately referred to as an "armchair hiker." This is not to say that I don't hike, because I most assuredly do, but my hikes are mostly confined to woefully inept trails since I unfortunately live in one of the flattest and least topographically diverse states in the nation. So while I truly adore the day hikes that my husband and I partake in, my hiker's heart longs for oh so much more.

My "armchair" status was actually earned due to my obsession with anything and everything related to the Appalachian Trail, a 2175 mile continuous footpath running from Georgia to Maine. Ever since I first started hiking about five years ago, I have been consumed by the dream of thru-hiking this particular trail. For those who are unfamiliar with the term, thru-hiking is the process of hiking a long-distance trail from end to end, which can also be referred to as "end-to-end hiking" or "end-to-ending." In order for a person to thru-hike all 2000+ miles of The A.T., one must be willing to take an extended break from regular life, carry a backpack weighing approximately 40-60 pounds and live in the wilderness for five to seven months. Sounds sublime, doesn't it? Believe it or not, it does to me.

This dream, alas, will have to wait as taking five to seven months off from his job isn't even a remote possibility for my husband and I am unwilling to go without him. No, thru-hiking The A.T. will have to wait for at least another 20 years when we're properly retired and any future kids are out of the house. Unfortunately sometimes your dreams have to take a backseat to real life.

However, the closer I get to reaching my goal weight, the more I think about the Appalachian Trail and with every pound that I drop, my desire to hit the trail burns ever brighter. I think it's because up until recently, I thought it was all just a pipe dream. Oh sure, I talked a big game. "I'm gonna thru-hike The A.T. blah, blah, blah. I can do anything I set my mind to yadda, yadda, yadda." I'm a logical person, so it's safe to say I knew hiking from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mt. Katahdin in Maine at 320 pounds was a ridiculous notion. However, what I didn't disclose to people when discussing my A.T. aspirations was that before I stepped one foot on that trail, I was going to lose 175 pounds. Think about that. What some people see as an impossible journey, hiking 2175 miles consecutively, is contingent on the completion of yet another perceivably impossible journey, losing the equivalent of the average man. You can see why even I didn't believe I would ever thru-hike The A.T. However, now that I've managed to lose over 100 pounds, I'm beginning to believe I can and will complete both journeys in due course and thus, my A.T. obsession grows stronger by the day.

While I'm still unwilling to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail until my husband is able to join me, I've been giving serious thought to doing a section hike on the trail next spring. By that time I should be at or near my goal weight and I can think of no better way to cap off my weight loss journey than to get just a teensy taste (no pun intended) of my next lofty dream.

In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.

~John Muir

Complacency Is Not Our Friend

com·pla·cen·cy [kuhm-pley-suhn-see]

–noun,plural-cies.

1.

a feeling of quiet pleasure or security, often while unaware of some potential danger, defect, or the like; self-satisfaction or smug satisfaction with an existing situation, condition, etc.

I can't help but notice that a lot of my weight loss buddies seem to struggling with their journeys as of late and I must confess that until just recently, I could've been counted among the ranks of the floundering. I wasn't off program per se, but in my heart of hearts I knew that I wasn't giving my goals and dreams the honest effort they truly deserve. Ultimately, I had gotten too secure in the belief that if I do A and B then C will naturally result, despite the fact that the equation had drastically changed over the past year. You know that saying "If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten"? Well, I'm thinking Mr. Robbins shouldn't speak in absolutes because in the world of weight loss, this isn't necessarily the case.

In truth, trying to lose weight as a 320 pound woman is a completely different process than trying to lose weight at 220 pounds. My weight loss has drastically slowed since the beginning of 2010 and I blame it almost entirely on the fact that the first seven months of my weight loss journey conditioned me to believe that if I (A) eat a Moonpie even if I don't have the points and (B) skip my daily workout then (C) I'll still lose 2.4 pounds that week. However, take into consideration that there's over 100 pounds less of me and this equation no longer adds up. Introduce an additional 300 calories into my day and ensure that I burn 600 calories less by skipping the elliptical and, Houston, we have a problem.

I'd been so smugly satisfied with my initial results that I never recognized the potential negative effect my complacency would have on my weight loss efforts as I grew smaller. I've learned the hard way that once you've lost a significant amount of weight, you must completely overhaul your program because having a lower body mass index also means you have a much lower basal metabolic rate. You can't be nearly as lax as you were in the beginning and sadly, constantly bending the rules just isn't an option anymore. The change in your BMR is precisely why WW lowers your daily points allowance as you lose weight. Add additional exercise and less rule bending to your lower calorie intake and voila(!), you may just be able to maintain the same rate of weight loss that you so enjoyed at the beginning of your journey.

Here's the good news. After what I perceived to be an "undeserved gain" on Tuesday and an all-out Chinese food gorge-fest on the same day (methinks the two may be related....), I've been 100% OP and my attitude has been adjusted. I recognize how silly it was for me to believe that I could continue to act as though I still weighed 320 pounds and I'm now aware that my approach to weight loss (not just my daily points allowance) will constantly need to be refined in order to compensate for my diminishing BMR. A simple regimen tweak, such as adding a new exercise or using less weekly points, every so often ought to do the trick and acknowledging this fact has truly reignited my fire.

Sorry, folks, but it would seem that there's just no room for complacency on this proverbial wagon.

With the Best of Intentions

So it turns out I'm not the world's most dedicated blogger and given my propensity for procrastination, I'm not exactly shocked by this revelation. In any case, I've recently decided that I'm going to try my best to post one blog per month, which I seriously don't believe is asking too much of me.

Be sure to watch for an exciting new installment on my weight loss journey later on this week. Or possibly just new, because depending on my mood I'm not too sure how exciting it will be.