Maggie's Farm

Is exercise useless for weight loss? If you believe that than you are doing the wrong exercise. I assume that 90% of people today consider "exercise" as going to the gym and doing a class, lifting weights are working on one of the machines for 50 minutes more or less. Now consider hiking 15 miles a day for a week or a month. No comparison. I can guarantee that if you are overweight even grossly overweight that if you spend your entire summer hiking that by the end of that time your weight will be in the normal range. Average 15 miles a day and can only eat what you carry (replenish your carried food about each 7 days) and you will lose weight. Hiking the entire Pacific Crest Trail, 2650 miles long, and when you have completed it you will be at your best weight for your height and age. Simple as that.

I have exercised all my life beginning before I was a teen until today at age 80. I have played sports, lifted weights, jogged, hiked, etc. During that entire time I chose what my weight would be and maintained it. Ten years ago I chose to go from 230 lbs to 200 simply because I was no longer lifting heavy weight and maintaining muscle mass. I did this entirely by simply reducing meal size for a couple of months. However, when I was hiking a lot I struggled to maintain that weight and muscle mass. I would creep down from 230 lbs to 215 and still eating 4000 calories a day.

So you have to make a decision on weight and then take the steps to support that decision. Diet (whatever diet works for you) will do it but exercise helps. I weigh every morning and I use that to help me decide what to eat that day. I don't pay too much attention to a small gain or loss but rather to a trend. As long as I'm below 200, no worries. If I go above 200 I eat less and if the next day doesn't see me back below 200 I go into a reduced food consumption. I eat whatever I want to eat but if my goal is to lose a pound or more I simply eat less of it.