Hikers with 100+ lbs to lose?
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HuskyHiker413
Posts: 78 Member
I'm looking for hiking friends with a good amount of weight to lose... Feel free to add me!
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I can't relate to the 100+ lbs. to lose, but this thread isn't getting other responses, so I figured I might add to it.
Personally, even when needing to lose 50 lbs., I didn't let that stop me from hiking. Though I was aware that I could do so much more if I didn't have the extra weight to carry around. I was more active hiking than most people I know who are not as far overweight. So definitely don't let it stop you. Just do the right things - carry the 10 essentials, be prepared, etc. I'm assuming you know about all of that.
Fat shaming is something else I remember experiencing as an overlap with being active in the outdoors. I remember I had commented once on an article about some hikers who encountered trouble, pointing out a specific tactical error that they had made in the wilderness. My pic was a part of my profile on the news site and someone made a comment about how I probably have only hiked from the car to the donut shop and the person addressed me as "fatty." I know I shouldn't care what internet bullies think, but that stung. Clearly the guy had nothing constructive to add... he probably runs on sidewalks and never needs to worry about rising water blocking his exit path... because bridges. So instead of acknowledging my point about wilderness survival, he attacked me for my weight and implied that a heavier guy can't possibly have experience hiking. *Sigh. I'm sure you have probably heard similar things.
Anyway, if you are looking for hiking partners, try joining Meetup.com and/or the Sierra Club. Good luck on your journey.0 -
Hi! I am new to hiking within the last year. I need to lose anywhere from 50-100 pounds, depending on how "motivated" I am. Truthfully, I don't care much what the number on the scale says as long as I can do the things I want to do. And the more I hike, the more I want to hike, so I want to lose some weight in order to have more abilities, do harder trails. Hope you don't mind if I add you as a mfp friend and we can keep each other focused on our goals.0
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midwesterner85 wrote: »
Personally, even when needing to lose 50 lbs., I didn't let that stop me from hiking. Though I was aware that I could do so much more if I didn't have the extra weight to carry around. I was more active hiking than most people I know who are not as far overweight.
Congratulations, this is excellent advice. I have hiked hundreds of miles of the Appalachian Trail while 75 pounds or so overweight. Now that I'm facing New England, I'm losing weight because I won't get through otherwise. But I'm walking to get in shape, not getting in shape to walk at some future date.
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I love to hike. In fact, not being able to hike the trails that I wanted to motivated me to lose 100 lbs. I still need to lose another 50lbs, but it is certainly easier not carrying around the extra weight.
“There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but Nature more”
― George Gordon Byron0 -
@HuskyHiker413 Sent you a friend request. I have 100+ to lose yet, but I'm at a weight now that I used to backpack 12-14 miles a day. A neuromuscular disease hit me pretty hard a few years ago, but I'm on the road of recovery with that. I'm able to walk a mile or so now, longer with hiking poles and a rest built in there. Long ways from 14 miles a day, but also a long ways from bedridden!
@midwesterner85 your comment on fat-shaming is right on. Even finding gear to fit an obese person is nearly impossible, and bad gear makes things worse!0 -
I've loved hiking since well my first hike was when I was 2 years old down and up a canyon. The only way I made it my parents said is they kept bribing me with Dr Pepper lol. But I have been overweight all my life so it limited everything I did. I've lost 130 in the last year and have about 65 more to lose. I want to be able to hike anywhere I'd like and more then anything do EVERYTHING active my kids want to try. I sent you an add request.1
