lose w8 now, ask dale how

Kudos Dale, that is just Awesome.

it is basic nutritional info available to us all, proper diet/fresh air/exercise, but this drive-thru American culture seems 2b headed the other direction, doesn't it?

congrats 2u. What a GREAT problem to have, needing slimmer clothing!!

now, a stretch 4u: post a before n after hiking pic!

Awesome! Way to go.

Hits close to home for me. Husband got serious about the same issue a few weeks ago.

How are you cholesterol and BP now that you have stopped loosing weight (assuming you have stopped loosing weight)? Most people will have those numbers go way down while not eating enough calories to maintain their weight.

My guess is that yours are fine, especially since you are still maintaining the increased exercise levels, but it is something worth having checked once ones weight stabilizes.

Still working on the BP. It may not improve much at my age, but it isn't getting worse. Cholesterol is good. My weigh has been fairly stable since last winter. I would like to loose another 10 pounds.

Hey, Dale, what did you do about snacks for hiking? I find that I probably eat the most sugar when I'm hiking. I can't not eat–if I'm hiking hard, I find I have to eat something every 2 hours or so.

Plain nuts w/o dried fruit? Jerky is red meat, with salt and sugar, bars are no good, although some claim to be low glycemic.

Avoiding the post-hike burger or pizza would help, too.

Nice job Dale.

All of us know the drill.

Only a few have the discipline to get it done, and stay there.

Congrats!

Moderation is the key. If you are burning it, you can eat it, but not ALL of it :) I take granola bars, almonds, fresh or dried fruit, small amounts of very high quality chocolate, a bit of cheese— a bit.

+1 on post hike moderation. Just because you went for a walk is no excuse to pig out. Nothing wrong with one beer, but stop there. Have a salad and light on the dressing. Leave the bread alone, etc.

I'm not super hungry after a hike or bike trip. A light snack picks me up. One trick is to drink water when you feel hungry. Some say that hunger and thirst get mixed up and the theory is easy and safe to test: have a glass of water before you open the fridge!

I think we have been conditioned to constantly bathe our system with sugar. Break that link and you'll lose weight. Back off on the salt too. You'll be surprised how your taste changes.

Potato chips and French fries are great examples. You get sugar, salt and fat all in one package. Cut that kind of crud from your diet for a couple months and see how your taste changes. Chips are SO to me now. I try to keep my salt intake to 1200mg/day. I don't worry about it too much with hiking snacks and I need some when sweating heavily, but I don't pack really SALTY stuff.

"Back off on the salt too. You'll be surprised how your taste changes."

I couldn't believe how much mine changed when I did that. You can really taste the salt after cutting back on it. The same thing for sugar, just not quite as pronounced. After drinking lightly flavored soda water (no sugar and no artificial sweeteners) I no longer like the taste of normal soda. It now tastes funny…

I'm a little late in responding. Congratulations on managing without the meds. I was once insulin dependent and then went on metformin. I never felt as awful as I did on metformin. I now maintain a decent A1C with just being active and eating according to glycemic index and carb amounts.

Having to continually shop for a new wardrobe is a pain… but better than the alternatives. Brilliant job!!

About the salt… this has been very hard for me. I don't like salt and now I have a sodium deficiency and have to eat a little more salt when I am training.

Thanks! I'm still continuing to lose a little. I need a whole new set of jeans— can't keep the old ones up! I'm barely functioning with large size hiking pants and XL's used to be tight. I went through my closet last week and sent a big bag of tee shirts off to Goodwill.

Salt hasn't been too bad as it is usually associated with other stuff I shouldn't be eating, like potato chips and french fires. Packaged soups and sauces are terrible, but I like to cook, so that can be avoided. With a few rounds of label reading in the grocery store, you can find a palette of foods that work. The concept of shopping the perimeter of the store works well for me: all the bad stuff is in the center with the whole foods around the outer walls– at least in US supermarkets.