Hello everyone, another (sort of) newbie joining up!

hikermom · Post by **hikermom** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 3:04 am

Actually, I've been lurking here for quite awhile and had finally decided to join up a few weeks ago, right before I went on vacation. I put off joining until I got home, so I could start a fresh 21 day challenge without the extra challenge of vacation.

I did plan a NO S version for my vacation. We do pretty active vacations, with a lot of hiking and walking, so I decided that any day that I hiked would be an S day - you just can't go on a long hike in the mountains without snacks to keep you energized, plus having a dessert in the evening after being out all day is such a nice treat. That worked out well. The only major problem I had was dealing with the portion sizes at the many wonderful restaurants we enjoyed while on our trip. I know I ended up eating WAY too much, even on N days, because I always felt stuffed to the gills afterward.

Today has been our first day home, and I've been absolutely starving all day long. I think it is because I just got so used to such big meals while I was gone. I had a sandwich and some kiwi fruit for lunch, and by 2 pm I was miserably hungry. I ended up having a snack. Actually, I had two snacks. One before dinner, then another one after dinner.

I know I need to lose a good 20 pounds - probably 25 would be better.

It's now past my bedtime, so I'd better end this post. I'll start my check in tomorrow.

This path is my life · Post by **This path is my life** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 9:17 am

Hello Hikermom and welcome!! Glad you stopped lurking and joined the board because it's a great source of support and feedback. I'd like to get into hiking someday, can you tell me more about how long you go and if you had any kind of training program before you started? Have a great day.

MerryKat · Post by **MerryKat** » Thu Jul 20, 2006 10:30 am

Welcome Hiker Mom

I found that my first issue was to eat enough at my three meals that the hunger was kept at bay. This avoided me even thinking of snacking.

I hope today is going well for you.

mschalock · Post by **mschalock** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 12:29 am

Hi Hiker Mom,
I've also been lurking for a few weeks and just signed up a couple weeks ago. My biggest challenge was to increase the size of my three meals so that I wouldn't need to snack. I still get pretty hungry for my next meal, but I find that I'm enjoying the meals a lot more because of it.
Monica

Post by **reinhard** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 3:36 am

Welcome hikermom.

I know it might not seem that way now, but habit can tame hunger. It's really not bad once you internalize the three meal routine. As Monica says, hunger actually becomes something good -- the proverbial "best sauce."

Best of luck and keep us posted,

Reinhard

hikermom · Post by **hikermom** » Sat Jul 22, 2006 1:23 am

Thank you for the thoughtful replies.

I'm sure that I'll be able to get back in the swing of NO S. My hunger wasn't nearly as bad today, but it was an S day for me. Today is my son's 8th birthday and he wanted a "Mexican Fiesta Swim Party." We had our biggest meal at lunchtime and I had no difficulty with hunger after that. I did have a piece of cake and a scoop of ice cream. I think I am going to have to make sure my 3 meals are quite substantial at first, to help with the not snacking, and then work my way down to smaller meals as well.

Jenn, I started hiking about 15 years ago when I started dating my husband. I don't do any particular program for getting in shape to hike, but I do try to be very consistent with my regular exercise during the month or so before we leave for the mountains. My husband says that nothing gets you in shape for hiking except hiking. We aren't speedy hikers, especially since our son was born. We have modified our hikes quite a bit to allow for his needs. When he was small, we would just put him in a backpack baby carrier and go, but now that he is much older and a much more opinionated person we have found that shorter hikes to specific places (like a lake or a special lookout point) are the order of the day for family hiking. The longest hike we took together as a family on our vacation was about 6 miles round trip. Usually we go about 4 to 8 miles depending on the difficulty of the hike. My husband likes to do really long day hikes (12 miles!) but our little boy just can't do that yet.
I love hiking, because it's good, vigorous exercise, out in nature, plus it's something we can all do together as a family and have fun being with each other. I hope someday you find it as enjoyable as I have.

Well, that's probably more about my hobby than anybody wanted to know.

Thanks again for the encouragement.