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If it's just walking the Appalachian Trail or another extra-long trail, then the answer is quite: https://imgur.com/9ipvLUm https://imgur.com/9ipvLUm and https:

If it's just walking the Appalachian Trail or another extra-long trail, then the answer is quite: https://imgur.com/9ipvLUm https://imgur.com/9ipvLUm and https://thetrek.co/thru-hike-transformation-before-after/ https://thetrek.co/thru-hike-transformation-before-after/

compiler-guy 6y ago
Weight lost through long distance hiking is among the hardest to keep off. On the trail you have much more limited access to food, and the motivation to do 15 to 20 miles a day or possibly much more. You get home and there is food everywhere, and maybe, maybe if you are lucky, the time and motivation to do fivish miles a day or a similar amount of exercise.
mauvehaus 6y ago
Your upper body, however loses fitness. I was climbing regularly in 2009 before I thru-hiked in 2010 and was a pretty solid 5.10 climber making inroads into 5.11 at the Red River Gorge (translation: nothing special, but usually able to find something I could get on at most crags there). Getting back into climbing was pretty brutal, to put it mildly. Also, if we're being totally honest, the diet of the average thru-hiker is pretty abhorrent. Lots of tunamac or equivalently unhealthy meals for dinner. Thru-hiking might get you fit, but I wouldn't recommend it to anybody as a way to get healthy.
- sn9 6y ago
  The caloric needs of the physical activity probably completely counteract and then some the negatives of the diet quality. If you take before and after snapshots of bloodwork and other physical health markers, it's probably an unambiguous improvement for anyone fit enough to undertake the ordeal. For example: https://www.outsideonline.com/2125031/what-happens-your-body-thru-hike https://www.outsideonline.com/2125031/what-happens-your-body...
  - bagacrap 6y ago
    agreed re: diet, but nit: an unambiguous improvement for people who don't already exercise a lot
TheCoelacanth 6y ago
Diet also plays a factor with long hikes. You can't just grab a burger, fries and soda whenever you want.

compiler-guy 6y ago

Weight lost through long distance hiking is among the hardest to keep off. On the trail you have much more limited access to food, and the motivation to do 15 to 20 miles a day or possibly much more. You get home and there is food everywhere, and maybe, maybe if you are lucky, the time and motivation to do fivish miles a day or a similar amount of exercise.

mauvehaus 6y ago

Your upper body, however loses fitness. I was climbing regularly in 2009 before I thru-hiked in 2010 and was a pretty solid 5.10 climber making inroads into 5.11 at the Red River Gorge (translation: nothing special, but usually able to find something I could get on at most crags there). Getting back into climbing was pretty brutal, to put it mildly. Also, if we're being totally honest, the diet of the average thru-hiker is pretty abhorrent. Lots of tunamac or equivalently unhealthy meals for dinner. Thru-hiking might get you fit, but I wouldn't recommend it to anybody as a way to get healthy.

sn9 6y ago
The caloric needs of the physical activity probably completely counteract and then some the negatives of the diet quality. If you take before and after snapshots of bloodwork and other physical health markers, it's probably an unambiguous improvement for anyone fit enough to undertake the ordeal. For example: https://www.outsideonline.com/2125031/what-happens-your-body-thru-hike https://www.outsideonline.com/2125031/what-happens-your-body...
- bagacrap 6y ago
  agreed re: diet, but nit: an unambiguous improvement for people who don't already exercise a lot

TheCoelacanth 6y ago

Diet also plays a factor with long hikes. You can't just grab a burger, fries and soda whenever you want.