Half Assed Fitness

Want to hear something funny?

Me. 

Consuming 3400 calories.

In one day.

I never thought I'd see the day but here I am, planning for this very thing.

We've got a hike planned for Saturday. A 16 mile backpacking trip and I'm planning out my meals. Actually, for the most part I'm planning liquid calories since I can't eat that much food. I just can't.

Here is a screenshot from Cronometer, an INVALUABLE tool for planning and monitoring your calories and nutrition. (not affiliated)

You'll notice that I still have some calories to spare as well as only replenishing 40% my daily allowance in fat. Hiking is an endurance sport which means you operate in the fat burning zone for the most part so in essence, this hike should result in some fat loss. Yay! I've got a few to shed right now. 

When we're going long term on the Appalachian Trail though, this will be something I'll need to correct.  It's very hard to consume enough calories on a thru hike to keep from losing too much weight but the more fat you consume, the more you have for fuel. It's really sort of the opposite of every single thing I've known to be true in the past but...the goals are different so the goalposts have moved!

I'm looking forward to this hike. I feel ready and I'm excited to try out the liquid diet as well as some other gear testing my husband I are planning. We've got ourselves a new tent that is 3 pounds lighter than our last one and he got a new sleeping bag so I'm going to test out his old one which is another 3 pounds lighter than my existing bag. That's a big difference!

Wish us luck!

I've always known I should stretch more. I never knew it could be like this!

I've done some Yoga and Pilates in my time. As per my usual approach; I dabbled. Doing it here and there, never getting into a serious routine or making it a priority. I'm such a broken record. 

Well, I've been introduced to something that has changed my life. Pliability. 

First thing? I joined up. I never join up for things. It made that much observable difference in my daily life that I had to.

With all the intense hiking we've been doing lately, I've been getting very sore. I started watching strengthening videos on YouTube and one of them mentioned adding stretching to the routine to help with recovery. She casually mentioned Pliability and my ears perked up.  I went searching to see what that might be.

Originally, it was created in conjunction with CrossFit but it's morphed into an all sport, life, range of motion, and recovery program. 

They put you in some really crazy positions for what feels like forever but if you take it slow and learn to relax into the positions, you progress very quickly. That's a really tough concept, relaxing into something that hurts. It works. 

I've already noticed improvements in my hiking because of it. I felt like the further range of motion I've achieved made me able to use more of my muscles which in turn made it easier to cover more ground faster.

Another huge milestone for me is I can squat! I have never in my life been able to squat flat footed and I've worked a lifetime of desk jobs that keep me in a limited range of motion. For me to be able to reverse (or correct) 50 years of damage and un-training in a mere 3 weeks is pretty insane. I'm not gonna lie, I still can't do it for the whole 5 minutes recommended by today's routine but I'm impressed. 

Another amazing side effect is the feeling of being able to relax muscles you are actively using. That's a new concept to me. I've realized I clench everything.  When I stand, I clench all the muscles in my legs, when I lay down, my arms and legs don't relax, etc. Now when I stand, I can relax the muscles in my legs and it actually makes the activity easier with less wasted energy. I've been sort of working against myself. All this intensive stretching is undoing all of that. 

It's also helping me to fall asleep faster since I am relaxing better. 

Another great resource I've run across is Upright Health over at YouTube. He's the one who introduced the concept of use it or lose it that motivated me to ensure I have a full range of motion as I get older. And how do I get better at things? By doing them.

Even if you don't follow the Pliability program, I highly suggest finding some way to do intense stretching as a way to improve your range of motion. It's been a game changer for me.

Most of my life, my health and fitness goals have revolved around losing weight and getting into shape or getting stronger.

For this endeavor though, I have to adopt a completely different mindset. 

When hiking long distances and over strenuous terrain, you are being truly athletic. You are working your body longer and harder than it's used to and you need to feed and water it appropriately. I'm not used to this. I've only even eaten when hungry and not eaten when I'm hungry in order to reduce calories. I've never gotten into anything intensely enough to need to alter my food habits to fuel my activities but I witnessed it first hand on the first hike listed in my post How It Started.

I struggled on this hike and my husband got annoyed with me and threw a Clif bar at me and said "Eat this". I'll be darned if he wasn't correct. About 30 minutes after eating the Clif bar, I could feel my energy go up. It's the first time I've ever experienced food as fuel. I just assumed everyone else that ate along the trail was actually hungry. Several hikes in now, I can definitely see the improvements in my strength and stamina and it's not all from getting in better shape, a lot of it is approaching food differently.

One problem I do have though is my stomach absolutely does not enjoy eating when I'm working hard. Getting those Clif bars down while breathing hard and trying not to choke isn't fun. That and if I eat anything substantial, I get a stitch in my side. The idea of doing that for months at a time on the Appalachian Trail does not appeal to me. So I'm looking into alternatives. I'd much rather drink my calories, carbs, and proteins if I can. 

The good news is, this isn't a new problem. Apparently many people feel the same way so I'm finding some great resources.

The bad news is that liquid calories are heavy! I don't want to have to carry more weight, that's counter productive. More weight equals more calories burned which means more calories to carry and so on...

So, on to the research!