Warning! Hiking is dangerous to fat!

 

Hiking burns up fat and calories. Getting out and hiking cross-country for four hours a month will cause a 155 lb. person to burn off a pound of fat. If you hiked once every weekend for 2 hours you could lose two pounds a month, twenty-four pounds yearly. For your convenience, I have  provided a calculator for calories burn at the link below.

I can’t stress the following enough:

Drink plenty of water the day before a hike to make sure you hit the trail well hydrated. Bring a least a quart of water per hour that you intend to be hiking. And drink it all. If you wait till you’re thirsty you are already starting to dehydrate. Every time you tilt the water bottle to drink, swallow five times.

Eat a low fat, high carbohydrate meal, several hours before you hike to make sure you have energy to finish the hike. An excellent meal would be a large bowl of oatmeal. Not the small packages of nuked oatmeal, but the type you have to cook. I add currants, sliced apples, nuts and cinnamon. Other suggestions are blueberries and cranberries. Be forewarned, you will get hooked.