Mount Rogers Backpacking Trip

Mount Rogers

A little late to post but its been a busy week. I had a 3 day backpacking trip planned and went off plan a bit by eating Ramen(sp) Noodles for 2 meals. Not the best choice but they were delicious mixed with some bagged chicken and beef on a cold rainy day at evening camp.

Legs are a little tight and feet a bit sore as I did not anticipate how rocky the terrain would be on this trip. It certainly made for a slow going hike to each of the days planned camps.

Back on plan immediately upon return and things seem to be trending down. Hopefully next Monday's weigh-in is more of the same.  Either way I am happy that my weight is leading with a "1" again.  I am still amazed at how quickly things went south with my fitness after taking my eye off the ball for such a short time.  165 here I come!  

See below for a few of my favorite photo's from our trip.  It was overcast and raining other than the first couple of hours that we arrived.  Which was a bit of a disappointment since these mountains are at roughly 5600 feet and mostly void of trees at the top offering spectacular views of Virginia.  Oh well, sometimes things just don't work out as you planned.

On On

My Crew preparing to head out for day 2.

A strange looking tree at the top of the mountain.

No camera filter required.  This is what the scene was like for bulk of our trip.

An early morning visitor to our campsite on day 2.  I had no idea their were cattle at the top and it startled me a bit at first.

A friend of mine trying to get a shot of a particularly curious foal.  Mom and Dad were nearby but had no interest in our presence.

Destroy What Destroys You!

Start Date: 10/07/2013
Begin Weight: 203 -- Ackk!
Current Weight: 203
Goal Weight: 165

Well there it is, it's official I am no longer below 200 lbs.  For whatever reason I have lost the motivation and struggled most of the summer trying to find it.  After a weekend of excess I reluctantly stepped on the scale to find that my weight no longer begins with a 1 but rather a 2!  WTF!

I believe that I have been so busy patting myself on the back for my successes that I lost sight of how I got there.  My eating habits have devolved to the typical foods that got me to 300 several years ago.  The worst part is that I know I am not making good choices just based on how generally shitty I have felt for the last 6 months or so.

Exercise has been tapering off as well with workouts only coming 3 times per week with an occasional mountain bike ride.  The only thing that has got me out running is trying to keep up with my Wife, whom is kicking ass btw.  So proud of her and love her company on my runs, it's the highlight of my week.

So here I am, while I have a feeling that a large part of the weight is just bloat from to much beer and chili camping this weekend and will quickly drop off but I really need to get back down to that 175 range and possibly lower.  Running at 200 blows, my joints, feet and back are all pissed about it.

I am on day 3 of induction right now and already feeling better.  I am going to try and limit weigh-ins to once a week, no promises as I am rather addicted to the scale.

It's interesting that after living unhealthy for so many years I had adapted to that lifestyle and feeling like shit all of the time felt normal.  Now that I have adjusted my "normal" to something better I am able to recognize that my body is screaming for my attention.  I need to find my normal again.

Throughout each phase of my weight loss journey I have taken on a mantra that has helped me stay focused when I wanted to give up.  I feel like my body is telling me that I not only need to get my shit together but that it's destroying me not only physically and emotionally.  So there it is, "Destroy What Destroy's You!".

On On