[desert spirit]

Every winter, no matter what I do, I gain an extra five or six pounds in the booty. I'd like to think it's some evolutionary adaptation ... storing extra fuel for lean times and all that. Charles Darwin meets Ben & Jerry, so to speak. I always lose it by bikini season ... at least I always have ... but my birthday is approaching, and although my age will still have a "3" in front of it for a few years yet, I have this fear that one year the junk is going to decide to stay back there, to follow me around like a lost little puppy.

I think I need to take some proactive action here.

So what is you guys' favorite method of unloading winter trunk junk?

[Grasshopper]

BUTTERFINGERS always RULE regardless!!

[big_load]

Elliptical machine.

[azpride]

I gain weight in the summer when it's too hot for the Superstitions.

[Jim Lyding]

I second the elliptical idea. I'm currently on a Step Mill kick, however. Some sort of weight training is also a good idea because bigger muscles burn more calories than smaller ones.
Leg lunges are another good idea, but cardio is more important.

I need to tone myself up before bikini season arrives as well. I think I may shave this year.
ASOTA (Another Sign Of The Apocalypse): a nice wahine asks for suggestions about reducing the junk in da' trunk, and only guys respond.

[jeffmacewen]

VersaClimber

[dysfunction]

VersaClimber

I discovered that the Lighthouse Y in Tucson actually has one too

[SuperstitionGuy]

More push aways and a kitchen with a time lock on the door..

[Jim_H]

I like to go through my car every so often and clean out what ever debris might accumulate in the trunk. I do a sweep through and toss out lots of stuff. Does that mean an enema is a good idea? Maybe.

Seriously, when I read the headline of this thread I thought you were talking about winter road stuff that you have in the car, because I have some winter stuff back there. I lose it by March or so, too. A shovel, a part of my car that the snow rips off and I keep in back until to snow stops falling, stuff like that.

I try to avoid over eating in winter and keep on climbing. That makes it harder to gain a few extra pound. I always gain weight when I stop exercising and lose it real fast when I start up again.

[Rob del Desierto]

Wii Fit
Keep hiking.

[Jim Lyding]

This year I tried to be proactive. "No sweets except for dessert after Christmas dinner," I told myself. I told myself that I would console myself with adult beverages. Whenever a piece of fudge marbled with peppermint, a piece of Bailey's cheesecake, or a coffee cake called my name I killed my desire to eat it by popping another brew. The really bizarre thing is that I still put on a few unwanted pounds this holiday season. Weird.

[Jim_H]

The really bizarre thing is that I still put on a few unwanted pounds this holiday season. Weird.

Baffling!

[hippiepunkpirate]

A shovel, a part of my car that the snow rips off and I keep in back until to snow stops falling, stuff like that.

....a box of kitty litter for traction in case you get stuck, an extra pair of gloves, three different ice scrapers, the list goes on and on....gotta love Flagstaff in the winter!

[writelots]

ASOTA (Another Sign Of The Apocalypse): a nice wahine asks for suggestions about reducing the junk in da' trunk, and only guys respond.

I think you're right James.

I can't respond as an expert for eliminating Junk, since I carry so much extra trunk contents around pretty much all year (read - chubby hiker who never was bikini material). However, those extra Christmas pounds are still something I don't want on the spring backpacking trips. My most successful strategy is to reduce my carb intake for a couple of months. I'm not a big anti-carb person. I've done Atkins and South Beach with success, but I don't think it's a good thing to do to your body. However, it's usually lots of carbs that got me into this mess, and reducing carbs can get me out of it. That way I loose weight from many of the same areas I put it on during Christmas. Reducing carbs also reduces water retention - and that's often a big problem after the holidays...

Then I haul my extra junk up Tumamoc hill an extra time each week. That targets the trunk even more.

A few secrets for a lifetime dieter: trade beer for a glass of red wine if you must drink, avoid diet soda which just increases your carb cravings (water is your best friend for weight loss), green tea is better than coffee and it curbs a lot of snack cravings, tell your friends they're not allowed to have birthdays in an effort to stave off dangerous dinners and cake incidents.

W

[jeffmacewen]

More push aways and a kitchen with a time llock on the door..

One thing I did do this year is strategically schedule more strenuous hikes right after large meals and holidays. You know that having family in town and all that will mess up your workout routine, so go hard on a couple of days and you won't be set back as far by missing workouts in between...

[jeffmacewen]

Tumamoc is a great little workout walk\hike, BTW...

[Al_HikesAZ]

You consumed more calories than you burned. Now you must burn more than you consume.

Here is a short "Cliff Notes" type explanation. It is for illustration and is not a scientific treatise. A pound of fat is a reservoir of 3,500 calories that your body can access if it needs them. Or it can keep them stored. You probably burn 1,600 to 2,000 calories in a normal day. You probably burn 500 calories with each hour of hiking. You need adequate nutrition & hydration. If you fast, the body will start accessing energy stored in muscle. Even though you appear to be losing weight, you can be losing the wrong kind of weight - muscle not fat. You also lose weight if dehydrated. But that is not the weight you want to lose. Water weighs approximately 2 pounds per quart/liter. So if you reduce your daily intake by 500 calories and burn 500 calories you will burn up 1,000 calories of fat per day and lose 7,000 calories a week which equates to 2 pounds. You don't have to be obsessive over calorie counts, just be reasonable and realize that it will take 5 to 7 weeks to lose 10 pounds.

Hiking is an athletic endeavor. Athletes need to understand nutrition and how it affects their unique body. Muscle mass burns more calories than fat mass. Your body will burn fat, protein and carbohydrates at different rates. That's why Michael Phelps can consume a diet of 15,000 calories per day in pasta and starchy carbs and maintain a 5% (?) Body Fat percentage.

Most bathroom scales are very crude instruments and don't tell the whole story. Unless you have one of the fancy Tanita scales that measures the impedance in your body and tells you the water, muscle and fat composition, read your scale with a skeptical eye.

I know all this because I've been fighting my fat longer than you have been alive - and it keeps winning.

[rushthezeppelin]

Man I'm so glad my ultra high metabolism is still holding out. With any luck I got my mom's genes and it won't go away, but my dad's genes might catch up to me in a few years....who knows. But as of right now I can seriously try to gain weight and can never seem to get over 145. At the same time though the high metabolism can be a curse on the trail because it makes me hungry a freaking hour after a good full snack.....I eat ALOT on the trail because of that (or at least my stomach wants me to eat alot).

[chumley]

You consumed more calories than you burned. Now you must burn more than you consume.

Makes it sound so simple!

But I do have some advice for easy ways to drop a few hundred calories from your daily diet.

#1 Soda. That soda you have with lunch everyday? 100 calories. Have a glass of water. =500 calories a week
#2 Cheese. Seriously. That single slice of nearly tasteless provolone you get on your sandwich? 120 calories. Skip it. You won't know the difference.
#3 Chips/Fries. If you eat out, virtually anything you order comes with a bag of chips or a side of fries. Skip it. That's 200-300 calories in that serving. Have the salad instead.
#4 Beer. Gotta feed your addiction? Go with a glass of wine or a shot of liquor. But keep it in check because in general, alcohol content=calories, so a glass of wine=a can of beer=a shot of liquor.
#5 Frequency. Snacks during the day are great to keep your metabolism going. Small portions more frequently are much better than one big meal a day. I love peanuts in the shell. I don't eat many because it takes work to get to them, and they satisfy the salt craving I miss by skipping that bag of chips at lunch. Plus, they make me thirsty, so I plow through another glass or two of water.
I assume most on this board exercise at least occasionally. That helps in the burning calories. But I believe that limiting the intake of calories is much more important than burning them.

[rushthezeppelin]

#2 Cheese. Seriously. That single slice of nearly tasteless provolone you get on your sandwich? 120 calories. Skip it. You won't know the difference.

Man if I ever started putting on weight this would easily be the hardest thing in the world to deny myself. I love my cheese and dairy products soooooooooo much. Probably so much that I might make myself lactose intolerant a few years down the line. At least I can say I have strong bones because of it though :P Never broken a bone in my entire life when I should have MANY times and I attribute that to the pure assloads of milk I drink.