The Solo Hiker: And it begins (Poo Poo Point)

The Seattle area had some unseasonably warm weather this week, so I took that opportunity to get out and kick off my 2012 hiking season!  While I can say I've started my 2012 hiking, I don't expect there to be any regularity to it until late Spring when the weather becomes a bit more predictable.  Pleasant weather will certainly be put to good use when the opportunity arises though!

This trip took me to a familiar location, Poo Poo Point on Tiger Mountain; a hike I completed 11 times last year.  It will most likely be one of many visits this year as well... as it makes for a great after work hike; clocking in at about 4 miles round trip (via the Chirico Trail) and taking about 2 hours total (90 minutes of hiking and 30 minutes at the top to soak in the sun and views).

One thing to note that caught me by surprise was the time it took me to reach the top.  Since the onset of Winter, I haven't been engaging in traditional cardio.  However, I have been practicing hot yoga regularly (3ish times a week) since October 2011.  It certainly gets the heart beating, but I didn't really expect it to have an effect on my hiking ability.  But it did!!  My first hike up, I beat my best time by a full minute! 

My new best time is 44 minutes to reach the top!  It will be difficult to improve upon this, any faster will require some running.  I must admit, I love the feeling of accomplishment that comes with passing people on the hiking trail; especially when their body type suggests they should be fitter than myself :)

Hot Yoga

There's the Japanese proverb, "the stake that sticks up gets hammered down."  Luckily for me, there is no hammering down upon me at the hot yoga sessions I attend.  For whatever reason, yoga tends to be an activity practiced predominantly by people of the female variety.  Being male, and sometimes the only one in a hot yoga session; I certainly stick out. 

Actually, I probably never would have gotten into the practice had my (female) friend not asked me to join them in buying a Groupon deal for 20 hot yoga sessions.  I was a bit reluctant; but with winter approaching, I was looking for a new activity to keep me moving throughout the course of the year.

The first yoga session I attended occurred at the end of September, and ever since then I have been hooked!  I'm pretty sure they're not piping addictive drugs into the room to keep me coming back for more, so there must be something special going on in that room between all the sweat and postures.  Exhaustion embraces my body at the end of each session, but at the same time I feel completely refreshed and relaxed.

I find peace of mind in activities that allow 100% focus on the self, despite the physical rigors that may accompany said activity.  Some people may call that a bit crazy, but that mental escape while pushing myself physically has kept me sane in this insane world :)

A New Year, A New Me

It's that time of year again... new year resolutions!

Before I get started with my goals for this year, lets take a look back how how I did with last year's goal of losing 30 lbs.  Armed with health and lifestyle tips courtesy of "The Four Hour Body" and some motivation I wasn't aware existed within myself; I managed to cross that goal off by July.  The downside (if you could call it that) to meeting my goal with plenty of time, is it made me a bit complacent the rest of the year.  I lost 30 lbs the first half of the year, and only 5 lbs the latter half of the year.  Overall a success, but it could have been an even better success!

That journey to a leaner me not only adjusted my diet, but also expanded my horizons in search of exercise.  Snowboarding, lots of hiking, hot yoga, and even a little bit of running thrown in the mix.  Overall, it was a very fulfilling year!

This year, I'm looking to do a repeat of last year's goal, to lose 30 lbs by year's end.  This will put my body fat percentage right about normal... someplace I haven't been at for a LONG time!  To get there, I'll be continuing on with my new lifestyle, making a few adjustments along the way.  Last year I started out with a pretty strict Slow Carb Diet (as described in "The Four Hour Body"), slowly modifying it to be less and less strict... probably the reason for the slower weight loss in the latter half of the year.  This year, I'll be transitioning that to more of a Primal diet (as described in "The Primal Blueprint").


But, that's not all!  I've also made a resolution to cook something new and/or interesting roughly once a week.  This goal is bound to fail, as I don't want to make it a S.M.A.R.T. Goal.  Circumstances can get in the way, so rather then get down on myself for maybe missing a week, I'd rather just enjoy this culinary journey; and maybe let a few of my friends enjoy it too... some already have :)

The encouragement from friends and family last year certainly helped me to achieve my weight loss goal.  If you would like to help me achieve my goal this year; keep the kind words coming, and make your quality time with your's truly spent doing physical activities instead of happy hour and drinking (although, there's always room some happy hour and alcohol consumption here and there:).

Changes - Part II

Like the seasons, I too change.  Sometimes frequently, other times slowly.  One of the more dramatic changes in life came after I picked up the book "The 4 Hour Body" by Tim Ferris.  While at the core, I'm still the same me.  However, something clicked when I started reading that book.

It transformed me, it gave me the will power to do what I had wanted to do for the longest time; but never have.  It didn't cause me to decide to lose weight, but it caused me to actually be able to lose weight.  It set me on the course to find a new me... which is still the same old me, just a better version :)

I read "The 4 Hour Body" in December of 2010, perfect timing for setting a new years resolution.  My New Year's resolution, lose 30 lbs by years end.  Being in the 250 lb range pushing slowly up toward 260 lbs, it couldn't have come sooner!  I am proud to say, I've met my New Year's resolution with quite a few months to spare; July 1st marked my 30 lbs lost.

While I contribute the majority of my success to diet, exercise in the form of hiking has been a large factor as well.  28 hikes, covering 165 miles and 50,000 vertical feet.  One of the great side effects all of this hiking has had is it helped me re-discover a love of nature photography.  I'll stop here with a few photos from my recent adventures, enjoy!

Changes

Where do you see yourself in 1 year? 5 Years? 10 years? I must say that I absolutely despise that question; mainly because my answer is "I have no idea."

The me from a year ago never would have thought that I would be where I am now. I wouldn't have said I would take up snowboarding again, diet and exercise, lose 30 pounds, plan to lose 30 more pounds, go running (by choice), hike 24 times the following summer (with plans to do more), forgo biking, and the list goes on and on.

I've come to the conclusion that life is just a constant state of change; some forced, some by choice. The goal isn't to fight change, but to welcome it; soaking in the good, and trying not to get caught up in the bad.