Miraculous Weight Loss

Last month, we went on a weekend camping trip at a state park. Being a former Boy Scout, I still like to camp in tents, even though the norm nowadays seems to be an RV. We camped for 3 days and two nights, cooked over a fire and hiked through the park.

Since my spouse planned the meals, we ate very well, unlike the hot dogs and hamburger surprise I had as a Boy Scout. We had sirloin cheeseburgers, grilled cheese and soup for lunch, steak, salad and vegetables for dinner, and eggs, sausage hash browns for breakfast. The portions were large and I ate until I was full every meal. I fully expected to gain weight.

Much to my surprise, I lost at least five pounds and achieved my lowest weight of this year. I am now within 2% of my target weight from my New Year's resolutions. To me, it was miraculous that I lost any weight at all. We were eating high fat, high calorie food every meal and I was stuffing myself, to avoid having leftovers.

After contemplating on the reasons for the past month, I think I have figured out why I lost so much weight. In order of importance:

Ate only at meals. Since we didn't bring any additional food, we only ate during our three meals, breakfast, lunch and dinner. There was no snacking or small meals in between.

Low amount of processed carbohydrates. We only had one loaf of bread for seven meals. Although we had ice cream one evening, there were no cakes, candies or cookies.

Additional exercise. We hiked about five miles while camping and we needed to walk a quarter mile to the rest rooms and showers. While not much, this is more walking than we normally do in a three day span.

I am convinced these three factors enabled me to quickly lose weight that weekend. Since returning home, I have tried to implement all three elements into my diet and exercise plans. While not perfect, I've made some major changes. I've cut back significantly on bread products, eat primarily at meals, and doubled my exercise.

So far I've lost another 2-1/2 pounds in two weeks and am on target to meet my New Year's resolutions goal by year end.

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This is not financial or health advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

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