282 - gained nearly 40 lbs in the past year - and will lose the final 100 lbs this coming year, you just watch me!

Looking back a year at my first blog post of 2017 (a year when I posted only eight times altogether, versus 107 blog posts in 2016) I see I weighed 243 lbs. Events at the end of 2017 were a bit chaotic but the last "official" weigh-in had me at 282 lbs. My ultimate goal is to reach 178 lbs by the end of this year. Based on past performance (losing about ten pounds a month) I think it's totally possible.

My friends who are familiar with my story know that I am currently in the process of moving back from Belgrade to my "spiritual home" of Missoula. I am already feeling more optimistic about the future, and about regaining 100% control of my diet and exercise. Sadly, my bathroom scales are packed away at the bottom of a cardboard box. It'll be another three weeks before they see the light of day again. In the meantime, I am sticking more closely to my former low carb diet and avoiding (as much as possible) sugar and wheat and corn. My new pants (the ones I had to grudgingly buy from the "Big & Tall" [a.k.a. fat people's] store a couple of weeks ago) feel like they're a bit loose now.

I'm looking forward to plenty of four-season hiking in the Missoula area on Mount Sentinal and Mount Jumbo, the Rattlesnake trails, Pattee Canyon, the Riverfront trail and the Blue Mountain trails. As the warmer weather returns, I'll be taking my motorbike with me on backpacking trips further afield. I'll also be scouting out sections of the ACA Lewis & Clark route (Highway 12) from Lewiston, Idaho, back to Missoula, in preparation for my 600-mile bicycle ride from Portland, Ore., in 2019. I'll be taking my camera(s) with me a lot more this year too.

I anticipate that there will be more opportunities for me to share the details of my progress and more news and photos in 2018 than in the year before. I'll be doing a lot more reading about the evils of added sugar and the virtues of a heavily plant-based (more vegetarian) diet. With so much of our body's energy expenditure (70%) going towards maintaining our basal metabolic rate, the marginal amount of extra energy burned through vigorous exercise is so small as to make extra exercise far less important than diet in our quest to lose weight. Exercise does have many other positive benefits though - it's just that it doesn't directly affect weight loss so much ("Abs are made in the kitchen, not the gym!")

244 - The fantastic year is ending with a bang

With only three weeks to go until the end of the calendar year, I've been contemplating what has happened in the past 12 months and what the future has in store for me. I'm excited! Usually, by now, I have already sent out my annual Christmas cards with their 'round-robin' letters. My friends all know how much I love to send (and receive - hint!) letters and cards in the mail. Anyway, it truly has been a fantastic year, and the best is yet to come!

January started out with me weighing 336 pounds (152.5 kg). This morning:

243.8 lbs (110.6 kg)

243.8 pounds, 92 lbs lighter in twelve months. Losing nearly eight pounds a month on average is a good, healthy amount. 

I was still living in Helena at the time (in January 2016), still working for the Dept of Public Health and Human Service in a job that had me practically tied to a desk all day answering a phone. I was walking the ⅔ mile each way to work (a 100 foot elevation difference so, yes, it was uphill both ways 😜), including in the middle of winter with all its snow and ice (and I can honestly say, I never missed a single day because of the weather). At this point I hadn't been riding my bike, which was still stored in my hall closet. I also hadn't substantially started hiking yet, although I had started to make plans to go to southern Oregon and see Crater Lake as part of a 100-mile PCT hike that was scheduled for the end of May. 

In July I had decided that I was financially stable enough to be able to leave my job and move to my "spiritual home" (where I'm actually living now) of Missoula, MT. There was a short 'blip' when I was in Sidney (eastern Montana) for a few weeks. My close friends know the details of that little escapade (temporary insanity? 😵) Anyway, I moved to the Garden City at the beginning of November and have been able to get back on my program (such that there is one - low carb diet and more exercise, basically) with great results. I've been riding my now-heavily-accessorized bike a lot (weather permitting), and walking more than ever before. 

So, next year I'm looking forward to finally reaching my final target - 178 lbs or (80.7 kg) which, for a 5' 10" guy (1.78 m) is still a BMI of 25.5 - so, technically, still overweight. I should be there by, say, mid-July. But, you know what? If it takes me until August, or September, or even December, I'm not that bothered. It's all a heck of a lot better than 405 lbs (June 2015) or 428 lbs (June 2014)!! Of course, there's the question of what to do about the 20 pounds of excess, flapping skin that will be hanging off me all over the place. "Surgery!" (I imagined myself saying that in a ringing, singing voice).

I still have some objectives to meet. I still want to find a place to do some boxing to help develop my upper body musculature. I still want to find a place to do T'ai Chi to help with the physical and mental/spiritual balance. I still want to do a long-distance bicycle ride (Portland, Oregon, is still looking attractive as either the destination or the starting point for that little tour). I really want to start dancing again. I have such fond memories of my daughter and I going to some contra dances in Helena, but that was six and seven years ago! I know that those things are all available here in Missoula, it's just a question of time and money, and making it a big enough priority. 

If you're in Missoula and you're interested in contra dancing, the Missoula Folklore Society has dances twice a month (first and third Saturday) from October through May (http://www.missoulafolk.org). Maybe I'll see you there? Oh, and Sara Bareilles? I'm still waiting for your phone call to ask me to be in a future music video of yours ("Brave" was brilliant! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUQsqBqxoR4.) 

And, I haven't given up on wanting to complete my PCT hike, or climbing Mount Hood ("Go BIG or go home!", right?) I have unfinished business to take care of in Oregon, and I'm not going to let it beat me! 

I still want to expand my répertoire of mostly plant-based (but not exclusively vegetarian) recipes and learn some new cooking styles and techniques. I still want to learn and practise my own food growing, canning and preserving. Not that I want to be all "prepper" self-sufficient, but a little better preparedness doesn't hurt (interestingly, even after living in the US for 20 years now, I've still never fired - much less held - a gun. I get that question from my English friends all the time). 

In the short term, I want to start enjoying the winter (I never imagined that THOSE words would ever come out of my mouth!) I want to try snowshoeing (or cross country skiing, maybe). 

"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom-of-night
stays this man from going outside."

2017 is going to be another fantastic year. If I can take some friends with me, old ones or new ones, it'll be that much better. If I can leverage the new-found knowledge and experience of healthy eating and exercise and weight-loss, and get myself a better job, or even just use it to HELP other people, I'll be delighted. 

Mount Helena conquered

I had something to prove, and I did it! I woke up just before 05:00 on Saturday morning (I'm usually up at 5.00 am on a work day anyway, so no big deal). After getting dressed quickly, I was out of the door by 05:11. The sun was barely up over the horizon (we're less than three weeks from the summer solstice), and the temperature was a pleasant 49 °F (9 °C).

Hard work, reaching the summit of Mount Helena

An hour later, I had walked to the Adams St parking lot at the Mount Helena trailhead. I chose to go up the very steep Powerline Trail, and return down the 1906 Trail. Just after 8.00 am, I reached the summit. After a few minutes of taking in the scenery, taking photos, and texting some of my friends, I started the descent, past the Devil's Kitchen limestone formation, on the longer 1906 Trail, which turned out to be just as challenging as the Powerline Trail. Hard work, for sure!

I reached the trailhead again just before 9.30 am. The Montana Conservation Corps were doing some scheduled trail maintenance today. Thank you for that valuable work that you do!

A short rest, then it was time to head to the farmer's market downtown. At this point I was beginning to wish for a flying carpet or magical teleportation powers to take me home. A nice, fortifying breakfast (with a couple of scoops of ice cream - I'd earned it!) set me up nicely for the final leg, the 2.5 miles back to my apartment... uphill!

From 4,200 down to 4,100, then up to 5,468 feet elevation

By the time I got home, I was fit for nothing except sleeping for an hour. Checking my number of steps, I'd walked 10.1 miles today, with more than 22,400 steps! It felt like nine tenths of them were uphill, but I know that no more than half of them could have been (what goes up must come down, right?). However, I do know that my apartment is at 4,200 ft elevation, the Last Chance Gulch walking mall is at about 4,100 ft, and the summit of Mount Helena is at 5,468 feet.

Photos are available at https://goo.gl/photos/h6sz6JPvp71iGicQA.

On our way to Oregon today

The day has finally arrived! I've been contemplating this day and this journey for eight months now, thinking about it, planning it, dreaming about it, and now it's here. Birdie and I will be leaving Helena in just over an hour, heading up Interstate-15 towards the Amtrak station in Shelby. Our backpacks are packed. Hers weighs about 25 lbs, mine weighed in at 38 lbs! When I think of my personal weight loss journey over the past 11 months, I've lost the equivalent of two and a half big backpacks!

This morning, on the bathroom scales, I was at 306.4 lbs. We'll see how much I lose in the next 11 days (the next time I'll weigh myself). These last few weeks have been up and down much more than normal. My diet has had a lot more carbohydrates in it than normally (well, the 'new normal', anyway). I've also been struggling in a psychological battle with food. I'm determined that I'm going to WIN that particular battle, so there will be renewed action on that front when I return to Helena at the end of May.

I'm sad that we won't be hiking the 'real' Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) because of all the snow on it, but we've managed to come up with an alternative that is almost as long (still 72 miles), and that takes us past a nature reserve and bird sanctuary, so there should still be some sights to see on the way, and good photos to take and share afterwards. I also won't get to see Crater Lake up close - this year - but my plan is to come back in two years time (2018) and do it all again. Except, then, I'll come back in March - when there's a lot more snow, and I'll be properly equipped and trained to deal with it. How about that for making lemonade out of lemons!?

Once I get back home (Sat, May 28th) I'll upload all of my photos to an online album, but some pictures may get posted from my cell phone before then. https://goo.gl/photos/JvhZBZosKDhSAApT6 is the address of the album. There's a tentative schedule of where we'll be at http://www.ergoob.org/pct2016/schedule, and a near-real-time map of our whereabouts at http://www.ergoob.org/pct2016/where (also reachable via https://share.delorme.com/janesdaddy). The password is the name of the state that we are hiking in (with a capital 'O' at the beginning). 

I would like to thank all my friends and others who have supported me in the past eight months, either with the physical preparation, or with words of encouragement. Thank you. 

Weather looking wet and cool for the big hike (PCT d - 2)

It's Oregon! I should have expected it, right? And I'm British, so I should be used to it, right?

Here is the weather forecast for Fort Klamath for the next few days.

Fort Klamath weather, wet and cool

Friday (May 20th, our first day of actual hiking) will bring a quarter inch of rain. Daytime temperatures for the week will be around 60 °F, with nighttime temperatures at or just below 40 °F. It'll be warmer at the end of the week, but still raining occasionally.

Alternate route for PCT2016 hike

Alternative route because of snow

With the news on Friday that snow on the PCT is still three to four feet deep, Birdie and I had to change our plans slightly. Instead of the 100 mile hike that we had originally planned, it's now going to be closer to 66 miles long, with each day being only 10-12 miles in distance, instead of averaging 15 miles per day. Still, it'll be a good workout nonetheless!

The course on the map marked with a red line to the left is the old, original route. The purple line further right, with green triangles, is the new route, which is shifted east a little bit. It's still in view of the mountains to the west, and some bird sanctuaries and stuff on the other side. It goes along the Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway (http://www.volcaniclegacybyway.org), northwest out of Klamath Falls. Parts of our new route are on Forest Service land or County roads, so they'll be nicely maintained and a lot more level than the PCT.

Also, one of the nights should be at the Jackson F Kimball State Recreation Site, which has 10 primitive campsites and also a vault toilet, so we won't have to poop in the woods that night.

There's a possibility, if the snow isn't too deep, that we can get back onto the original trail at the end of Day 3, and still see the actual Crater Lake. If not, I'll have to come back some other time (later in the year!)

Fridges and freezers (PCT d - 12)

I had totally planned to write about my refrigerator, this lunchtime, but then got distracted by the map showing snow depth on the PCT. Yikes!

The point of the fridge photo was that there's not much in it, which reduces the scope and possibility for overeating. There's milk and half-and-half for my tea and coffee, with a pitcher of filtered water for drinking. A can of Spam, some mixed greens (kale, spinach and chard), some bean sprouts, grated carrot, a bit of red onion (all for salads), a cucumber, some lettuce, a small boneless beef steak, some butter and some eggs. That's it!

3-4 feet of snow on our section of the PCT - plans have changed now

The snow depth map comes from http://www.postholer.com/gmap/gmap.php?trail_id=1&depth=1, which shows several feet of snow on the trail itself, although surrounding highways are clear: https://www.tripcheck.com/Pages/RCMap.asp. 

If push came to shove, and we couldn't walk on the PCT at all, the distance from Klamath Falls to Chemult on US-97 is about 72 miles, but the scenery is not nearly as exciting!

Our chance to show how badly we want something (PCT d - 15)

Randy Pausch was a professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University, who learned that he had pancreatic cancer and was given a terminal diagnosis: "3 to 6 months of good health left". He gave an upbeat lecture titled "The Last Lecture: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams" in September 2007 which became a popular YouTube video. In it, he had many good pieces of advice, including this:

"The brick walls aren't there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something."

People are asking me, more and more, if I'm ready for my 100-mile long Oregon trip. The answer is, Yes. I feel like I've done all of the things I could possibly do to get myself ready in terms of acquiring the correct gear, preparing myself physically and mentally for the challenge ahead. Now, we just have to get there (in 15 days time), and start taking those first steps.

The excitement of it all is linked to the prospect of unknown problems, and having the ingenuity to solve them. Also, it'll be 11 days of minimal exposure to electronics and the Internet; seven days of sunshine and fresh air (although, it is Oregon, so it might rain!?)

Slow and steady wins the race

Despite the little blip in the downward path of my weight loss, I'm just as determined as ever to have a successful month of May, and get back on track. I'm going to find a way around the wall, or over it, or under it, or through it - whatever it takes.

Slow going up Refrigerator Canyon (PCT d - 17)

My friend Marie and I decided to go up Refrigerator Canyon (http://www.visitmt.com/listings/general/national-forest-trail/refrigerator-canyon-trail.html), part of the Gates of the Mountains Wilderness Area. The first quarter-mile is interesting, as it enters a narrow canyon (10 feet wide) with 200-foot high limestone walls and a small, shallow stream running through the middle of it.

Fallen trees everywhere

Just like my experience at Bear Trap Canyon, three weeks earlier, the trail was full of fallen debris, only this time is was mostly fallen trees not large rocks. There must have been a dozen or more places in the first couple of miles where very large trees had fallen across the path, necessitating either climbing over the large obstacle or walking around it. It was not always easy.

Me, with a 32 lb backpack

It felt like we were constantly walking uphill, which 98% of the time was accurate. It wasn't super steep in any one place, but it was uphill all the way. In broad figures, the trailhead was at about 4,647 feet elevation, and the point at which was stopped was at about 5,270 feet. A quick bit of math here: a 623 foot gain over 10,560 feet is equal to a 5.9% grade (that's quite a bit). We had to stop after a couple of miles because of a large fallen tree blocking the way and because of the light rain, which was making the trail a bit muddy and slippery. We decided, afterwards, that it had been the right thing to do to turn around. We still gotten a really good workout. Our heart rates had gone up to aerobic levels, and our legs had definitely felt the three and a half hours of activity.

Female Rocky Mountain wood tick

After I got home, I discovered yet more fellow travellers, as I spotted a couple of small female Rocky Mountain wood ticks (I think that's what they were).

So, we walked 4 miles altogether in 3.5 hours - not especially fast. Would I do it again - sure! Later in the season, when the fallen trees have been cleared, and when it's not so muddy. I'd make sure to set off very early in the morning, to give myself the maximum chance to hike the entire 9.5 miles that I had plotted out, including making time for a picnic/lunch at Bear Prairie (near the end), before returning the same way to the beginning again.

There are signs warning of the presence of bears, and I did have my bear deterrent spray with me, but we didn't see any large animals. I did have an opportunity to discharge the spray for a fraction of a second, just to make sure it actually works. In fact, since I was practicing for my Oregon hike, I took an almost full backpack with me yesterday to emulate conditions there. It weighed 32 lbs.

There are more photos at https://goo.gl/photos/wbNRTE9Kgushd9SeA.

GPS tracking points recorded every minute

Reaction to hiking in Arches National Park (PCT d - 21)

Coming back to work again after being away for three extra days was an anticlimax. I would have loved to have stayed in southeastern Utah for a few more days and really explored the national and state parks in that area. The conditions were nearly perfect for the visit - not unbearably hot during the day or cold at night; not wet but breezy. 

I would definitely contemplate going again some time, not in 2016 but maybe in a couple of years time. I would go for a whole week instead of just three or four days, and make it in late March or early April, not the end of April, when everything is already in full swing down there. To break up the 11 hour car journey from Montana, I would try to find somewhere in Salt Lake City to do something fun on the way. 

You can read more about my Arches trip at this link: Hiking in Arches national park. Photos can be found at these links: https://goo.gl/photos/HpFLpqcBL9ZfZ6wa8 and https://goo.gl/photos/588cTuY3tkpbGCWGA. 

Now (Wednesday, April 27th) there are only three weeks until Birdie and I head off to Oregon (on May 18th). I've been preparing for that for the past seven months, and soon it will become a reality. Soon, we will be dodging black bears, and getting soaked in the rain, and tending to blistered feet - or, we might not see any bears at all, we might have glorious sunshine, and we might escape with NO blisters whatsoever. And that's part of the fun - pitting ourselves against nature and the elements, and overcoming adversity to triumph in our 100-mile journey.