I took a zero day after a wonderful week hiking with Cushy, Trigger and Snickers. I had a bit of work to catch up on, so by taking a day off, I was able to do so. Plus the regular tasks of bathing, laundry and resupplying food.

Well I’ve gone from 235 lbs to 210 lbs in the first month hiking on the AT. So I’ve lost 25 lbs in 30 days. I made the mistake of bringing my “city” diet out into the wild. You can’t hike 15-20+ miles a day eating beef jerky and sugar free protein bars and expect to hold your weight. Yes, one of the reasons I wanted to hike the AT was to lose weight. But this much this quickly could be a bad thing. Fortunately or unfortunately I feel like it’s all been lost in my upper body. I look like a T-Rex with scrawny arms and a big booty. Maybe I should change my trail name to T-Rex? ?

I changed my diet after losing about 20 lbs. So I go to the grocery store when resupplying and ask myself, “what would I never buy?” And that’s what I buy. You know things like snickers, ramen noodle, spam, minute rice, instant potatoes, max n cheese, etc. I think this will slow the weight loss, but I don’t think it will stop it. At least now I’ll have some more energy though. The AT diet is pretty much eat whatever you want, whenever you want, however much you want, and you’ll still lose weight;)

Theres another thing I wanted share with y’all I thought was funny. Because I know y’all don’t want to hear about the work I did on my day off;) I was hiking with this young guy the other day. He was listening to music when we met each other. He turned it off so we could hike and chat with one another. One of the things we talked about was the battery life of our phones. Most people keep their phone in airplane and low battery mode to preserve their battery life. I told him I just hadn’t got into the swing of things yet to feel comfortable using my battery for music. Plus I needed my phone for work. That’s always an interesting conversation. “You’re working out here!?”

Anyway, he tells me he just uses his phone for music and talking to girls. I thought, why would he be talking to girls out here when he’s in the middle of nowhere, and won’t be anywhere really for 5-6 months while he’s hiking the trail? And when he said talking to girls, he meant like flirting with them. I could understand if he had a bunch of girls that were friends he was keeping in touch with. But flirting with girls, why now?

He proceeds to tell me he’s talking to a bunch of women on Tinder ? I was like, really? Tinder has made its way onto the AT? That’s funny. He told me he’s been talking to this one lady that he’s thinking about meeting. Again, while he’s hiking the AT I thought? He said they were making plans to meet up ahead on the trail.

I got separated from this guy for several days but we ran back into each other. He was a bit younger than me and hiking a bit faster. I asked him how I caught up with him. He told me he took the weekend off. I asked to do what? He said that woman he was telling me about picked him up, took him back to her place for the weekend. I asked him what they did. He smiled, he said they hung out in bed all weekend, she fed him, he did his laundry there, showered, and when the weekend was over, she dropped him back off at the trail!

There is a popular saying out here “HYOH” which stands for Hike Your Own Hike. He’s definitely hiking a different hike than me. I’d say it’s different from 99% of others hiking out here. Most people come out here to clear their minds so they can focus on a major life issue or multiple issues. Not to pick up chicks on dating apps. But to each their own I guess. I just thought it was hilarious and wanted to share it with you:) My…the AT has changed…