Week 17 – What A Party!

This past weekend was a blowout celebration party!  Eighteen months ago I shared with a wonderful group of friends that I had begun a new journey towards better health.  I had just been referred for bariatric surgery.  I have very much appreciated the support of these friends as I’ve forged ahead down this path.  On August 28^th most of these friends gathered around me in Keene, New York, to help me celebrate the success I’ve had along this new path.

I used to really enjoy hiking up mountains 'back in the day'. Nineteen years ago I started on a day trip hiking up the trail to Whiteface Mountain with my wife and two kids and a couple of their friends.   I struggled very badly because I was hauling around so much excess body weight (80 pounds) and I just did not have enough breath to keep climbing. At about a quarter of the way up, I had to turn around and go back down while the rest of the group continued up to the summit.  It was one of the worst days of my life.  It did motivate me to start going to the gym and I lost 30 pounds (which I gradually gained back over the following few years.

On August 29^th, one day before my 58^th birthday, I climbed Whiteface all the way both up and down (carrying about 25 pounds of gear) AND I also climbed a sister mountain, Esther, as a side trip. I was very nervous starting out.  I knew that I had lost a good chunk of weight and pumped up my ability to handle exercise - and I figured that I could 'probably' make it to the top okay - but I was afraid that my knees might not hold out to do the return trip back down the mountains.

It turned out to be a real victory. I was almost bounding all the way up, feeling almost like a teenager. The trip down was hard on the thigh muscles, but my knees held up very well. This trip was a great celebration of this new lifestyle that I've begun.

In case you don’t know, Whiteface Mountain is the fifth highest of 46 high peaks in upper New York state.  Whiteface is 4,867 foot elevation with a 2,535 foot ascent from the trailhead and an eight mile round trip via Marble Mountain (2,753’).  We also had enough time and energy to climb two sister mountains, Lookout (4,085’ el.) and Esther (4,240’ el.).  The trail to these mountains starts at 3,750’, so it meant that we were able to climb them by only adding 489 ft. ascent to our total.

Total workout for the day = 600 minutes hard work in an 11 ½ hour climbing day.  This was invested in covering  12.8 miles (20.6 kilometers) round trip and a total ascent of 3,024 feet (or two thirds of a mile).  Calories burned = 5,000 (or 1.4 pounds).  Map of Whiteface and Esther

It’s not so much about stats, but a few that are little signposts for me as I celebrate this new lifestyle:

• 54.5 pounds lost since start of Optifast
• 74.5 pounds lost since referral to Optifast program 20 months ago
• Size XXL to M
• Size 44 to size 32 pants

Now I'm seriously considering joining the 46er club. Wow, what a change!