For the past 20 years or so, I have been losing 5 pounds every summer while bike commuting to work. Then I gain 10 pounds every winter when it starts to rain and I end up driving everywhere again. Of course that is not sustainable, and every few years I ended up having to go on a low carb diet to get my clothes to start fitting again. Diets work for me, but the yearly cycle of losing 5 and gaining 10 just continued. I had hoped that retiring to a travel lifestyle that kept us in warm climates year round, would stop my weight rollercoaster and I would finally get to a weight where I wanted to be. That hasn’t happened.
This winter I started noticing my clothes being rather tight while we were in Southeast Asia. I tried shopping for new stuff, but learned that it is not easy for me to find anything my size in Asian countries. When we moved on to Mexico in the Spring, I wanted to buy some souvenir T shirts. XXL wasn’t fitting… :>( Evidently trying every new dish that I could get my hands on in Thailand and Mexico doesn’t help me lose weight. Drinking beer with every meal in countries where you can’t drink the tap water, also doesn’t help.
I knew it was “Diet Time” when we got home to Seattle in the summer and finally weighed myself. I was a little shocked. So, on June 1st I started a strict low carb keto diet with no alcohol. Then I started riding my bike a lot. I worked my biking up to several hours a day and the pounds really started to come off. My goal was to get my BMI back under 30 which would make me not longer categorized as “Obese”… just “Overweight”. This was not making for a very fun summer, but it needed to be done.
My style of losing weight using crazy exercise hours and strict low carb eating always works for me. People tell me to not be so extreme about things, but reducing calories and walking tons of steps a day like we do when traveling doesn’t really help me. I would rather struggle through a few weeks of pain to get it done with. When we come back to Seattle, we want to see friends and family, go to all the new restaurants, and see music shows and baseball games. All those things usually come with eating and drinking, so we haven’t done as much of that as we would have liked. I don’t want my Seattle time in the summer to always be “Diet Time”, so I am going to have to make some changes.
I have been thinking of lots of ways that I could combine losing weight with traveling and think I have found some good options. Last year I tried bike touring and had a failed attempt to ride my bike from Seattle to San Francisco. While it was not a good idea to ride in a week long rainstorm, I would like trying bike touring again. I think my next trek will probably be riding from Lincoln City, Oregon to San Francisco so I can finally finish last years trip.
I have also thinking about having an extended stay in one of the cities in the world that is famous for biking. I really like riding in Seattle because there are so many different scenic routes. But I want to try someplace new. It might be fun to find an airbnb near Copenhagen or Amsterdam and spending 1 or 2 months eating low carb European food (soo many great meats and cheeses, fresh local vegetables!) while I ride every bike trail I can find. The problem is finding a bike rental that is reasonable. Good bikes rent for $50 or more per day. It might be cheaper to buy a bike and sell it at the end of our stay. I also could find a place closer to home where I could use my own bike. Vancouver BC and Portland, Oregon are both fantastic biking cities where M would also find fun things to do.
Another possibility is doing some extended backpack trips. I haven’t been backpacking much in the last couple years but I am still thinking about many different trips. The Wonderland trail around Mount Rainier would be a great 10 day trip but I was unable to get lucky in the National Park permit lottery this year. I also didn’t win in the Enchantment permit lottery for the lakes over Snoqualmie pass. But there are still many places to go in Washington state in the Olympics or along the Pacific Coast Trail. I am going to get out for some 1-2 night trips soon which might lead to something longer. I have though about the Appalachian trail for a long time but I think that would be too long of a commitment and M isn’t interested.
We could also think about doing some trekking in Europe. The Camino de Santiago in Spain would be amazing and I wouldn’t have to carry a tent or sleeping bag because there are so many hotels and hostels along the route. There are other routes in England, Scotland and France but I am going to have do some research. These are of interest to M as well. I like the idea of hiking from hotel to hotel so I can get a good nights sleep and a shower every night. Of course eating European restaurant food is not going to help me lose weight like eating dehydrated backpacking food in the Cascade Mountains.
Trekking in Nepal is getting more expensive, as of this May, they are now requiring all trek tourists to hike with a paid guide. But they do have hostels and restaurants along the route so you can carry less. There has got to be some other hostel to hostel treks in Asia or even in Central or South America but I need to do more research. One of the big criteria is finding something that I am interested in and my wife is also interested in (and able, as she has some physical limitations). She doesn’t want to bike tour but she enjoys being my van support. She likes a little hiking and backpacking but I don’t think she would be up for any extended backpacks unless we stay in hotels most nights. If anyone has any experience with extended trekking and has some ideas that would fit us, please let me know in the comments.
My 2 month diet has worked this summer and my clothes are fitting again. I would like to lose a little more but I have had enough of keto dieting and long exercise hours this summer. I figure I am going to put back a few pounds this fall traveling through France and Spain so I need to be prepared to find something new next year. I don’t want to spend another Seattle summer avoiding pizza, IPA’s and garlic fries. Next step is to find a bit of balance – how to continue eating (and drinking) less without the same amount of restriction as I’ve endured these past few months.
I enjoyed your presentation of your efforts so far. Congratulations they seem to have worked. Some hikes in the Seattle area that I enjoyed were Rachel Lake up near the Snoqualmie pass. Also, Mount Pilchuck near granite falls gas Heather lake and Lake 22 both fantastic hikes.
Other fun things in the cycling realm would be Empire trail from battery park to Niagara Falls, and San Juan huts have some great week long hut to hut rides.
I liked your Camino idea and we have done that several times. Generally although we walk all day we don’t lose weight as we eat well. But on the plus side we feel like a million bucks when we get done as we are healthy and fit.
Good luck on your quest and thanks for sharing your thoughts on this retirement problem that we are all trying to deal with.
Hi Bill, we are recently early retired and nomadic…. The “how-not-to-gain-all-the-weight-from-eating/drinking-all-the-things” has been top of our list. We likewise do not travel with a scale and rely on the ‘how the clothes fit’ method. Things that have worked thus far( we are relative newbies-9months on the road)
We don’t eat breakfast…. Coffee -yes(we’re not complete lunatics) but no food until lunch. Lunch is our biggest meal and if we are going to eat out it’s lunch. Skip the fries😬…. Unless it’s poutine I’ve yet to have life altering fries…. Delicious yes… but are they really worth it? Dinner is light: salad/soup, fruit…… filling but not heavy….. thus far I haven’t gained weight (weighed myself last week at an appointment) but also haven’t lost any….. but my clothes are looser from lots of walking and hiking , I’ll take it as a win!
Great piece. We struggle so. I did the low carb/keto/no alcohol thing for 6 weeks and lost 10 pounds before we left Gig Harbor for this 6 1/2 month stint away from our “home” base. . I’ve gained back 4 of them in the intervening 6 months. We both have “upper limits” that horrify us to the point we’ll go extreme for a bit.
We try to walk every day (London is kicking our butt) and belong to the gym back home. My love of good food, laziness and denial about my blood sugar levels are catching up with me. My feet have started to tingle and I am now feeling some fear. I was hoping (hope is not a strategy) to control with diet and exercise but now have started taking the meds prescribed (but never taken) before we left the States. Our brains are so poorly hardwired for long-term change. But my father and brother died young deaths (67 and 63) of diabetes. I’m now 70. . But here goes: meds, low carb/no alcohol and walking. Hope it does the trick. I need my feet to work to continue as a nomad.