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Hiking and Meditation Helped This Guy Get Sober and Lose 350 Pounds
Yahoo News! ^ | Thu, January 6, 2022 | Taylyn Washington-Harmon

Posted on 01/06/2022 3:01:24 PM PST by nickcarraway

Scott Todd is a 31-year-old healthcare worker turned weight loss counselor from Phoenix, Arizona. Alcoholism and opioid addiction after losing his stepmom made him turn to food as a coping method. Here's how he got sober and healtho

I've actually have lost a total of 500 pounds over the course of my lifetime. Despite working really hard to lose the weight in the past, I gained it all back within a few years. The biggest factor to this weight gain was big-time depression.

I was addicted to taking prescription painkillers and drinking for many years, and it destroyed my will, dreams, and aspirations. I lost my stepmom to cancer and this triggered my journey into gaining weight. She was always my biggest cheerleader, especially while chasing my degree in Exercise Science in 2013. Losing her just made me lose a lot of my fight. I wanted to hide away from the world, and didn’t want anyone to know who I was. So, I used drugs and food to mask the pain. At my heaviest, I was 525 pounds.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Food; Health/Medicine
KEYWORDS: hiking; weightloss
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1 posted on 01/06/2022 3:01:24 PM PST by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway
Walking is one of the most underrated ways of keeping fit. That's partly because you don't need to purchase fancy equipment. If you have a pair of shoes, you can walk.

2 posted on 01/06/2022 3:07:58 PM PST by Governor Dinwiddie (LORD, grant thy people grace to withstand the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil.)
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To: nickcarraway

Looking at those photos, I see that losing weight really brought out how handsome he is. How wonderful that he is getting his life together.


3 posted on 01/06/2022 3:23:36 PM PST by KittyKares (Trump put us in the room; now we're putting ourselves in the room. - Steve Bannon)
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To: nickcarraway

Let’s see how long it last and I wish him well but in reality, being fat is a self chosen lifestyle. You can blame it on a million things but it’s simply self choice.

Yes there’s the 1 in a million with a disease that causes being overweight but the other 999,999 is self chosen.


4 posted on 01/06/2022 3:46:25 PM PST by maddog55 (The only thing systemic in America is the left's hatred of it!)
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To: nickcarraway

I love hiking, although I only call it “hiking” as opposed to “a nice walk outdoors” if I can’t do it in a long dress. I have chronic foot pain now, but I still put my boots on, take that nice pill from my podiatrist, and get out as much as possible.

We had heavy rain in the last week after a long time without, and I made the kids go with me to two different sites to look at runoff management. Buncha whiners!


5 posted on 01/06/2022 4:07:05 PM PST by Tax-chick (Nature, art, silence, simplicity, peace. And fungi.)
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To: nickcarraway
Bravo for him.

He does have some excellent advise: ...don't overdo it on exercise. Most people do not know how to properly train in the gym and go way harder than they should, hurt themselves eventually, and lose all motivation to continue. Your health journey is a marathon, so please take your time, try to understand how your body operates.

This is what I tell my wife, it is a journey, take your time, don't over do it, but you have to be consistent.
6 posted on 01/06/2022 4:08:06 PM PST by Tommy Revolts
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To: KittyKares

Nice looking young man if he would tidy up!


7 posted on 01/06/2022 4:08:29 PM PST by Tax-chick (Nature, art, silence, simplicity, peace. And fungi.)
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To: maddog55

Well, consider that the medical experts advise people to lose weight in ways that are bound to fail.


8 posted on 01/06/2022 4:10:56 PM PST by nickcarraway
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To: Tax-chick
We had heavy rain in the last week after a long time without, and I made the kids go with me to two different sites to look at runoff management. Buncha whiners!

I have a friend who takes her kids out hiking and sometimes they complain. I actually liked hiking when I was a kid. Did you see a lot of mushrooms?

9 posted on 01/06/2022 4:12:52 PM PST by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

I was surprised at how much fungus there was at the nature preserve, which is mixed deciduous/pine forest, heavy on oaks. Some looked like they were fresh since the rain stopped, even though we had about 48 hours of cold when the front came through. (No snow here.)

We didn’t get in the woods at the other park.


10 posted on 01/06/2022 4:15:01 PM PST by Tax-chick (Nature, art, silence, simplicity, peace. And fungi.)
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To: Tax-chick

My guess is that he took the photo just after exercising.


11 posted on 01/06/2022 4:41:23 PM PST by KittyKares (Trump put us in the room; now we're putting ourselves in the room. - Steve Bannon)
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To: KittyKares

Good point.


12 posted on 01/06/2022 4:44:57 PM PST by Tax-chick (Nature, art, silence, simplicity, peace. And fungi.)
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To: maddog55

Yeah, kinda like drug addiction, smoking, alcoholism, etc.


13 posted on 01/06/2022 4:45:17 PM PST by The Duke (Search for 'Sydney Ducks' and understand what is needed.)
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To: nickcarraway

That’s Chris Christie on the left


14 posted on 01/06/2022 4:55:46 PM PST by imabadboy99
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To: Tommy Revolts

“He does have some excellent advise: ...don’t overdo it on exercise. Most people do not know how to properly train in the gym and go way harder than they should, hurt themselves eventually, and lose all motivation to continue. Your health journey is a marathon, so please take your time, try to understand how your body operates.”

150-200 mins per week of “moderate” aerobic exercise (every friggin’ week!!!) with a healthy diet of whole foods will cause you to lose 1-2 pounds per week.

Any faster than that is harmful.


15 posted on 01/06/2022 5:02:12 PM PST by Mariner (War criminal #18)
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To: nickcarraway

“Well, consider that the medical experts advise people to lose weight in ways that are bound to fail.”

They fail due to lack of will.

If you maintain a daily deficit of 500 calories you will lose 1 pound per week, for every week you have the will to continue.

There are a bunch of fools on this site that argue that’s some lie.

But it has been proven clinically over a dozen times.

It only fails when you allow people to CHOOSE to eat more.


16 posted on 01/06/2022 5:10:56 PM PST by Mariner (War criminal #18)
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To: Mariner

I have no willpower.

But I have plenty of wontpower, it turns out. As in, “I won’t eat that thing that’ll make me feel crappy,” or, “I won’t be lazy and forego the exercise bike today.”


17 posted on 01/06/2022 5:25:23 PM PST by sitetest (Professional patient. No longer mostly dead. Again. It's getting to be a habit.)
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To: Iowa Granny; Ladysmith; Diana in Wisconsin; JLO; sergeantdave; damncat; phantomworker; joesnuffy; ..
Outdoors/Rural/wildlife/hunting/hiking/backpacking/National Parks/animals list please FR mail me to be on or off . And ping me is you see articles of interest.

Whatever works. I'm reminded of an incident about a decade ago while visiting friends in Beaver Creek Co. I like to hike, and in the PM I took a trail, up to one of the peaks, the Centennial Run I believe. Near the top I heard some heavy noises behind me. Having seen a momma bear and two cubs walking my friends dog in the am I stopped at a spot that gave me good visibility, and was soon greeted by a very large man plodding up the trail at a high speed. Better than a bear. We talked for awhile, he weighed just over 300 pounds, down from over 500 over a couple years. Said nothing the doctors suggested worked, he lost it all by hiking. I suspect a lessened appetite helped. He headed up himself, I couldn't keep up easily, and we spoke briefly at the top before heading down our own ways. Full disclosure, I think I took a lift halfway up, only walking the last mile and a half then back down.

18 posted on 01/10/2022 7:47:50 AM PST by SJackson (I just think COVID is God's gift to the left, Jane Fonda)
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To: nickcarraway

Nice story from this young man, but he sure jumps from fad to fad. I hope he finds stability. It sounds like he may have with his new career path helping others with their health.

I find keeping records of my health really keeps tabs on things. I maintain a large spreadsheet with lots of health data. It has my weight going back to January 3, 2002 (yes, just passed my 20th anniversary of tracking weight!); blood sugar back to 2015 (it was starting to creep up); blood pressure back to 1999 (when I was 52). I use a fitness tracker to keep track of my hikes, walks and work-outs. I used MyFitnessPal to track the food I eat throughout 2019 to lose some weight, but I quit using it in 2020 and 2021. So some COVID pounds got added. I resumed using MyFitnessPal a month ago.

Being a mechanical engineer, I view the body as a machine and tracking preventative maintenance data is just normal procedure. I doesn’t take very long and really helps keep me on track and avoid losing control. I usually measure blood pressure, blood sugar and weight about every third or fourth day. I use an Omron “Body Composition Monitor with Scale” which calculates BMI, muscle mass and fat. It’s always enjoyable seeing results of increased activity show up in the numbers.

But, as this young man says, the real proof is how you look and how you feel about yourself.


19 posted on 01/10/2022 8:37:18 AM PST by ProtectOurFreedom (81 million votes...and NOT ONE "Build Back Better" hat)
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To: SJackson

This was a VERY disappointing PING!

Where’s the part where the dieting guy gets attacked by a bear or a mountain lion? ;)


20 posted on 01/10/2022 8:40:54 AM PST by Diana in Wisconsin (I don't have, 'Hobbies.' I'm developing a robust Post-Apocalyptic skill set. )
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