Geocaching Weight Loss Program :-)

[+Dan_Edwards]

Last July I had some friends visit me and we did a bunch of hiking and mountain biking. One of the main things it showed me was just how out of shape I was. Considering I was getting close to 300lbs (283) I actually was in pretty good shape thanks to Geocaching, but I was not losing weight. So over the winter I found a program for my Handspring Visor that counted calories and couple of really good databases and websites for calorie information for every food from just about every resurant chain in the U.S. After some "sticker shock" on a lot of foods I loved, I started to work on finding foods that I loved just as much that did not have such a high "cost" to my weight. After losing 35 lbs I started to work out. At first that put a stop to my weight for about 3 weeks but then I started to lose weight again (although during that time I did continue to lose inches around my waist).

 

I have now lost 87 lbs and I am very close to my recommended BMI (Body Mass Index).

 

If you look at my profile I have before and after picture. The before picture was taken July 2nd 2002 when Jeremy visited my Roaring Creek Cache. That is a picture of me holding up a card that Jeremy left in the cache. The lower picture was taken today when I went to try to climb Lookout Mountain (got turned around because of the snow).

 

While Geocaching is not directly responsible for my weight loss, I know that I never would have started the program if I had not started to hike. The only reason I started to hike was Geocaching. I can't believe how much faster I can climb to Geocaches now.

 

For some oddball reason it has not helped my find ratio though. Now that I get to the cache area faster, its like the cache knows I have more time to find it, so it hides itself better... Oh well, small price to pay

 

A = A

[Tahosa and Sons]

Congratulations Dan, now I have to get to work and make some tougher caches.

Will there we a contest between you and the Duc in the future?

Also I'm gonna have to get busy and go looking for that strange elixir you have placed in the hills.

 

Tahosa - Dweller of the Mountain Tops.

[+lightnsound]

Dan- Thanks for your post. I was interested in caching for a while after seeing a link on Garmin's Webpage. I didn't get actively invloved until I decided to do something about my weight, after much urging from my doctor. I'm only up to about 18 finds and haven't seen anything yet, but I'm sure that all the trudging through the woods is helping.

 

I'm 6'1" 290# and now convinced that I can do it.

 

Thanks, man.

 

I am not addicted to geocaching, really.