Contributor: Rich Butler, MS, USPTA
To learn more about Rich, click here.
(Fife and drums playing) Over two centuries ago, long before Coach Belichick dominated the NFL, there was an event by the New England Patriots that changed history. On April 19th, 1775, while the British were returning the 20 miles from Concord to Boston, Patriots from Lexington, Concord, Acton, Sudbury, Bedford, and Lincoln to name a few, displayed remarkable feats of aerobic endurance in their attempt to do battle with the British Regulars heading east. Patriots covered 15-20 miles as they chased the British. The militia were the most fit and athletic from each town, fully capable of enduring the physical demands of that day. According to their Apple watches, the minutemen burned 5,300 calories that day and had an average BMI of ~21.3.
Just 100 miles north of Wharton is a contemporary test of that same endurance, save British soldiers with bayonets. The Appalachian Trail (AT) provides individuals a place to return their physiology back into action with 15-25 miles of hiking a day. The typical day will lead to an expenditure of > 4000 calories for women and > 6000 calories for men.
Carb Loading. No surprise, the AT diet is often an endocrinologist's (and dentist's) nightmare, with hundreds of grams of simplified, sugared, highly processed, and highly glycemic carbohydrates. 5,000 or more calories pour into the GI tract daily, often in large doses. Insulin explodes from the pancreas like a firehose. And then, fat loss? Mr. Taubes, please explain.
Paradoxical Findings. Regardless of the high sugars and fats in the diet of most hikers, there is a remarkably consistent occurrence. When Jessica Mills aka Dixie asked her YouTube followers about what they experienced, men told her the trail led to 35-75 lbs. of weight loss while some women lost 20-34 lbs. of weight. On her 2021 AT attempt, Kara Kirtley was regretting her 20 lbs. of weight lost in the first 21 days on the trail, as she was feeling very fatigued every afternoon. A 2004 study reported an average weight loss of 8 lbs. (72 women) and 15 lbs. (208 men) over the 5-6 months of hiking. “Well, ahvi!” my teenage daughter says dismissively after reading. Unfortunately, the trail eventually ends, and often the weight that was lost returns.
“The confidence people have in their beliefs is not a measure of the quality of evidence but of the story the mind has managed to construct.”
~ Daniel Kahneman
I hope you liked my story of the hikers and their weight loss, but I employed the system 1 or ‘Thinking Fast’ process that Daniel Kahneman, Nobel Prize winner in economics, writes about in Thinking Fast and Slow. ‘Thinking Fast’ works very well with effortless problems to solve like 2+2 or stopping at a red light. It is a very attractive system, as it is easier to use and less costly than ‘Thinking slow,’ and we can simply associate (hiking = weight loss), and we have our answer. Here are a few associations for you to try. I say ‘carbs’ you think______. I say ‘sugar’ you think _______. I say ‘cardio’ you think _______. Kahneman would hypothesize that whatever association you chose, it was likely an incomplete and simplified one.
Unfortunately for many of the highly confident purveyors of the ‘weight loss secrets’ peddling their formula for success, human physiology is a system 2 or ‘Thinking Slow’ issue, and that is likely why obesity has risen disproportionately over the past 5 decades. It is complicated. As Kahneman explained to the National Academy of Sciences in 2016, thinking slow is “effortful, tiring, and depleting.” Using Thinking Slow means we must allow reasoned thinking to lead to beliefs. Kahneman gives the example of a relatively simple mathematical problem that over 50% of MIT, Harvard, and Princeton freshmen get wrong because they don’t employ ‘Thinking slow.’ Kahneman states that often in science “We have beliefs and then we develop the reasons for those beliefs. We are inclined to believe arguments that support positions that we already have.”
My observations on the fight against obesity tell me that, despite what the book titles claim, total calories eaten do matter, carbohydrates are worth watching but not eliminating, calories burned play a role, and there is no detox diet that boosts results. And consistency matters. Just like a hiker on the AT or a Patriot marching to the next showdown, it is a daily habit.
So, the next time Paul Revere rides into your town exclaiming “Paleo is the answer” or “Yoga for weight loss,” I wouldn’t go ringing the church bell quite yet.
Contact Rich: [email protected]
References
- Boulware, DR. Gender differences among long-distance backpackers: A prospective study of women Appalachian Trail backpackers. Wilderness Environ Med. 2004 Fall;15(3):175-80.
- Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
- Kirtley, K. (Kara Kirtley). (February 25, 2022) Overweight on the Appalachian trail (video). OVERWEIGHT ON THE APPALACHIAN TRAIL | Yellow Creek Gap to Fontana Hilton | AT Day 26 - PART I - YouTube
- Mills, J. (Jessica Mills). (March 4, 2020) Is long distance backpacking the best way to lose weight? (video). Is Long Distance Backpacking the Best Way to Lose Weight? - YouTube
- Taubes G (2007). Good calories, bad calories: fats, carbs and the controversial science of diet and health. Random House.