Trekking an alternative to Dieting

Is dieting one of your regular habits? I guess so but after reading this blog, I believe there would be a different prescriptive to it.

I being a food manic would not be able to resist the temptation of the lovely food flavors & spices around us.
Luckily I have some motivation to enjoy the delicious food around and not having to diet just by simply travelling and trekking which helps me to be fit and increase my resistance power, immunity and reduce stress. 

While looking at these the major factors of trekking which is leading to my whole body workout and helps me in improving the health significantly which dieting will never help. This is an activity that continuously testing my strength (particularly of the legs). What actually is happening is that my body is constantly on the move due to which the muscles get stretched, as I climb a hill. 

Have you ever thought about this or got motivated to feel healthier just by simple walking and regular treks instead of dieting? 

This process will not happen overnight as it did not happen for me. It takes commitment from individual and also commitment from your spouse / family.

In my case my spouse and daughter are equivalent energetic to travel, so I've no problems at all. 

I personally feel that when you combine the physical and mental benefits of a trekking with controlled calorie intake can make trekking an effective tool in reducing your weight.

I always set my plan up front for the entire month where I identify what I would be doing on weekends and holidays as weekdays the driving and office keeps me busy :-)

My First Step to Trek:

I started my first simple trek in Khaneri Caves near Borivali few years ago. The location is very much in heart of Bombay and this could be a good starting point for starters living in Bombay.
The Caves are easily reachable from Western suburbs of Bombay. 
You can get off at Borivali Railway station and take a Bus/Auto. You can also go by your own vehicle: two wheeler or four wheeler to the Caves as they have ample of parking space. From the base you need to climb stone steps to visit the various caves. I went with my Bike as in the morning it was quite comfortable to reach by 6:00 AM. 
We started the trek by 6:30 AM and managed to reach up the hill by 7:30 AM with several gossips and capturing photo at various stages of the trek.
The view from the hill was amazing when it was just about dawn with quite cold breeze around. 

The best part of these journey's is that you meet so many people and observe so many things going around. As I've a hobby of photography which you could see on my Facebook Page, I've been capturing amazing moments from all my trips.

One of the amazing guy I met at Khaneri Caves @ the ticket counter was the below gentleman with amazing mustaches reminded me of a movie Sharabi with the famous dialog "Mooche Ho Toh Nathulal Jaise Ho Warna Na Ho" 

As I expressed it was not hard to take this trek, and with few friends and colleagues with me, it was a jovious adventure. 
You will start appreciating small steps which you will take to a healthier life which one would not gain by doing dieting.
Dieting will NOT improve your stamina or immunity or physically, mentally make you stronger but physical exercise will make you.

My main observation in this process would be that it require a lot of discipline, you need to be in the habit of sleeping early and getting up early enabling to enjoy the trek and not get exhausted during the course of the trek.

One of the important element of successful trekking is being motivated to begin.
The whole objective here would be is building a great stamina base and teaches your body to burn fat as an energy source. 

What I've seen and observed in my health is that my stamina & energy has been good and I've NOT controlled my diet in any ways. I enjoy the same amount of food which I used to do earlier as my travelling & trekking takes care of the workout part which I can't do it on weekdays. Please note that this process may not help you to reduce your belly in anyways, but will at least ensure it would not grow :-)

There are few things which I have learned & allowed me in this process of travelling & trekking which I'm sharing as a guidelines for people who would like to start this process:

1. Your trek selection would be the first in your agenda followed by how and when
2. You should always start very early, I suggest 5AM / 6AM
3. You should always carry few basic food and water needs but it would be purely on activity-based excursions / trek time. 
4. I suggest one should pay extra special attention to packing plenty of fluids mainly for hot weather adventures. This purely depends on some key factors like length of the trip, what foods & beverages to carry, how you'll eat & drink and how light it would be to carry
5. Shoes are very important part of any trekking, esnure you have the right one
6. You should also pre-hydrate by drinking few ml of water before a start the hike so you have carry less
7. I personally carry an umbrella during heavy summer days instead of cap as it allows me to keep me cool during  the trek. I always have 2 umbrellas in my car which can be handy anytime
8. You should also have a small rucksack allowing you to keep basic things like sun glasses, cap,  hand towel, possibly a spare clothes (if water trek), hand soap, sanitizer, first aid kit, power bank, torch (if night trek), basic medication, sun screen lotion, mosquito repellent (if night trek) etc..

After my first trek, I've done several travels and with regards to trekking, below is what I've covered:

1. Lohagarh Fort Trek, Maharashtra
2. Sandhan Valley Trek, Maharashtra
3. Karnala Fort Trek, Maharashtra
4. Matheran Trek, Maharashtra
5. Etretat, France
6. Tiger Nest Trek, Paro, Bhutan
7. Söderåsen National Park, Sweden
8. Kaas Plateau Trek, Maharashtra
9. Saputara Trek, Gujarat 
10. Mount Fløyen, Bergen, Norway
11. Nandi Hills, Bangalore
12. Gulmarg, Kashmir 
13. Ahmednagar Trek
14. Chiplun, Maharashtra
15. Kondane Caves, Maharashtra
16. Igatpuri Trek, Maharashtra
17. Many More.....

I shall write a separate blog in detail for each of the trek which I covered

Summary:
Hopefully if you take care few pointers before you start trekking and make it one of your routine, you’ll soon realize that you would not need dieting anymore. 
It’s quite likely that the first few weeks/months you might over eat due to your excessive / change in your living but you’ll soon get used to the process and it will be part of your normal life cycle. 
All in all a month or so later no one will know you’ve been stop dieting and you can continue travelling & trekking as your primary physical goals.

I personally believe you have one life with plenty of food and places around, why waste by not enjoying it. If you want to go travel with a decent trekking, please do it. 

Hope this was helpful. Now, take a hike and STOP dieting!

~Sunil Khatri

This blog writing was inspired by my Travel Partner TravelTrikon, do visit their site for more travel plans and upcoming events.

Sharing few photos from the treks: