Along the FitPath

North Carolina is AWESOME!!

It feels great returning to Asheville to hike these amazing trails with old friends and new guests.  It's night three of the program and everyone is settling into the groove of the Carolina program.   Whilst the competition is hot around the pool table at night, the laughs flow through the sweat on the trails with us guides and then in the gym with the crew from Underdog Fitness.  Tomorrow we're off to the Appalachian Trail and then later this week to hike in the Great Smokey National Park!  Ahhhh what a "job".........

Cya on the next trail!
Jeff

BC season ends with North Carolina to open

What a season it has been! With guests traveling as far as Dublin and as close as Kelowna BC, it has been a most enjoyable year for us at Mountain Trek. Hard work and effort resulted in good weight loss but more importantly, motivation for continuing the program at home. 

Our last week in BC ends off with 11 guests taking part in the program followed by our North Carolina satellite opening November 7th. We still have some spaces open for North Carolina, and with holidays just around the corner, it's a great time to lose weight rather than gain weight. Start a new trend! 

And a big thanks to all that came to Mountain Trek this season. It was awesome to have spent time with all of you on the trails. to see the determination you each brought to the program, the support you lent to each other (especially on detox Tuesday), for the staff here at Mountain Trek, it's you (the guests) that are the program and make it happen. Thanks again. 

jp 

Journal Your Way to Success

At Mountain Trek, the focus is not on what we do too much of but what we do to little of. Creating patterns that are procreative can take some time and focus. Keeping track of your goals and progress through journal writing helps you make healthy behaviours a habit. Noted in a 2008 study in the International Journal of Obesity, recording your goals helps you keep in mind what you are trying to achieve, and it boosts your ability to make it happen. Think of it as your Bucket List for Health. Write down a list of patterns you are trying to establish and create boxes for everyday of the week. Check off your successes each day. One of our guests used an Excel spread sheet to support his fitness and weight loss goals which made it simple for him to use through out his day. 

One Of Our Biggest Losers

I want to share an email from a guest who came to MT for three weeks this spring. She wrote to us early this August to share with us her post Mountain Trek experiences. 

"Transitioning to home life was more difficult than I had imagined. I felt somewhat overwhelmed by the reintroduction of stressors and choices in my life. That said, I was very prepared for it all by the excellent discussions and classes that we had. I kept hearing Cathy and Jeff's voices in my head reminding me to keep it simple. Focus on one change a week and making myself a priority. I have continued to keep salt off the table and out of the kitchen. I have refrained from any sugar and white flour products. Diet coke has been a small struggle but Rome wasn't built in a day. I have made the gym and walking an absolute priority in my life. I have kept my weight loss at 1-1.5 lobs a week so I've lost another 15 lbs back home. My total loss from the day I signed up for Mountain Trek is 55 pounds. 

We flew back to New Hampshire for 2 weeks and I was able to hike with everyone and even got back up on water-skis. I never thought I would wear a bathing suit again. When were flying home I commented to my daughter that I wanted to fly Delta from now on because the seats were so much larger and my daughter pointed out that the seats were actually the same size and that it was me who had gotten smaller. 

I realized as I reached around myself in the airplane seat, that I am smaller. I think that has been one of the more difficult adjustments - seeing myself as the outside world sees me. I have spent so much of my life as one person and another person is slowly emerging. It isn't about the weight but what was buried beneath the weight - physically and emotionally. Mountain Trek gave me the strength and the tools to look underneath at what the real issues were. I cannot ever thank you enough for the three weeks I got to spend with you. It wasn't just life changing - it was life saving. 

-Julie- 

Along the FitPath

As I sit here and ponder what to blog today, I'm fortunate to have as inspiration the beautiful expanse of the Kootenay lake with the Purcell Mountain Range as a back drop. I'm often overcome with the beauty of this magical place, the serenity, and overwhelming space. Even with a cedar bug (a sign of the return of fall) climbing up the curtain in my office, doesn't offend me on this fine day. 

But again, what to blog today? Should I write it's only 6 weeks left in the season here at Ainsworth? How it was such a year of meeting new guests who are now good friends, and reuniting with our returning guests and sharing the stories of our lives with each other? I ponder this, how this place called Mountain Trek, nestled in a little piece of paradise becomes part of the landscape people call home even if they do not live here. I have listened to the challenges of our guests, their triumphs, and honest reflections of their worlds, and how they have come to see Mountain Trek as an oasis of sorts. A place to drop in and to let it all go, get fed some amazing food, see some stunning scenery, meet some interesting people, and find the place inside oneself to reflect and drink deep from the sounds and sights of nature. Maybe that's what I blog about, the power of nature, how simply sitting here with the expanse of the Kootenay Lake and surrounding mountains feeds my soul with something indescribable yet so profound. I know weight loss is a reason people come to Mountain Trek, but at times I wonder if it's something else more intrinsic, a call of the wild perhaps.... 

jp - pondering and wondering 

Welcome back to North Carolina!

It's that time of year again; the bears are loving the fall fruit, we, are hiking (and sometimes grazing!) through the most amazing huckleberry patches on record (my own memory record), the days are sunny but shortening and the air brings a sense of seasonal change.   With that change is our upcoming move south to the Bent Creek Lodge with owners and chef Jodee and Doug near Asheville NC for the continuation of Mountain Trek's amazing hikes and weight loss.

Last year we were a full house, with activities onsite at the lodge and on those gorgeous Pisgah National Forest trails. As you know, we are always improving our program and strive to be at the cutting edge of all health programs.  Thus, amongst a few other improvements for this year's Asheville program will be a fuller gym program with our local fitness guru, Anthony.  Amongst other activities to further enrich your "taking it home" experience, we'll go to his gym at least once a week to truly imprint the newest, most fun, most sweaty and most useful workouts you can imagine.  We were all blown away by Anthony's expertise and we are eager to share him with you!

See you in the future again , whether here in Ainsworth, in Asheville or somewhere else still to be announced:)
Jeff

Massage, detox and cellulite

For those of you who have experienced the FitPath program at our Mountain Trek locations, know we are big fans of various detoxification practices such as hydrotherapy, yoga and massage. Besides reducing the toxic load on the body, detoxification can help reduce the appearance of cellulite on the body. Cellulite (the dimply appearance on the backs of thighs and buttocks) is thought to be basically toxins protected by fat. Thus, if we reduce our toxic load and the toxins in our bodies, we can reduce the cellulite on our body. 

A specific kind of massage treatment known as lympathic drainage supports detoxification of the body. Briefly, the lymph system is our garbage system which collects and wastes and toxins from the cells which are then eliminated through the bladder. What is special to note about the lymphatic system is that it requires movement to keep those toxins moving out of the body (can anyone spell exercise?). Lymphatic drainage massage stimulates the lymph, gently pushing it in the correct directions (towards the lymph ducts in the body) while unblocking stubborn congestion. Thus the removal of toxins via the lymph system can be a very effective way of getting rid of cellulite. Combine that with daily skin brushing, the FitPath food plan, and any form of daily movement, say goodbye to cellulite! Plus massage just makes you feel good! 

jp

Putting your "failures" to music

One of the reasons I enjoy my role as a hiking guide here at Mountain Trek is for the different and interesting people I interact with. Some of the moments I cherish are the conversations on the trail with those I am hiking with. Once in awhile opportunity shows up and it's myself and one guest which opens a more personal conversation of those things of deeper meaning in our lives rather than the "what do you do for a living". It's flavor is of "how to you see the world?" Or "how do you color your world?"

I hope I do this conversation justice and I hope I can convey to you the beauty of the words of the man whom I had the pleasure to listen to. We were coming down the trail at Monica Meadows (photos of Monica Meadows are on our Facebook page..FitPath at Mountain Trek), and he brought to my attention a study done on the brain activity of mice as they experience success or failure (to which my mind thought "what would be deemed success for a mouse or failure but I digress). The point was that we don't necessarily learn from our mistakes as the study showed little or no brain activity in mice as they experienced failure. Conversely, their brains should tremendous activity when experiencing success. 

This conversation lead us to begin discussing if we did learn from our mistakes. Are we bound to repeat them because we too are like mice and have little brain activity during failure? Or maybe we simply choose to forget? What he then expressed is perhaps, we should give our "failures" a sensation. Thus giving them a colour or putting them to music (our own personal soundtrack), writing poetry about it or painting them out for expression, something that creates something from the experience. To cast it in a different light. Perhaps, our brain would then experience it differently thus learning from it (if learning was the goal).  In a sense, we would create art for ourselves, give our "failure"  the beauty of expression in whatever form we chose. Our lives become pieces of art. 

How beautiful I thought to myself, imagining my life as pieces of art I have created out of all my experiences of life. 

jp - poet at heart 

Experiencing Flow

 

Picture a warm summer evening, a healthy dinner eaten outdoors followed by a desire to go for a brisk 40 minute fitness walk as the day unwinds and cools down.  Does that describe your typical evening now, as after your visit to Mountain Trek you’ll have embraced the importance of the evening activity to lower blood sugars and release growth hormone factors to raise metabolism while sleeping?  If your answer is yes, high five!!  It most certainly describes most of my evenings.  However, I would like to share with you a night a couple of weeks ago where that typical evening walk metamorphosed into something much more, something I call flow. 

As the sun set and the air temperature dropped my two dogs and good friend and fellow MT guide JP and I set out at a brisk walk down my country road.  We reached a creek 3 kilometres along; we stopped to listened and watch as it flowed down the mountainside without effort.   How fresh and rejuvenating it must have been because as we turned to go back, with out speaking we just started to jog.  That jog turned into a run and the run picked up speed, I haven’t run in years (unless its between the office and the lodge at MT) but this felt good, we were matching each others breath and step, I would grab JP’s hand every now and then to help her negotiate a pot hole as it was dusk, the lighting was poor, and I knew the road. Now we were running full out, the strides were getting longer and faster, and we were breathing harder, louder, at one point I thought of slowing down but instead I pushed through and then came this ease… this ability to move with freedom, poise and strength.  It felt like I could keep running forever.....I had found flow.

Maybe it was the endorphins or maybe it was my companions or maybe just maybe at the heart of it was that fitness has an artistic quality that goes beyond more reps, sets, or techniques that ultimately the goal is to be able to move with freedom. Realize flow and you will open the gateway to peak performance and freedom.

 

Cathy; blogger, MT guide, fitness director and reformed runner!

 

 

Tiptoe through the Alpine

There has been a renaissance in Marathon Running over the last few years...dropping Nike Air for bare feet. A lot of research has been pointing at the lack of injuries (primarily to knee and hip joints) for the soft soled revivalists. The Kenyans, Ethiopians and Taramahara Natives have been barefoot long distance contenders for years, and they are able to do it well into their 40's and 50's, where most of us are getting knee surgery."How is this possible", you ask?

It's not so much the unprotected sole, but the change in gait, that has reduced the injuries. When we run or walk or hike barefoot, our unconscious automatically shortens our length of stride, and plants the ball of our foot ahead of our heel. Believe it or not, this is our "natural" way of walking, and is biomechanically most powerful and efficient. Try walking backwards on your carpet or lawn and your unconscious will automatically make you walk this way for safety. 

I'm not suggesting you have to hike barefoot, but if you shorten your stride (ankle bone to ankle bone...no further than the width of your shoulders), you will avoid over use of your hip flexors, and power your step with your glutes, and thigh muscles. And, if you can free your 10 little piggies from the imprisonment of your shoes once in awhile, try walking on a freshly mowed lawn, a sandy beach...or at least your carpet. Walking barefoot works more tendons and ligaments, and builds support to the arch and ankle.

For me, I'm hooked on hiking with free feet...feeling the ground's many textures, temperatures, contours, connects me to the earth, and adds one more sensual experience to being in the mountains...and at 53, my knees are happy! I plan to be tip toeing through the alpine in my 80's. 

Shoeless Kirk (guide and Lifestyle Coach)