PDA

View Full Version : Pay us $600 to hike the AT and lose weight



c.coyle
08-08-2005, 19:04
For half the price, you can hike Pa. with me and lift boulders for a week. Lose weight and build lean muscle.

Fatpacking.com (http://fatpacking.com/)

Lanthar Mandragoran
08-09-2005, 00:32
actually, that's not a half-bad business plan...

Frolicking Dinosaurs
08-09-2005, 03:59
People pay this to go to 'fat farms' and do farm labor to lose weight. People pay way more than this to go to 'fat spas' and get massaged and starved. As Lanthar says, this is a viable business plan.

papa john
08-09-2005, 07:27
Did you get a look at the "meals". No meat. No thanks! Might be OK for some but not for me.

Freighttrain
08-09-2005, 07:45
24 hr munchies do me in ;)

Frolicking Dinosaurs
08-09-2005, 09:00
Yikes - the meals are awful http://fatpacking.com/GSMmenu.cfm

Lion King
08-09-2005, 09:33
IS there a post FatFarm work study beuing done?

As with any long distance hiker, people who work hard for a few weeks, eat a little and get lean build a change in their physical reactions to food...then they get fat again...maybe fatter after about 2 months if they dont keep up the same level of intense work out(Unless they have a fireball metebolism)...be careful...I thought this was a joke at first...hell you can pay me $500 and I will hike and lose wieght...that way Im saving you a hundred bucks...thats how I roll, looking out for you. :D:D

Lone Wolf
08-09-2005, 09:37
If you're serious about losing weight and keeping it off you'll just do it. Change your lifestyle and get off your fat ass and exercise. Diets and fat farms, fat hikes whatever are short term fixes. I speak from experience.

Youngblood
08-09-2005, 09:38
Looked like a pretty fine fare for multiple day backpacking to me. There was meat... jerky, tuna, hot dogs. Remember, you have carry several days of food up and over mountains and such, so you have limits on volume and weight... at least I do. I think I usually pack between 1.5 to 2 pounds per day, depending on how much I have dehydrated before hand.

I hope they do well, sounds like a good plan... teaching newbees how to backpack and become healthier/happier people while they are doing something they hopefully will enjoy. :clap

Youngblood

Youngblood
08-09-2005, 09:49
If you're serious about losing weight and keeping it off you'll just do it. Change your lifestyle and get off your fat ass and exercise. Diets and fat farms, fat hikes whatever are short term fixes. I speak from experience.Wolf, you are right that they are short term fixes if you don't make changes in your lifestyle when you get back... and if you make those changes in your life style you can lose the weight without the backpacking trip. But that doesn't mean this isn't a good program, maybe SOME of them will be encouraged and make lifestyle changes when they get back. Most of us need some life changing event to make this happen, why can't a backpacking trip be that for some people? I think it has a chance to have as high success rate as other plans (or schemes if you will)... certainly it has an element of excitement or adventure to it.

Youngblood

Lone Wolf
08-09-2005, 09:52
Ok I agree. Just ain't MY style. :)

Youngblood
08-09-2005, 09:57
Ok I agree. Just ain't MY style. :)What you talking about... I could see you leading a group on a backpacking trip. You would be a natural, they would love it and so would you.

Youngblood

The Solemates
08-09-2005, 11:38
this is hilarious...but the capitalist in me says good for the guy for making his dream his business.

D'Artagnan
08-09-2005, 12:23
Why not just put the $600 into gear and hike yourself. That way, you're not limited to two weeks and you can make this a lifestyle change and not just a quick fix that won't work long-term anyway? It's what I've done. (A former fat-a$$ who decided to get up and start backpacking and has not looked back.) :D

norub
08-09-2005, 12:30
I am skeptical about clients actually losing much weight. Novice backpackers always tend to carry way heavier packs/stuff than they need. Plus a lot of them will prob have brand-new boots on, probably not broken it much, if at all. And most will be sedentary, overweight people. Put those factors together and I doubt the group would cover much over 10 miles per day, if that, due to blisters and too-heavy packs on out-of-shape people.

Add to that the fact that people are allowed to bring as much food was they want (nothing stopping them from cramming a bunch of Little Debbies in their pack) on top of getting the generous meals prepared by the guides, I just don't see them generating much of a calorie deficit.

Another concern is dieting on the trail. When you consider that a pound of body fat equals 3500 calories, that means that a person would have to eat 3500 calories less than their body needs/burns just to lose one measly pound. If your goal is to lose a pound per week, that means eating 500 fewer calories EVERY DAY for a week than you are burning. Running that kind of deficit can make a person tired, cranky and definately feeling hungry all day. Possibly even lightheaded. Not the kind of shape a person ought to be in when they are out in the wilderness. Not safe, and definately not fun.

Jaybird
08-09-2005, 13:46
GOD BLESS AMERICA!

another hiker has found that hikin' & eating "normally" will get you losing all kinds of weight!

what a concept! hehehehehehehe :D



i'd hike a section with you for $500. or best offer!

papa john
08-09-2005, 14:49
The hot dogs are not meat hot dogs. Didn't see any tuna.

Youngblood
08-09-2005, 15:47
Tuna is #4, under lunch. The folks putting this on sound like they know what they are doing, they can figure out who is not in good enough shape to even try and will know to limit the weight clients carry. I wish them the best, I think it is great.

Jack Tarlin
08-09-2005, 16:06
Just in case anyone was wondering, commercial ventures on the Trail, i.e., runnning a business of any sort and/or collecting money for services, is illegal on National Scenic Trails; the A.T. and other N.S. Trails have government protection equivalent to our National Parks. Just as one can't set up a shop or business in Yellowstone or Zion without permission, without permits, etc., one can't run a business that charges people money while taking them hiking on the A.T. without breaking the law in the process. I wonder if this outfit is aware of this.

Lone Wolf
08-09-2005, 17:08
Call the ATC and rat em out. :rolleyes:

Two Speed
08-09-2005, 18:27
I thought if you had the insurance and all that crap you could do this sort of thing. Besides, if you can't run a commercial venture in the national forests, what are all those loggers doing out there? :-?

Sly
08-09-2005, 19:49
I thought if you had the insurance and all that crap you could do this sort of thing. Besides, if you can't run a commercial venture in the national forests, what are all those loggers doing out there? :-?

All that crap=permits.

Loggers in NF aside, there's a number of commercial ventures allowed in National Parks and Forests including rafting, horse and llama packing and guided backpacking.

norub
08-09-2005, 22:07
Just in case anyone was wondering, commercial ventures on the Trail, i.e., runnning a business of any sort and/or collecting money for services, is illegal on National Scenic Trails; the A.T. blah blah blah

I see no need for anyone to act like a "Trail cop" here.

smokymtnsteve
08-09-2005, 22:14
like is this serious man??? ..i kinda thought they were jist having fun....

Two Speed
08-10-2005, 08:41
All that crap=permits.

Loggers in NF aside, there's a number of commercial ventures allowed in National Parks and Forests including rafting, horse and llama packing and guided backpacking.
Thanks, Sly. I would have been very surprised to find otherwise.

To continue, it's a legitimate business model. The worst thing I see happenning is a few overweight hikers decide hiking ain't for them. I suspect that happens to a couple of hikers every spring on the approach trail from Amicalola Falls. That hasn't caused any real harm that I know of, other than wounding a few egos.

The best thing is that they get the "bug" and start seeing the outdoors in person instead of on the TV and maybe get their weight under control.

Heck, I've got an idea. Why not let this guy try it out. If it works, good on him. If it doesn't he has to get another day job.

Jack Tarlin
08-10-2005, 16:48
Hi Norub, nice of you to join us.

No one's being a trail cop....all I did was point out that in some cases, running a business on federal land or in a National Park is not legal. In nearly every case, you ned to go thru a process of permits, fees, permission, etc. This is usually done in order to make sure that the business in question is legitimate, avove board, and providing the services they are promising. (The authorities also, on a case-by-case basis, decide whether or not the business in question is one that they feel belongs on federal land).

Oh, never mind that charging fat people money to take them hiking on the AT seems a wee bit tacky in my opinion, but if you disagree, by all means, if you want, go check 'em out and have a good time. Most folks that wanna lose some weight on the Trail find a way to do this all by themselves, without paying a third party for the privilege, but to each their own.

Lilred
08-10-2005, 17:45
like is this serious man??? ..i kinda thought they were jist having fun....

I thought it was a joke too.......

Then again, there are a lot of people on the trail that don't know what they're doing. I stayed in a shelter with one group of foreigners that asked me "where do we throw away our garbage?" They were quite surprised when I told them 'in your backpacks'.

Get a group of newbies and train em up right, I say. Doesn't the bible have a quote about that?... "train them up in the way they should go and in later years they shall not depart from it"..... or something like that. Who knew the bible was so hiker friendly.....

That was a joke folks, let's not start a religious war now. :datz

MOWGLI
08-10-2005, 17:53
Lots of folks lack the confidence necessary to venture out on their own. That's why groups like Outward Bound are quite successful. I see nothing wrong with someone paying another party to offer services that are desired. Provided the "business" has the appropriate permits - of course.

SGT Rock
08-10-2005, 18:13
Hey, I could run one of these :D

I think I would have problems putting up with all the sniveling.