Originally Posted by
Miel
I was 5' 3" 119 pounds when I hiked the Long Trail (Vermont), 110 pounds when I did the Bikecentennial with my parents, 10 pounds when I hitched, ferried and walked half the Intracoastal waterway. Now I'm an an inch shorter ... and not 120 pounds. There are people hiking the AT at 300 pounds. My from own experience, the weight comes off. Even when I do the one-day Walk for Hunger (20 miles), a fundraiser here in Boston, I take off a few pounds - and the organizers provide us with high-calorie, high-protein snacks.
Ask your doctor (if you haven't already) to look for hypercholesterolemia. You might be overproducing ... the first word that came to mind when I read your post was dyslipedemia.
If you have no health issues that you no of, see your doctor anyway and tell her of your plans. The knee problems may be due to something as simple as weight. I told my doctor that when I get closer to my thru-hike, I want all the tests in the book, so's I can avoid getting sick.
I only have Long Trail and flatlander hiking experience; others will give you more extensive advice. But at age 49 lipid, diabetes, EKG, mammogram testing should be well underway. You may just have a predisposition to weight. You say "I know I should lose weight" - I hope you feel this way for health matters, and not for what society says about overweight people.
Barring any pre-existing conditions, you will probably lose weight on the hike. I myself am losing the poundage just by walking up and the down the various low-lying hills in the cities and towns of eastern Massachusetts as well as walking with a pack the beaches in my little harbor city and the surrounding towns (great for getting the legs stronger). Have you considered a trip to Indiana dune country, not far from you?
I'm sure you'll be great!