Quote:
"I feel the number one and most important action to loose weight is to eat right."

I think this is exactly right.

Quote:
"I think long backpack trips are VERY effective for weight loss."

While true, the evil downside to this is that by the time you've brought your weight down substantially, your appetite has grown enormously. When the hike is over you go home with a temporarily cranked up metabolism and the habit and expectation of eating a lot. It's common to gain weight back as a result.

While I'm still in search of the elusive discipline to keep my food intake down (and quality of the food I do eat up), I literally do a sort of slow-motion yo-yo diet. I'll hike about a month on the AT starting mid-March with a friend who's going to thru-hike the trail, as I find a month is about a sweet spot for me. I can lose a good 20 pounds or perhaps a bit more while eating whatever I want, and "the hunger" has just barely started to occur at that point. For me.

That boils down to perhaps what you're referring to as "power hiking" (what exactly is that anyway?) all day, just about every day for a month. So in that context, I'm suspicious that 30 minutes would do too much, and feel that food portion and quality control are more important.

Coupled WITH a good exercise program. In THAT context, 30 minute hikes sound excellent to me. My wife and I tend to do one or two local walks per week just from our house that last more than 30 minutes. I suggest some sort of weight training as well if you can fit it in.
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Brian Lewis
http://postholer.com/brianle