Totally off topic. And please downvote and hate on this if its not relevant.

But cardio is the answer for all us ape descendants. I struggle with unwanted weight gain from 19 years old to 30+ something. I did a really long thru hike of the At, 2200 in 5 months. And holy shit thats what we are designed to be doing with our bodies.

Yea its not something most people do. Its not particularly healthy. But if you can arrange to do a thru hike dont hestitate and try it.

Takes a few weeks for your body and metabolize to adjust but we were doing 20-30mi per day with 10-30lbs packs and it felt normal way quicker than I thought possible. You can do crazy insane things if you just do it consistently. Twords the end I felt like I had infinite breathe and would never stop moving. I lost 50-60 lbs and I was eating more than I ever had before.

So yeah it was great. I learned to use my body and push way past what I thought was reasonable. Years later its way way way easier to exercise and keep doing what I previously would have never done becuase my perspective changed. 3mi trail run in an hour is just okay, a 10mile hike should be a warm up beacuase I actually know whats possible now.

Certainly I’ve struggled since that trip and getting hiker hunger under control was not fun. But I don’t feel like a pig anymore.That wasn’t the reason I started hiking. But if thats reason enough for you do it up. Keeping weight/my cardio ability under control is way way easier post thru hike.