Last year, on April 1 - because starting a weight-loss journey on April Fools' Day is a great way to keep things interesting - a 50+ year-old man (me) decided to shed over 100 pounds. The motivation? A mix of health concerns and the fact that I'd promised a friend I'd walk an 80-mile section of the Camino Francés from Sarria to Santiago de Compostela that November. Carrying an extra 100 pounds while hiking is not recommended, so something had to give.

I opted for Mounjaro, a dual GIP/GLP-1 receptor agonist (but let's be real, everyone just calls it a GLP-1). The side effects - indigestion, nausea, gastric upsets, lethargy, and even allodynia (a fancy word for 'things that shouldn't hurt suddenly do') - weren't a picnic, but the drug was efficient: I dropped about 14 pounds per month for seven months. I won't get into the medical nitty-gritty; talk to your doctor. But I'd do it again.

Now, the tech: My iPhone 17 Pro and Apple Watch Ultra were my trusty sidekicks. The Apple Watch collected workout data and a slew of health metrics, and its battery life handled long trail days. For Android users, Garmin, Amazfit, Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra, or Polar are solid alternatives.

I used the Withings Body Smart scale ($110) for daily weigh-ins, tracking weight, body fat, muscle mass, and more. It's not a DEXA scan, but it's good enough. The Withings Body Scan 2 ($600) does even more, but I haven't tested it yet. I weighed myself daily to banish scale-fear and smooth out fluctuations. The Withings app stores data in Apple Health, but for trend analysis, I loved Happy Scales (iOS only; Android users try Libra Weight Manager). It focused on moving trends, not daily noise, and kept me motivated.

For calorie counting, MyFitnessPal is decent despite dupes and ads. I also used StressWatch for HRV monitoring (though I didn't find it that useful) and wish I'd had Glapp, a GLP-1 dose tracker that logs doses, weight, and side effects. Sleep tracking? Not for me - I sleep fine and can tell when I don't.

Training involved 100+ miles per month and carrying a 25-pound pack (eventually 45 pounds) using a Goruck rucksack. Train hard, hike easy. The Camino was wet but wonderful, and I've now set my sights on the full 500-mile route in 2027. Since stopping active weight loss six months ago, I've maintained my weight with daily weigh-ins and logged over 650 miles of walks, hikes, and rucking this year. It's not about looking good - it's about keeping up with the things I love as I age.