Fitness

I wore a crappy 10kg weighted vest as often as I could for about two months, hoping that it would turn me into Goku. It was extremely draining, and I felt like I would never get used to it.

And I didn't. Not really. It was difficult to wear for more than one day, and I couldn't really gauge if I had spent enough time recovering from my last session before I put it back on. I'd wear it on and off throughout the day and then go for a run, then take it off for a day or two and put it back on once I felt back to normal. But I'd quickly realize I hadn't fully recovered.

I just never felt like I was getting the most out of it or using it to its full potential. I experimented quite a bit, but it was a lot different than other exercise tools.

I guess my advice would be to take it slow. Slower than you'd think. Especially when you start hiking and running and sweating in it.

I used to use one, but only during my actual workouts. I'd load it up to keep me at my original weight before I had started losing fat, more out of curiosity than for the extra endurance training or whatever. I liked it.

I wouldn't use one throughout a normal day though, it's too restricting and exhausting (I know that's kind of the point). A big part of both your physical & mental health is rest, and wearing something that's going to stop you from even just leaning back comfortably while also putting extra pressure on your chest and restricting breathing isn't doing you any favours. Go as hard as you can when you work out, but take your rest. Don't treat your body like a cartoon or video game.

my "fat loss" feels like it has been stalling a bit and I've been in a caloric deficit for quite a while

1. Keep in mind that your body's maintenance Calorie needs decrease as your body weight decreases. It's unclear if you've taken that into account, but I'm putting that out there just in case.
2. If your weight loss had stalled, it doesn't necessarily mean fat loss had stopped. If you're doing any kind of resistance training, you'll be gaining muscle as well, which evens out the fat loss in your overall weight.

I purchased this 10kg weighted vest ...

The issue I have with wearing a weighted vest throughout the day is that it moves your fitness workload into the parts of your day where you want to reap the rewards of being fit, thereby defeating the purpose of undergoing this journey in the first place. I can't speak for the effectiveness though.

For hiking/jogging, you might benefit from replacing that weight with something more practical, like water or snacks.

A good few years back, I used a weighted vest for pull ups. I appreciated that compared to a chain belt (dips belt), there was no sway, you didn't have to carefully maneuver dangling olympic plates between your legs during those exercises. I'm back to using the chain belt as it's more practical to load.

The vest was neat, it had individual pockets for 1KG blocks, 5 in a row, three rows in the front and back.

Since you're thinking of hiking (which in itself is excellent exercise and time spent outdoors), you may be interested in rucking gear?

Thx for reminding me that I used to ruck. I completely forgot about it in the past months!

Update: I've been using my vest from time to time. Not religiously, and only on rest days. 10kg is very easy to carry and doesn't feel extremely taxing. I use it when I go for a fast walk or when I know I'm shuffling a lot of stuff around my place.

I don't feel overly exhausted or fatigued by it. Will post a second update once I took it on a longer hike.

Thanks for all the tips and feedback!