to gain or not to gain?

[Heyoka]

I run about 5% body fat and am considering an AT thru hike in 2013. I am aware of the large daily calorie expenditures and that many people lose weight. My initial thinking is that I haven't enough fat for a safe enough buffer to maintain my health while on the trail. Conversely, the added efficiency and required vigilance in maintaining nutrition and calories demanded of hiking with a leaner body composition may be a big advantage to happily covering ground. What do you think? Thanks

[Old Boots]

Quit your bragging.

[Heyoka]

Not as cool as you'd think when every cop I come across assumes I'm on meth.

[10-K]

It's not that big a deal. Hike-eat-hike-eat, etc.

The big thing for me is eating healthy foods when I'm craving junk.

[leaftye]

Stop worrying about this and work on finding a trail diet that allows you to consume 4000+ calories a day without gagging.

[Pedaling Fool]

Don't bother gaining weight, you'll lose it anyway and pretty quickly. Everyone has a base weight on a thru-hike that stays pretty stable, barring sickness, so it's just not worth it, because a thru-hike is so long a couple extra pounds in the beginning won't make a bit of difference.

Your biggest concern in being prepared for a thru-hike, IMHO, is toughening up your skelatal system, including all connective tissue, because hiking ain't a low-impact activity; don't even worry about building up cardio, that will come quick enough on a thru, but you can't build up your joints/connective tissue on a thru-hike if they're not in good condition at the start.

[ChinMusic]

Get off the meth........

[Mountain Mike]

Gain a few pounds if you want. Better to learn foods that will sustain you during your hike. It was a mistake I made before this site ever started. Food = energy & with your low mass needs to be a major consern. Not to hard to do. When I hiked the PCT I had a friend I had hiked with on AT meet me outside of Seattle. His first comment was how healthy I looked so far in the trail as opposed to the way we looked on th AT.

[HikerMom58]

Quit your bragging.

Haha!!

[Mountain Mike]

Get off the meth........

What is up with the rude arrogant post?

[ChinMusic]

What is up with the rude arrogant post?

I was playing with post #3.

Good enough for you?

[WIAPilot]

I run about 5% body fat and am considering an AT thru hike in 2013. I am aware of the large daily calorie expenditures and that many people lose weight. My initial thinking is that I haven't enough fat for a safe enough buffer to maintain my health while on the trail. Conversely, the added efficiency and required vigilance in maintaining nutrition and calories demanded of hiking with a leaner body composition may be a big advantage to happily covering ground. What do you think? Thanks

I don't think it would hurt to gain if you can easily do so. Hope to see you on the trail in 2013!

[Mountain Mike]

ok, even as a jes it seamed pretty bad on a newby post.

[ChinMusic]

ok, even as a jes it seamed pretty bad on a newby post.

K

Meant in jest Hoyoke. I'm harmless. But, I agree with others, quit braggin..............

[Lone Wolf]

I run about 5% body fat and am considering an AT thru hike in 2013. I am aware of the large daily calorie expenditures and that many people lose weight. My initial thinking is that I haven't enough fat for a safe enough buffer to maintain my health while on the trail. Conversely, the added efficiency and required vigilance in maintaining nutrition and calories demanded of hiking with a leaner body composition may be a big advantage to happily covering ground. What do you think? Thanks

go as you are. don't get fat to lose.

[Feral Bill]

The weight you might gain ahead of your hike could as easily be carried in your pack as food.

[glaux]

Work on developing your tastes for the most high-calorie, easy-to-carry food that you can find (and you'll need variety so you don't get tired of it). This might cause you to gain a bit, or might not, because you'll only be able to eat so much of it when you're not spending the days hiking. Any weight you gain will be temporary, though, and the trick will be whether or not you have developed a good strategy for feeding yourself on and ongoing basis.

I suppose you'd want to be aiming for high fat foods, since those are the most calorie dense (and good for you, if you're active).

[fiddlehead]

I am normally 150 lbs. When I get ready for a thru, I try to add 5-10 lbs but find that adding 10 isn't easy (have to eat too much junk, which I don't really like)
After a thru, I normally weigh about 145 so, yes, the weight I put on comes off but I don't feel like it comes off quickly as someone said it would.

Keep some fat in your diet when hiking. I eat lots of potato chips, and try to carry a stick of margarine out of most towns.
Not everyone has trouble keeping their weight down. Some of us are the opposite.