Thank you for your precious complete input. I appreciate it.Originally Posted by Bronk
That was a diet in progress that you enjoyed it after the trail.
Started at 181, lowest was 167 in the middle of PA when I was pushing the big miles. Loss of 14lb, or 7.7% of my initial body weight. By the end, I believe I had gained a little back and was around 170, because I had really gotten lazy in Maine and was just enjoying the trail and hiking low miles.
I don't have a scale, but I know that by Thanksgiving of that year (pre-dinner) I was already back up to 178.
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I lost 30 lbs from the border to Drakesbad (I did admittedly start the heaviest I've ever been in my life) but after increasing my calories and slowing down a bit, I think I gained a few pounds back.
Started at 163...finished at 145.
That is what I heard , and now I'm getting a picture of with this thread, mainly with NOBO thrus. Unless you are already an athlete, you start the AT out of shape. Then you get your trail legs, and get into shape after the first 30 days of hiking. After that some push their bodies and do big miles, especially in VA. Then around the halfway point, is when the suck starts. Maybe its because the trail gets more rugged with the PA Rocks, VT and ME and it forces hikers to slow down. Maybe its more of a food binge with the Half gallon challenge, and staying on a high calorie big mile diet. Maybe it a more relaxed party mode since after the halfway point packs of hikers have formed, and those who are still hiking are commited to finishing, so what is the rush. I don't know but it seems most shed tons of weight, and some may gain some back after the halfway point. Either way, once you are off the trail and you are not burning thousand of calories a day anymore hiking that height will slowly come back.
Theone poster who gained weight though. I wonder if you start the trail super thin, you might actually gain weight because you are adding muscle mass, and are forced to eat a starchy, high caloric diet.
Thanks. That was in 2008. I started in prime hiking condition, and ate well enough to sustain my hiking pace. I lost weight in the Southern Appalachians, a few pounds by Damascus, then gained it back in the mid-Atlantic (the "deli-a-day" stretch--ten days with a restaurant every day). I entered New England weighing more than at the start, enough to loose some weight in the Whites and arrive home the weight I left. I lost some upper body muscle mass and gained blubber around the waist (I was 51 years old, after all), but that corrected within a few months back at work and a better diet.
"Throw a loaf of bread and a pound of tea in an old sack and jump over the back fence." John Muir on expedition planning
I've been scrawny my whole life. 6' 2" and 145 lbs was me for 30 years or so. I gained the additional weight after quitting smoking in 2004.
My 1st thruhike in 2010 I did not have any increased appetite until Vermont. If I tried to eat huge quantities at one sitting I would invariably just throw it all up some time later. Not my idea of a good time. I knew I was losing weight. The hipbelt on my pack was pulled as tight as it would go and it still slid down my hips. My pants were falling down with alarming frequency. When I got to Damascus, one month into the hike, and weighed myself at Dave's Place I was scared. I still had most of the hike left to go and I couldn't afford to continue to lose weight if I wanted to finish. And believe me I wanted to finish. So I had to do something.
I forced myself to eat more frequently. I think I developed some trail notoriety by having 2nd breakfasts every day. I swilled high calorie shakes made of Nido whole milk powder and Carnation instant breakfast at every opportunity. A pint of Ben & Jerry's became a standard snack in towns. Dairy Queen in Pearisburg has the best chocolate malteds on the trail by the way.
2010 was a hot year. It's hard to eat when it's super hot. I honestly think I didn't do anything more than stop the weight loss until Vermont. Looking back at pictures of me at ATC headquarters in Harpers Ferry is a little scary. My trail name means "the skinny one" and it couldn't have been more appropriate! The heat was still on in Vermont but, for whatever reason, I finally developed a hiker appetite and started consuming far larger quantities of food.
As the temperatures dropped, and my appetite increased my weight began to increase. Yes the Whites and southern Maine are wild and strenuous but the payoff made it seem like nothing. Food was plentiful and I was eating it. Finally, in the 100 Mile Wilderness of Maine, I was assaulted by a ridiculous amount of trail magic. Three separate instances in one day followed by trail magic #3 setting up camp at Lake Namakanta and cooking dinner for us as we sat around the campfire on the beach......aaaahhh..
But I digress. Suffice to say that I was as surprised as anyone to see my weight when I weighed myself in the Appalachian Lodge in Millinocket. I've never weighed that much in my life! It actually didn't last long.
My second thruhike was just a blast and I made sure to eat frequently until I developed a hiker appetite. It happened a lot quicker which I attribute to far more clement weather and freedom from stress and worry about what was ahead since I pretty much already knew.
I'd just as soon maintain a weight range throughout the hike rather than do the extremes but hey. I wouldn't trade either hike for anything in the world!
AT x 3
GA-ME 2010
GA-ME 2011
ME-GA 2013
rusty, what's your height? I'm 165 lbs at 6'. I was open to the idea of letting my weight fluctuate naturally, but I can't imagine losing 20 lbs., though I suppose all the weight room gains will slough off quickly enough.
I started at 170 and was down to 160 by the NOC which is supposedly to be my ideal weight for being 6'. I pretty much hit every town along the way w/in a pound or two of 160 and left b/w 165-168 after a zero. Yes I took full advantage of town food. I'm assuming I finished at 160 because I was at 167 the morning of my flight home.
Love this thread and all the input! Men definitely lose more weight than women. Women hold onto fat for reproductive purposes. You guys got it good!
I was pondering the muscle mass thing too... if the body fat gets lost but leg muscles and maybe some others bulk up due to the added work.
I have read that men tend to finish and look like concentration camp survivors, yet women tend to finish and look like aerobics instructors. I wonder what the difference is?
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"I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference. Thank God for Search and Rescue" - Robert Frost (first edit).
I wish more women participate in this thread to have a better understanding about the concept of weight loss. Concentration camp thing made me think maybe( just maybe) long beard is a factor here( which female obviously can't grow beard( Can they?).
Jennifer pharr Davis proved that in long distance hiking women just don't talk the talk but they really walk the walk and even faster.
You asked for it...
Female report:
Started the Trail around 172, which is about 20 pounds above my ideal for my height 6' and frame, light, except for the hips. Was 51 years old at the time.
Heading SOBO, I was down about 10 pounds by the mid-Atlantic. Gained it all back and finished the Trail at 172, but a was couple of clothing sizes smaller than I was at the start.
Moving ahead to the present...I have steadily gained weight as I get closer and closer to hitting my 60th birthday. About a month and a half ago I started an eating plan which eschews all added sugar and sugar substitutes, all fats except olive oil, coconut oil, and butter, and has a few other caveats. It's working marvelously. The excess weight is falling off, especially the dreaded belly fat. I expect to be back down to my AT weight within a month, and then continue on down to reach my college weight by early summer. My current, moderately-active lifestyle simply doesn't require added sugar for fuel. In other words, I can't eat like a thru-hiker when I'm not thru-hiking.
And, yeah, I think it is an advantage to require less fuel to go the distance. Even at my peak of hiker hunger I never ate more than six donuts at one sitting.
Last edited by Marta; 03-25-2013 at 10:56.
If not NOW, then WHEN?
ME>GA 2006
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Thank you for your input Marta. Long time no see( my fault) . Where can I find some information about the diet you are on? Sounds very interesting to me
If they're a Dwarf in Tolkein's world, they can.
I started at 175 lbs. After about 675 miles, I was at Ironmasters hostel and there was a scale there IIRC. I was down to 150-155 lbs. I resolved to eat more after that (like an entire pie at the pizza place in Duncannon) and actually put some weight back on.
GA -> ME
'86 -> '89
Weight you lose depends on calories eaten and calories burned, which relate to food carried/eaten and miles hiked. With that preamble, I found that while eating 1.5 pounds of fairly high calorie food per day (plus a big town meal about once a week), hiking an average of 13.5 miles a day, I lost half a pound per day during a three week section hike from Springer to Hot Springs. Had I continued NOBO, I believe I would have continued at this rate until I had lost most/all of body fat and then would have had to increase calories by at least half a pound of food per day or start losing muscle (bad idea).
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Thank you . It is a nice piece of information.
started at 225 and 8% body fat. was down to 187 at the start of maine, but i was unhealthy and gaunt. looked like a war survivor. finished the hike around 195. i had not been under 200 lb my entire adult life and did not think it was physically possible with my height and bone structure. currently 220 and 12% body fat.
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