View Full Version : Lost on the trail
Longboysfan
11-15-2017, 14:22
Last year hiking 5 1/2 day I lost 12 pounds.:banana
This year hiking 3 days lost 8 pounds.:banana
Great place to lost weight.
And enjoy yourself.
Slo-go'en
11-15-2017, 15:06
But did you gain it all back in 3 days?
HooKooDooKu
11-15-2017, 17:12
But did you gain it all back in 3 days?
And those sorts of numbers sound like it includes a lot of water weight.
Realistic numbers would be more like 2 - 4 lbs in a week.
My trip on the JMT averaging 3,000 calories, 13 miles, and 2,500' elevation climbs per day and resulted in only 7lbs of weight loss over ~2 weeks (of course that was after spending a year loosing 50lbs to get in shape to do the hike).
I just checked my logs from during that 50lb weight loss period. I was able to loose 15 pounds the 1st month of reducing food intake and walking a few miles in the neighborhood every night.
Longboysfan
11-15-2017, 17:36
But did you gain it all back in 3 days?
It took a month to gain back the 12 lbs.
Still holding off the last 8 lost.
When doing section hikes I find that I lose one pound for every ten to twelve miles hiked. On my thru attempt I lost 35 pounds in the first 30 days. I lost over 50 pounds total, getting off at Waynesboro after about 850 miles.
Tipi Walter
11-16-2017, 12:47
Reminds me of AT thruhiker George Steffanos of When The Hail Came fame who said he was losing weight every day on the trail. By Maine he figured he'd weigh 25 lbs.
illabelle
11-16-2017, 13:01
Reminds me of AT thruhiker George Steffanos of When The Hail Came fame who said he was losing weight every day on the trail. By Maine he figured he'd weigh 25 lbs.
Haha! I have a spreadsheet where I track my attempts at weight loss. A formula automatically subtracts 0.2 pounds per day from the weight goal. If all goes according to the formula, I'll weigh -40 pounds when I finish the AT. Maybe I'll become a mini black hole?
Yes backpacking can shed weight like almost nothing else (unfortunately you're losing alot of muscle as part of that weight). However, the tricky part is keeping it off when you get back to civilization. You gotta be extra diligent with your diet or else it seems like your body will do everything it can to get back to how it was before the hike.
rocketsocks
11-16-2017, 15:11
Waterweight is the first to go, seems like a lot till you do the math and realize you’re only down a couple quarts.
You'll also find that your metabolism goes in waves and cycles. Once I had lost almost all of my body fat my weight stabilized and I just became very tired when I needed to eat something. It was really bizarre because I wasn't exactly hungry, I was just completely out of gas until I stopped and ate something, which was like every hour.
HooKooDooKu
11-18-2017, 23:18
Waterweight is the first to go, seems like a lot till you do the math and realize you’re only down a couple quarts.
Yea, I've easily lost as much as 2 pounds taking an evening walk just from sweating (1 quart = 2lbs).
A lot would depend on you body composition and weight. I'm a big guy both muscle and fat. I've cut weight a lot in the last fifteen years and have noticed my weight can fluctuate 5lbs over a few days where most people fluctuate a 1lb or so. If I take a long break from exercise I can hit it hard and lose 10lbs in a week easy. That's not sustainable and mostly water weight. I just chimed in to say that because it's easy to be blinded by a scale after doing hikes and such. I can put that 10lbs back on just as quick. I would suggest after the long hike and weight loss to try to figure out your maint calories per day for that new weight and sub 500 cals or zero if you want to maintain it. Do that a few weeks and see where you are at then. If you gained then your maint cals were off. Readjust and reset
I lost a bit too but it ain't from the exercise. It was from the reduced caloric intake. That damn food gets heavy!
Oh yeah, water weighs about 8lbs/gallon, dehydration is awesome for weight loss!
Not real healthy though...
I would suggest after the long hike and weight loss to try to figure out your maint calories per day for that new weight and sub 500 cals or zero if you want to maintain it. Do that a few weeks and see where you are at then. If you gained then your maint cals were off. Readjust and resetThey say that the average person with a sedentary lifestyle should multiply their weight times eleven and that is the number of calories you should eat in a day to maintain your weight. If you eat more than that you gain, less and you lose. Another good thing to know is that 3500 calories is one pound. So if you eat 500 calories less than your maintenance number you should be losing a pound a week...unless you are exercising and then you would lose more. The amount of exercise you do is going to be a big variable, but the above is a good rule of thumb for the average person.
Traffic Jam
11-25-2017, 11:41
Hiking is great physical activity but unless I hike 3-4 x/week, it does nothing for me in regards to weight loss. Most of the time, my weight is up immediately following a hike.
For me, cycling burns the most calories, followed by running, hiking, and swimming.
(Recent HRM data)
Cylcing
1:29 - 953 cal
1:15 - 782 cal
1:08 - 706 cal
Running
53 min - 453 cal
47 min - 357 cal
Hiking
3:27 - 884 cal
3:13 - 812 cal
middle to middle
11-25-2017, 13:50
My experience was eating exclusively frieze dried food I had an urge to eat anything with fat in it. Bacon was number one. have to vary intake.
They say that the average person with a sedentary lifestyle should multiply their weight times eleven and that is the number of calories you should eat in a day to maintain your weight. If you eat more than that you gain, less and you lose. Another good thing to know is that 3500 calories is one pound. So if you eat 500 calories less than your maintenance number you should be losing a pound a week...unless you are exercising and then you would lose more. The amount of exercise you do is going to be a big variable, but the above is a good rule of thumb for the average person.
yep that basically what i'm saying. I think i was unclear when i said find your maint calories and sub 500 OR Zero to maintain your weight. Miy statement looks like i said sub 500 calories to maintain your weight at maint. Pretty much what you said is what i'm saying. There are some calculators out there online too that you can plug in weight, height, age, and activity levels to put you in the ballpark.
The famous Prof Tim Noakes keeps saying (correctly IMO), "if you have to exercise to control your weight, your diet is wrong".
Homo sapiens by design were very lean animals...
Oh, and those weight loss calculations.... is your body a bank where you just make deposits and withdrawls? No, sorry it's not so easy.
Odd Man Out
11-27-2017, 21:35
I think I found it last Thursday. Let me know if you want it back.