Maintaining weight on the trail

[CT5150]

I have a problem maintaining weight on the trail. I am a 34 yr old male, 6'0", 150lbs. I also have a very high metabolism (I burn off breakfast by getting up from the table).

I carry a 20-25# pack and love doing 15-20 mile days. I usually drop at least 5 lbs in the first 5 days of a hike. I eat 3 squares and snack all day, but the weight does add up.

I'm looking for ideas on super caloric foods the lowest weight ratios. I've tried that 'weight gainer' powder in the past and it tastes barely sub-standard when mixed with milk. Mixing it with water would be dreadful and maybe not so weight-friendly.

Your thoughts?

[take-a-knee]

Nido powdered whole milk in the ethnic food section at Walmart. Cheese, OLIVE OIL. Carnation instant breakfast with Nido and Metrex protein powder. Peanut butter, I reccomend the Justin's organic in the blister packs from minimus.com

[Blissful]

We hiked with a guy who had the same problem. He looked like a scarecrow - so bone thin it was scary, but ate all day. Made it tough for him with the food weight, but he did make it all the way.

[fiddlehead]

I'm a bit like that myself. 150 5'11"
I usually lose 5 lbs on a thru and gain it back when i finish.
I eat a lot of: potato chips (just crush em, they'll get that way anyway), bear claws (those pastries that have lots of icing), fat milk (hard to find, i have a friend who ships it from France), snickers bars. (year i eat lots of sugar) I sometimes will carry a half lb of balogne out of town and i have a friend who often sends me pesto. I've also carried a lb of bacon out (that'll last for days but i usually eat it all the first day (with a dozen eggs thrown in for flavor) Don't try that the first week or two though.

I don't usually lose more than 5 lbs per thru eating this way. My body craves what it needs i think, and that's usually fat and carbs.

[Yahtzee]

Canola oil. Pure fat. Good fat. Cook twice a day. At 120 cal/tbsp this really packs a punch. Plus it makes everything taste better. I usually cook a ramen for lunch and always add the oil. Then at night, I use quite a bit in whatever I eat. Lipton Side Dishes can hold quite a bit of oil without the oil being too much. Same with mac and cheese and mashed potatoes.

When the temps are gonna be cool enough, I bring butter. Butter on the trail is a beautiful thing.

Either way, oil/butter is a great way to load up on the calories while on the trail.

I also eat those 2 for dollar honey buns for breakfast. Some have over 500 calories. And a lot tastier than a pop tart.

For salt, I carry a salt bag that usually is the heaviest thing in my pack. Cheapo trail mix, a big bag of chips, doritos, several types of peanuts, and cheese nips.
Calories galore.

Beer.

[Lops]

I was wondering how I could keep from shriveling up also. I have the same problem, 5'10" 144 lbs. I could us the advice.

I'm liking the beer suggestion...

[fiddlehead]

Yeah Beer! but it's heavy.
I've learned never to carry more than a 12 pack!

[Marta]

You might try putting together a typical day's trail food, then taking a calculator and seeing how many calories you have there.

Flyin' Brian gave a presentation at Trail Days '05 in which he mentioned that he has to pack 6000 calories/day to prevent himself from losing weight--which he cannot afford to do. His daily meal plan at that point was to eat a gallon bag of king-sized Snickers, plus an evening meal that consisted of a package of ramen followed by a large pot of something like instant potatoes seasoned with about a quarter of a cup of olive oil.

[Jason of the Woods]

I have the same problem. I'm 5'10", 145. I actually gained wieht on the trail Here is my diet. 3 squares, 2 packets of oatmeal in the morn, a tuna meal for lunch, a double serving Mountain House for dinner, or a Lipton Noodle meal. I put Olive oil on everything. I eat 4-5 Ciff Builder Bars and 4-6 candy bars during the day. Builder bars are more of a meal replacement bar than normal cliff bars and they are usually the same price. Then for a kicker anytime someone offers food eat it. I also bring cheese and other perishables with me every time that I hike out of town and supplement those for the first couple of days. Then of course when you are in town for your zero, pig out constantly. Happy Fat Hiking!

[Jason of the Woods]

You do have to be careful to choose carbs that stay with you and not just carbs from candy.

[JAK]

I have a problem maintaining weight on the trail. I am a 34 yr old male, 6'0", 150lbs. I also have a very high metabolism (I burn off breakfast by getting up from the table).

I carry a 20-25# pack and love doing 15-20 mile days. I usually drop at least 5 lbs in the first 5 days of a hike. I eat 3 squares and snack all day, but the weight does add up.

I'm looking for ideas on super caloric foods the lowest weight ratios. I've tried that 'weight gainer' powder in the past and it tastes barely sub-standard when mixed with milk. Mixing it with water would be dreadful and maybe not so weight-friendly.

Your thoughts?It is possible to burn a pound of body fat each day, if you hike long enough. This will save you from having to digest an additional 3500 kcal each day, but will eventually deplete your fat reserves. In you case it sounds like your current diet is perfect for 5-day fast packing trips, but if you want to maintain that pace for 15-30 days or more you will have to carry and eat and digest the same moderate high carb fast packing diet you seem to be on now, plus an additional 3000kcal of dietary fat each day. To be able to digest this you should hike the same long hours, but at a slower steadier pace especially on hills, burning more fat and less carbs and allowing your digestive system to keep running.

Moderate Fast Packing Diet...

Say 12.5% Protien, 5% fat, 40% fast carbs, 40% slow carbs, 2.5% fibre.
125g Protien ~ 500kcal
50g Fat ~ 450kcal
400g Slow Carbs ~ 1600kcal
400g Slow Carbs~ 1600kcal
25g Fibre
============
1000g + 100g moisture ~ 2.4 pounds food per day
~ 4150 kcal/day

To that we add the following for a thru-hiking diet to maintain body fat...
+ ~3150 kcal from fat + ~ extra 25g fibre to go with it
125g Protien ~ 400kcal
400g Fat ~ 3600kcal
400g Slow Carbs ~ 1600kcal
400g Slow Carbs~ 1600kcal
50g Fibre
============
1375g + 100g moisture ~ 3.25 pounds food per day
~ 7200 kcal/day

Now the percentages are closer to...
9% Protien, 29% fat, 29% fast carbs, 29% slow carbs, 4% fibre by weight.
6% Protien, 50% fat, 22% fast carbs, 22% slow carbs by calories.

Hope this helps. Generally speaking I wouldn't go higher than 50% fat, or 80% carbs. The two diets above represent two extremes. You may find your self somewhere in the middle, and may want to scale it back if you find you just can't eat and burn that much every day. I know I can't.

[Wise Old Owl]

That's a problem? - I would call that a gift!

[fiddlehead]

I guess we all want to be what we are not, aye?
I wish i could add 5 or 10 lbs but really don't want to eat crap food to make it happen.

Cheese is something that is strange in America. In France, they have over 400 kinds of cheese. Hey huge variety of tastes, some so much that you wouldn't even think it's cheese. IN the states, we have about 5 and they have almost no taste.
People must be ok with this. I'm not. I won't eat cheese when i'm back there. To me, it's paying for something that i can't taste.
Buying cheese directly from the goat herders up in the Pyrenees was one of the highlights of our hike as it was the best cheese i've ever eaten. Strong taste unlike any cheese i had ever had before. Go back home and try some "white american" cheese after that will shock almost anyone.

Hominy is something that i've never seen anywhere else but in the south. Tastes like corn but a lot tougher and takes a lot longer to chew, aye?

I do like cajun food from New Orleans area now but i guess that's not considered "southern" food is it?

And good bread (as was mentioned before) is something i go out of my way even here in Thailand to buy. Can't find it in the south at all. Once when i came home from hitchiking around Europe for a few months, i brought home a loaf of black bread from Prague, my roomate at the time thought i was nuts as that's the only thing i brought home. But he agreed it was some of the best bread he had ever tasted.

So how to change the way people eat? Education and availability would be keys.
No sense telling people they are not eating good, yet not have the good bread, cheese, garlic, rice, shallots, figs, etc available.

Maybe forcing them to watch that "Supersize it" movie or something in schools???

The high price of gas should help a little. People won't be getting into their pickup truck to go to the one block to the corner store as much will they?

anyway, that's my thoughts on the subject today. now back to work.

[CT5150]

Thank you all for the feedback.

I will probably have my trailname forever but I'll make sure I don't waste away by putting your suggestions to good use.

thanks,
Thin Man

[JAK]

Thank you all for the feedback.

I will probably have my trailname forever but I'll make sure I don't waste away by putting your suggestions to good use.

thanks,
Thin ManYes, by all means take all our words to heart. You owe it to the rest of us.
Put that great metabolism of yours to work, just not with any old carbs and fats and protiens. ;)