View Full Version : Trouble eating
Jeanette
11-22-2008, 17:26
I am a 39 year old woman and frequent hiker... a couple times a year I do a one-week section on the AT. Without exception, during these longer hikes I always have a very difficult time eating, and I am wondering if other women have this problem. Foods that I usually like at home are just plain nauseating to me when I am on the trail. I can't figure out if this is psychosomatic or what. I have tried lots of variations on my trail foods, including higher carb, moderate carb, higher protein, moderate protein, hot foods, cold foods, you name it. I am also very careful to stay hydrated throughout the day, so I know it's not an issue of dehydration-induced nausea... I just can't figure it out. The problem is less intense in the evenings when my strenuous hiking is done for the day, but it never really goes away completely... even at dinnertime I have a hard time consuming more than a couple hundred calories before I start to feel sick. Anyone else have this problem?
Not that uncommon! It happens to me often. I just have a hard time digesting food so if I eat a lot in one sitting while hiking I feel nasty as soon as I start moving.
I snack a lot - small nibbles. 50 calories, 100 calories here and there all day. Just enough so I don't crash.
My apologies for intruding in the Female forum, but this is a non-gender problem. It happens to me too. I believe it is because our blood flow is concentrated in our leg muscles, lungs, & heart to optimize our performance. This is done at the expense of our digestive track, hence causing the nausea and lack of hunger.
Yea, I think its normal. If you were on the trail for a month or longer that problem would probably go away. Many people who begin a thru-hike report that problem for the first month but it eventually goes away after your body gets used to trail life.
You just got to force yourself to eat. If you don't you won't have the strength to go on.
Panzer
I have that same problem. This past summer I did a week-long hike with a bunch of boy scouts. Those guys ate like crazed, starving people. Must be that teenage-boy metabolism. I'm surprised they didn't scoop up a few small animals and gnaw them as they walked along. But me, my appetite completely disappeared. I made myself snack, and I kept hydrated and made sure I had threw in at least one of those powdered Gatorade or Propel packets into my water every day. And to make matters worse, my TMJ syndrome kicked in, and I had some vicious jaw pain whenever I chewed anything. Even after I was off-trail, I was still eating a soft diet for a few weeks. Dropped 15 pounds, though. I'm thinking of starting a weight loss clinic. Walk 'N Pain Weight Loss. I'll get people walking, then smack them upside the head with a log every day to make sure the jaw is out of alignment. Guaranteed weight loss.
On the up side, I had a very good time. :)
I'm thinking of starting a weight loss clinic. Walk 'N Pain Weight Loss. I'll get people walking, then smack them upside the head with a log every day to make sure the jaw is out of alignment. Guaranteed weight loss.
Make them wear braces as well :D And taunt them with hard energy bars, crunchy nuts, sticky candy, gum...fresh carrots :D After a year of braces I find all I want when hiking is the forbidden foods. Ah well. The soft diet is depressing at times, leaving me to not want eat even more!
I wish I had this problem. If I don't stuff my face on the trail I get really irritable. I eat a lot all the time anyway but I am a very active person. I've got a freakishly high metabolism and apparently it goes into overdrive on the trail. Even on an overnight something just clicks on and I feel like I must consume everything and I have random, obsessive cravings for things like Qdoba burritos and whole flats of lasagna...om nom nom...
This really sucks because I always feel like I have to carry more food than everyone else and I eat more than everyone else and it doesn't matter because I'm still hungry!
But, I do know plenty of people who have this non-hunger issue. It's not really a gender-specific thing (at least not in my experiences). Some people just don't want to eat much on the trail. I agree with what others have said about snacking. If you can't eat much all at once, try a half a bar here, a handful of nuts there. If you ever get into drying your own food, dried fruits are wonderful for snacking and they don't weigh your pack down.
One friend of mine refuses to eat dinner at all on the first night out. He just cannot get anything down. He does the reverse of what a lot of hikers do: eats a large breakfast and a decently sized lunch and usually nothing for dinner. He does snack. Perhaps varying up your eating schedule would have a different affect on how your stomach acts?
Keeping hydrated is extremely important. (Nausea is a side effect of even slight dehydration.) One thing to try is drinking energy drinks and things like Instant Breakfast instead of eating solid food.
Sometimes it's just nerves. I had trouble eating at the start of my SOBO. Trust me, lack of appetite is NOT normal for me.
I tend to take a lot of "treat" foods hiking--stuff that I would never eat at home because it's too fattening or junky. David Horton talked about eating for performance instead of eating for health. Candy bars and gummi worms qualify as performance foods.
Then there's what Egads talked about--if you're putting out a huge physical effort, your appetite will be suppressed while a lot of your blood flow goes away from your stomach and into your limbs. I rarely hike fast or hard enough for that to happen to me.
I usually have this same problem. The 1st 7 or so days that I'm out I feel really nauseated and my appetite is gone. It doesn't matter what kind of food I have in my pack. I don't know why the body does this, it could just be the physical shock of hiking miles a day when carrying a heavy pack, and your body reacts in that way. Maybe it's preparing itself for starvation, or some prehistoric defense mechanism kicks in to make you preserve what rations you have or something.
Regardless of how I feel, I force myself to eat no matter what. Not copious amounts of food, but in the morning I choke down some cereal, a few hours later I'll eat a handful of nuts & fruit, etc. I don't make myself eat copious amounts of food, but I do make myself eat. It's not pleasant when I'm actually eating, but when I'm finished I don't feel more sick than when I started.
But you have to eat. It doesn't have to be a ton, but you have to make yourself do it.
My last trip I didn't have that problem. I didn't feel paticularly hungry, and I would have to remind myself to eat, but I didn't have that horrible stomacheache all day, either.
I wish I had this problem. If I don't stuff my face on the trail I get really irritable. I eat a lot all the time anyway but I am a very active person. I've got a freakishly high metabolism and apparently it goes into overdrive on the trail. Even on an overnight something just clicks on and I feel like I must consume everything and I have random, obsessive cravings for things like Qdoba burritos and whole flats of lasagna...om nom nom...
This really sucks because I always feel like I have to carry more food than everyone else and I eat more than everyone else and it doesn't matter because I'm still hungry!
Oh dear, that won't last forever. When I was your age I had the same "problem" I couldn't go more than 2 hours without feeling faintishly hungry. I would wake up in the middle of the night with hunger pains. I would eat double the amount of my 200+ pound bf. I would eat 2 breakfasts, one at home and one right when I got to work. I ate chocolate everyday.
My metabolism dropped when I turned 25, and my hunger was more manageable. Now, 5 years later, it's definetely dropped again, and I am actually in the position of having to watch what I eat. But I like being able to go 5-6 hours without eating and not feeling too hungry.
But maybe you'll run high all your life. It's great if you do. But it certainly didn't last for me.
Make them wear braces as well :D And taunt them with hard energy bars, crunchy nuts, sticky candy, gum...fresh carrots :D After a year of braces I find all I want when hiking is the forbidden foods. Ah well. The soft diet is depressing at times, leaving me to not want eat even more!
You don't need the stick, braces, or crunchy stuff. Let 'em eat whatever they want. Just insist they carry it at least 15 miles, up and down steep hills, in a 40-pound pack, before eating. Weight loss is guaranteed.
Weary
River Runner
11-27-2008, 02:55
I've found the Honey Stinger brand energy bars and gels are very palatible and digestible.
WILLIAM HAYES
11-27-2008, 16:21
I have the same problem but I think that is your body's way of starting to burn fat- I don't have much of an appetite the first week on the trail after that it picks ups - I usually start to crave a cheeseburger and pizza after a week
modiyooch
11-27-2008, 18:29
Wow. One of my favorite parts of hiking is eating all day long and anything that I want. I definately do not have this problem. My biggest problem is returning to normal eating habits.
Jim Adams
11-27-2008, 19:24
First off let me say that I am not insulting YOU or implying anything!!!!!!!
That said: I am a little old fat man and seems that I have a difficult time cutting back on day to day calories but when I am hiking, I totally lose my appetite. Everyone around me is eating like crazy but I just munch...until 4 months later and 45 lbs lighter I am eating everything that I can stuff into my mouth!
I think that the sudden increase in exercise and metabolism starts to burn stored fat during the hike and therefore I am not nearly as hungry at the end of the day.
You may be very thin but females retain more body fat than men do, that's why female features are more rounded and not as sharp. Maybe this metabolism change is also doing the same to you and you are simply not out there long enough to burn enough fat to be "starved".
Just a thought.
geek
My apologies for intruding in the Female forum, but this is a non-gender problem. It happens to me too. I believe it is because our blood flow is concentrated in our leg muscles, lungs, & heart to optimize our performance. This is done at the expense of our digestive track, hence causing the nausea and lack of hunger.
Yep. I can't eat the first 3 days of a long hike. Overnighters, even long milage ones I eat "Normally", but hit the trail for an extended hike & my apitite goes away. Nausia, "Nothing tastes good", etc.
Last long trip, I probably ate 6000 calories the first WEEK, my hunger finally overcame the "problem", but it is anoying isn't it.
On the plus side, I lost 28 Lbs in 20 days. :sun
BarFight
11-27-2008, 21:42
I was pretty nauseated the first week of my thru-hike but chalked it up to nerves. I was a wreck at the beginning.
After 4 years of section hiking 100 miles over 10 days, I still have absolutely no appetite while I am hiking. I have decided it is because I am exerting myself so much, that I am metabolizing fat and that kills one's appetite and can cause nausea. I have started using foods more natural, ie, bagels squished flat with tubes of peanut butter and jelly packets. I only eat 1/2 one at a time, but I noticed I eat more frequently on the trail. I do lose around 10-15 pounds each time. If I could bottle this and sell it, I would be a millionaire. I am also going to include fig newtons, small packets of cream cheese and small packets of butter. Hope this helps.
Jeanette
11-28-2008, 16:53
I am a little old fat man and seems that I have a difficult time cutting back on day to day calories ...
LOL!
It has been so helpful and interesting to read everyone's posts! Thank you. For the record, I am in the normal weight range for my height, but like Tenlots who posted above, I too lose about a pound or two for every full day of hiking. Since I only do section hikes and have never been out more than 8 days straight, I'm not really sure what my body would do on a more prolonged hike... but I suspect things would normalize after a couple weeks and then I'd get my appetite back.
I feel less worried about this lack-of-eating problem after reading everyone's posts... it helps to know that it's not such an usual problem.
Blissful
12-01-2008, 21:11
It's a good idea also to have a full physical, esp as you are approaching the super age of 40. Check blood work, etc. Might be something underlying as well.
Bear Cables
12-10-2008, 14:15
I too have a reduced appetite on the trail. I eat smaller and often as well. I have learned to keep food choices such as potato soup for those nights I can't seem to think about stuffing down pasta. One thing I tried on my last section hike was drinking a hot tea mix of camomile,ginger and peppermint tea. Work very will on aiding digestion. Never did get those tummy aches that had become part of my hiking experiences.I would drink the tea after the day of hiking and before and after my meal. Highly recommend it.