View Full Version : How long until the appetite kicks in?
How many days of continuous hiking, assuming at least some moderate elevation change as the norm, before the metabolic furnace kick in and stays lit? How many zero days before you lose the appetite?
Curious minds, and all that.
Ranc0r
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Lone Wolf
12-25-2008, 13:24
10 days
It depends on a lot of things--how much body fat you're packing; how agressively you hike; etc. A young, low-body-fat fellow arrives at the start of a hike with a pretty revved up metabolism and ravenous appetite. An older, chunkier, low-mileage hiker in warm weather may not develop the raging need for food for a couple of months.
The appetite persists for way longer than it is needed. I never took enough zero days to lose mine. For me, it was something I had to work on post-hike.
Yea, about 10 days till the appetite kicks in, for my longest hike of 20 days, it took about 2 months for my Endless hungries to go away.
A good point was that I lost 22 lbs in those 20 days, 9 months later I have only put 12 back on.
Yep, I know that fast a weight loss is unhealthy, I don't care! :p
max patch
12-25-2008, 13:33
10 days
Probably varies by individual. Probably took about 10 days for most hikers to get to Rainbow Springs; Jensine said that the hiker appetite had not kicked in yet when they reached the campground.
Sleepy the Arab
12-25-2008, 13:38
I never truly got the hiker appetite.
I don't know when my metabolism turns on to burn stored fat and muscle, but my appetite usually kicks in on day 3 of any +15 miles-per-day hike. I’m normally not hungry at all the first 2 days, even though I know I’m burning at least 4500 calories per day.
garlic08
12-25-2008, 14:26
About 800 miles for me, until I stop walking.
Kerosene
12-25-2008, 14:51
7-14 days, with 10 days being most typical from what I've seen/heard.
Thanks, Sleepy, I thought I was the only one out there whose appetite never kicked in. That doesn't mean I didn't eat well, just was very rarely hungry.
On my long section, it took about 2 weeks before I was hungry all the time. During those first 2 weeks, I lost about 10-15 lbs. After that, I was finally eating enough to maintain my weight, and I didn't lose any more weight for the rest of the hike.
My first long hike about 6-7 days to really be ravenous.
Subsequent hikes 3 days to for the hunger to start ramping up quick.
?????
The first long hike I was surprised I lost my appetite for days 2-4(carried to much weight).
Maybe look at it in terms of miles. 150 miles and expect some increased hunger.
Blissful
12-25-2008, 23:43
On a thru, by VA you will be eating up a storm.
I found mine settling down in a week or two afterwards. The you really have to watch your weight with the food you eat as the lbs will go on fast.
On the AT it only took me a few days for my appetite to kick in and never really stop. On long hikes since I'd try to eat mega calories but didn't get as hungry as the AT, and didn't spend a lot of time dreaming of pizzas and ice cream. Don't know what the difference is.
We should carry the answer to this question a little farther. My trail appetite hadn't kicked in by the time I had reached Fontana Dam even though I had been averaging about 15 miles per day since leaving Springer Mtn.. The other guys I was hiking with, later to become team Deutschmark, were eating all the time. They also had energy at the end of the day. I on the other hand was getting weaker by the day. Upon leaving Fontana, I was dragging going up Shuckstack. In fact, I barely made it to the top. From Shuckstack I turned on the after-burner so I could make up lost time and ended up with a severe case of shin splints that took me off the trail for 2 weeks. I learned two important lessons from this. One, don't wait for your appetite to kick in before you start eating like a thru-hiker. You have to keep your strength and energy up if you are going to hike and stay healthy. And two, shin splints are more likely to happen when you are suffering from fatigue. Kanati
Rockhound
12-26-2008, 17:47
Im sure there are as many answers to this question as there are hikers. It varies with the individual.