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Tumbleweed
09-16-2004, 17:37
I am sure there is a post on this already--if so please redirect me to it!

I just finished my NOBO thru hike (yay!) and am concerned about gaining weight now that I am not exercising 8-12 hours a day. Do alot of people have problems with this? I know how to eat healthy and I am a vegetarian, so I feel like those things can work for me. Any suggestions? thanks!

Tumbleweed

MOWGLI
09-16-2004, 17:45
I am sure there is a post on this already--if so please redirect me to it!

I just finished my NOBO thru hike (yay!) and am concerned about gaining weight now that I am not exercising 8-12 hours a day. Do alot of people have problems with this? I know how to eat healthy and I am a vegetarian, so I feel like those things can work for me. Any suggestions? thanks!

Tumbleweed

Yeah, get a copy of the previous issue of Appalachian Trailway News (the one with the photo of the Cardinal Flower on the cover). You can download it as a PDF on the ATC website, but as a former thru-hiker, I would suggest you join ATC as a member.

Charlie "Linguini" Duane has an excelent article about this issue. I wish I had access to that article after I finished my hike. I gained back every ounce of the 60# that I lost. I'm only getting a grasp on my weight now - 4 years after the hike.


Good luck, and congrats on completing your hike.

Little Bear
GA-ME 2000

rumbler
09-16-2004, 18:36
Started at 190.

Got down to 145.

Finished at 150.

Now - 12 months later - weigh 185.

It's a bitch to realize you can't eat whatever. I'm going to have to hike again.

MOWGLI
09-16-2004, 18:47
Here is a link to download the July edition of ATN.

http://www.appalachiantrail.org/about/pubs/atn/archive/ATN04Jul.pdf

You will need to have acrobat reader in order to view this file. Fiile size = 1.1 MB. It may take a few minutes to load.

orangebug
09-16-2004, 19:20
That article still has some problems. No one really knows what happens regarding insulin resistance in long distance hikers. The article makes a number of assumptions based on an observation of post-hike weight gain that may not actually generalize.

I suspect the actual problem will be more complex. I suspect that binge hiking and binge dieting have a lot in common. I know that no one really knows. There has been a joke about the Amish diet - you can eat everything you want, but you have to walk everywhere, use the stairs and avoid any labor saving devices. Long distance hikers know a great deal about that.

Bill...

MOWGLI
09-16-2004, 19:44
That article still has some problems. No one really knows what happens regarding insulin resistance in long distance hikers. The article makes a number of assumptions based on an observation of post-hike weight gain that may not actually generalize.



Yeah, it's not a silver bullet, but I think he did a very good job. Especially considering that he paint signs - very nice signs - on the back of boats for a living.

It's funny. Linguini stayed with me in my home in NY - no, actually in my pop-up camper - during his 97 day SOBO hike in 2001. I was feeling very dumpy - no, make that fat - after my hike in 2000. Linguini seemed pretty surprised at my size, but he was kind.

Anyway, he took a photo of me for his book - "Racing Light", and somehow managed to not make me look like the load I was. For that, I am grateful. :D

Jersey Bob
09-16-2004, 20:54
at least 10 characters

A-Train
09-17-2004, 00:08
Started the AT at 195 lbs

Finished at 170

Now i'm 185

I'm happy with only putting most of the weight back after a year. The best advice I can give is to keep walking. Instead of growing comfortable driving around in a car again, simply walk as much as you can. I walk a couple miles each day. Its not a lot, but combine that with running/working out a couple times a week and you won't be gaining weight. I still eat like a tub sometimes, but the AT definately sped my metabolism up.

Congrats on your hike!

grizzlyadam
09-17-2004, 00:27
was out for a couple of months in the fall of 2003:

started at 157

finished at 158

gained 8 pounds to reach an all time high of 166 the week i came off the trail.

now i weigh 160.

the fluctuation wasn't much comparitively speaking, but i could definitely tell the difference. it is difficult going from hiking everyday to sitting on a couch. my body still wants the same amount of food although it no longer needs it.

SavageLlama
09-17-2004, 08:33
Sort of common sense:

You're fat and thru-hike = you lose weight

You come home and eat like a pig again = you gain it back

;)

Spirit Walker
09-17-2004, 09:56
Sometimes it's not a question of "eating like a pig." I think that something really does happen to the metabolism while doing a long distance hike - whether it's insulin resistence from eating a high sugar high carb diet, or something else, I don't know.

A lot of hikers lose a lot of weight in the beginning (partly because they have a lot of fat to lose) but after a while the weight loss slows down, stops and then reverses itself. Midway through the hike, they gain about 5 lbs. Partly that's because you have finally figured out how much food it takes to power you up the trail, but I think it's also like dieters hitting a plateau. At some point the body becomes more 'efficient' and the metabolism slows down to preserve essential functions. It's why women hikers don't lose the weight that men do, even when they have it to lose. Their bodies go into starvation mode sooner, hoarding the calories.

After completing a hike, it takes a while for the body to realize that it doesn't need to hoard every calorie, so weight goes on, quickly. The metabolism is still in the slower end of hike mode rather than the early high speed mode. For some people, I think the metabolism stays slower, permanently. Which is why some hikers end up a year later weighing more than when they started, even though they aren't actually eating more than they did before their thruhikes.

But it is also true that it is hard to go from the mindset "I can eat anything I want" to "have to watch what I eat."

jackiebolen
09-17-2004, 10:33
I've taken up training for a marathon and running 4 or 5 days a week has seemed to maintain the muscles I got on the trail and keep off the weight. Plus I've become a vegetarian and have started to eat a lot healthier. It just takes some discipline to eat like a normal person again...have some self-restraint and continue to exercise and you should be good. If you plan on watching a lot of TV...stop now because that's the surest way to put on weight quick!

gravityman
09-17-2004, 10:37
Weight gain, and loss, is the easiest thing in the world. It's just an equation.

Weight gained = (energy in - energy out) / (9 kilocalories/gram).

Of course energy in/out is measured in kilocalories (which is what they commonly just call calories on the box). Fat weights 9 kilocalories/gram, and that is what your body will store the extra energy as. Of course if you are building muscle you have to change the 9 to a 4 because protein is 4 grams per kilocalorie.

So, more energy in than out, you gain weight. More energy out then in, you lose weight. All the stuff about insulin and carbs and everything else is just not the real cause for weight loss. I don't why this keeps getting confused, but that's the way it is. Even the Atkins diet only works because you have less energy in than out. It is accomplished by restricting you diet to only fats.


This is only for weight loss. It has nothing to do with being healthy. You need to make sure you are getting the right nutrients.

Then the rest is just ways to get yourself to put more energy out, or put less in. It's tough. Very very difficult, because we are eating machines....

Well, anyway, good luck to keeping it off. My suggestion is to take up running. You will see more miles with less time (you burn about 110 calories per mile, depending on your weight) so you can burn more calories in less amount of time. Plus you can give yourself a great modivational goal, like running a marathon. Do a search on Hal Higdon. He has a free training schedule online that is for total novices that takes 18 weeks. We followed it this past winter, and ran a marathon in May.

Good luck!

Gravity man

DeniseL
09-17-2004, 16:07
Gravity man has it right. It's always a matter of calories in vs calories out (except that I'm pretty sure fat has 9 kcals per gram, and protein and carb are about 4 kcals. Alcohol has about 7).

If you were overweight before you started the trail, and if when you leave the trail you return to the exact same lifestyle, you WILL be overweight again. (It goes without saying that if you were healthy before hiking and you return to that healthy lifestyle, you'll be a healthy weight). It helps to have a plan.

I was only out for 10 weeks this year, but I started at a healthy weight, eating healthy and exercising regularly for years. I lost a little fat on the trail (more than I'd care to), but when I returned to the real world I also returned to my old nutrition plan (5 small meals a day, balanced protein, carbs, and fat). I didn't return to exercising right away due to my injuries, so I kept my calories down. I'm now the same weight I was before starting the trail.

If you do the exact same thing you've always done, you'll end up in the exact same place you always were.

orangebug
09-17-2004, 16:32
Gravity man may not have it right, or it may be more complicated. There is suspicion that something in your brain resets a "thermostat" that determines efficiency of how you burn calories or store nuts (fat) away for the winter/next famine. Your thermostat may be reset by binge hiking as it appears to get reset in binge dieting (yo-yo weight changes).

As Gravity Man's simple equation demonstrates, a change in the denominator would change the rate of weight change. This is what some folks suspect is involved with the "thermostat" model of calorie control.

Bill....

Peaks
09-17-2004, 16:44
Just look around at others at the Gathering. I find it amazing to think that most of the people there are at least some what out of shape, yet most thru-hiked at one time or another.

Youngblood
09-17-2004, 18:24
Just look around at others at the Gathering. I find it amazing to think that most of the people there are at least some what out of shape, yet most thru-hiked at one time or another.

Peaks,

Are you insinuating that there is something about thru-hiking that makes one 'height impaired', you know... too short for their weight? :rolleyes:

Youngblood

gravityman
09-17-2004, 18:34
Gravity man has it right. It's always a matter of calories in vs calories out (except that I'm pretty sure fat has 9 kcals per gram, and protein and carb are about 4 kcals. Alcohol has about 7).



RIGHT! 9 and 4... I fixed it so that it's right. I just found one of those dead brain cells :)

As for the thermostat and "efficiency" of burning calories, I have heard that from non-science sources, but never from a source I trust. From the simple physics of it, that energy still needs to be used somehow. Either it isn't absorbed at all, or you have to have a higher body temperature (I wonder if this is where the thermostat part of the theory comes from). Or your muscles are convusling involentarily. No other ways that I can see to use calories. Anyway, I don't think that there is good evidence yet to assume that extra weight after the hike isn't your fault, it's a fact of nature, so bring on the BBQ! :)

Gravity

PS They have done controlled test for people that claim to have a "slow" metabolism. They put them in a room and monitor all input, output, including oxygen (oxygen is the best indicator of how much energy you used) and the learned that the mass and muscle-fat amount of the person had everything to do with their metabolism. It was exactly what the physics said it would turn out to be, and there was no evidence for some people having a "lower thermostat" than others. However, I don't think they used thruhikers :)

Ridge
10-12-2004, 01:20
I put on 35 lbs so quick after the AT that I'm thinking about doing the trail again and see if I can do something a little different afterwards. Ive since dropped about 15 of the lbs after I swore off peanut butter, darn I miss it. No doubt about it, the hikers eating habits are still on autopilot when you leave the trail, and we all know what that is. AYCE when you eat. It also took me awhile to stop eating out of a half gallon ice cream box and start using a small cup instead.
One of the best things about thruhiking is the eating all you want and anything you want for as long as want.

hustler
10-12-2004, 23:30
The trail actually made me gain weight. I started at 154 and ended at 165. I came off the marathon circuit the weekend before hitting the trail. I thought that I was going to loose all kinds of weight on the trail but didn't. After getting off I have lost 2 pounds. I will start training harder again soon for marathons because I have already signed up to do 7 this winter and hope to drop some weight. That is key, instead of sitting around eating ice creme, steep up and do a nice sort 26.2 mile race.

Pencil Pusher
10-13-2004, 02:21
Eat as much as you want and be comfortable with yourself at any weight.

Peaks
10-13-2004, 08:41
The trail actually made me gain weight. I started at 154 and ended at 165. I came off the marathon circuit the weekend before hitting the trail. I thought that I was going to loose all kinds of weight on the trail but didn't. After getting off I have lost 2 pounds. I will start training harder again soon for marathons because I have already signed up to do 7 this winter and hope to drop some weight. That is key, instead of sitting around eating ice creme, steep up and do a nice sort 26.2 mile race.

Well, I'm sure that you were in much better shape than the majority of thru-hikers before you started the trail. Marathoners usually don't have much weight to loose. Your weight gain was probably because of the change of diet.

Running 7 marathons over the winter is a bit much. Hope your knees continue to hold up to the pounding.

Footslogger
10-13-2004, 10:39
Well ...it's one year and 4 days since I summitted Katahdin and every dawgawn ounce is right back where it started.

Dunno, but I'd imagine that unless you're a devout gym goer there's not much hope for keepin that pre-hike weight from returning. I didn't work for 3 months after returning home and now I have a job where I'm on my feet and "going" around 10 hours a day and still can't shake the weight.

I mean stop and think about it ...with the exception of zero's/nero's you were out there using some of the largest muscles in your body for as much as 6 - 8 hours a day, not to mention the added weight of a backpack. Talk about calorie burn !!

In 2003 I had lost 32 pounds by Harpers and it pretty much leveled off after than. Sad to say but those 32 and maybe a few more have snuck up on me and won't let go.

Just my experience ...

'Slogger
AT 2003

Crash! Bang!
10-13-2004, 10:49
im broke, and my friends im staying with are broke, so im probably still losing weight:cool:

The Solemates
10-13-2004, 10:57
Started at 217. (about 5 lbs overweight)

Got down to as low as 176 in NH. (lowest in my life, I was skinny as a rail)

Finished the trail at 183.

Now am back up to 203, but it is because I lift weights. Thankfully, there's no fat.

Crash! Bang!
10-13-2004, 11:06
wow, you must be tall

The Solemates
10-13-2004, 12:17
6'4", not that tall, but up there

bulldog
10-13-2004, 15:35
I lost no weight while hiking the A.T. and didnt gain any when finishing. On the P.C.T. this year I'd routinely lose 10-20 pounds before going into towns but would gain it all back within a day or two. I think it was mostly water weight that I was regaining. Everyone's metabolism is different and will not experience the same pattern of weight loss or gain regardless of how much they eat. I used to work with a guy that ate like a madman, hed even drink protein shakes with ice cream in them before going to bed but he never gained a pound.