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Low Step
12-11-2010, 16:13
I just finished my sobo thruhike on Nov. 30th, and my appetite is still raging. Does anyone know how long it takes for the appetite to return to normal?

Pony
12-11-2010, 16:16
It took me a solid month, but I was about 20lbs under weight when I got home. I'm sure it varies from person to person, but I am a big eater to begin with.

Serial 07
12-11-2010, 19:27
i would bet it will be another couple weeks for you...

Miner
12-11-2010, 19:51
It took me about a month. Load up on the veggies and fruit to deal with any cravings your body is having. Continue to exercise (though obviously at a reduced level then the trail). Don't eat everything you want unless you want to end up weighing more then you did when you started. Many hikers end up in that condition.

sbhikes
12-11-2010, 21:06
A month? I must be totally messed up. It took me a year. My appetite would be okay until I did anything strenuous and then it would be like I was back on the trail. A year and a few months later I'm finally to the point where I can do a strenuous all day hike and not be starving during or after the hike.

Blissful
12-11-2010, 23:00
All I can say is, don't eat the way you feel right now, or you'll start packing on the pounds. But it takes a few weeks for your metabolism to change. I'd start a running program too.
Congrats on your hike! I'll finish up my SOBO next year in April with PA and MD. Can't wait.

samwise
12-11-2010, 23:12
Mine really raged for about two weeks or so. The problem after that was that I didn't know how to eat less. It was really hard not to eat huge quantities of stuff like on trail. That actually sucked, when I wanted to eat so much and then I'd realize that I didn't have 15 miles to hike that afternoon to burn off 4000 calories...

BrianLe
12-12-2010, 00:16
There's a difference between the psychological/habit aspect and the phsyiological aspect. I think 2 - 3 weeks might be about right for the latter, whereas the former is a lot more variable and subjective.

fiddlehead
12-12-2010, 07:44
There's a difference between the psychological/habit aspect and the phsyiological aspect. I think 2 - 3 weeks might be about right for the latter, whereas the former is a lot more variable and subjective.

One of the best examples of will power in my experience was hiking with "Just Harry" in '95.
We went to a Burger King in North Conway i believe it was and i watched him eat 8 whoppers!

About 2-3 weeks later, my sister (who lives in Maine) picked us up at Katahdin and dropped him off at the Bangor airport for his flight home.
We stopped at a Burger King.
He ordered a salad!

I said, i know you can eat 8 whoppers, so, why the salad?
He said: "You have to stop that eating like crazy right away"

I had 3 whoppers that day and tried not to order more, but it wasn't easy.

Dogwood
12-12-2010, 16:14
I just finished my sobo thruhike on Nov. 30th, and my appetite is still raging. Does anyone know how long it takes for the appetite to return to normal?

That's a good question Low Step! I guess, part of the answer is, until your body resets itself so it no longer thinks it's in starvation mode. When in starvation mode the body is expending more cals than consumed. I know if I continue eating the kinds of foods and amounts that I allow myself to eat while on the trail after I stop hiking(expending all those daily cals) I can pack on weight real fast! If you eat a junk food trail diet and than continue eating like that after hiking those added pounds are not that healthy!

jwalden
12-14-2010, 01:20
Maybe I'm just strange or lucky (okay, I'm strange, but that's beside the point), but I didn't have a gigantic appetite after my A.T. thru-hike finished. I ate well when I could while hiking -- half gallons of mint chocolate chip, 16" pizzas, 5-8 large candy bars a day, and ten or so bars the last day (a thirty-miler, coupled with an abundance of caution). But I returned pretty much immediately to my previous normal eating habits upon completion and barely noticed the change.

I did gain weight after I finished, but only to return to steady state. At the start of the A.T. I was around 160lbs, every later time I checked I was 145lbs, and not too long after I finished I was back up to around 160lbs. But I'm 5'9"ish, so 145-160lbs is quite reasonable.

Roughly the same thing happened when I completed the JMT. I started around 160ish, weighed 153lbs a couple days after finishing (after travel home from Whitney), and am at 160ish again now, two and a half months later.

I wonder if my seeming un-appetite on returning is a reflection of what I ate while hiking. My regular meal was a couple Pop-Tarts for breakfast (two oatmeal packets on the JMT), one or two tortillas with peanut butter or similar for lunch, a package of Knorr noodles/rice plus a tuna pouch for dinner, and the candy bars while hiking. Take out the candy bars, and it's really not that different from what any normal person might eat in a day. (Compare that to a normal day with a full meal at a restaurant, and I could believe the restaurant meal makes the normal day more caloric.) Did other people eat significantly differently while hiking from how the average non-hiker might eat? I'm inclined to believe that's the difference, although I have no evidence for the conjecture but my own experience.

Low Step
12-14-2010, 13:51
@ Jwalden,
Diet on the trail is an interesting topic.

It's been about two weeks, and my appetite is decreasing, I've gained about ten pounds back (I lost 15), so all's well. Thanks for everybody's input.

Low Step Mega 2010