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Chatter98
09-21-2011, 18:42
Reading around on some of the forums I kept coming across people describing lack of appetite, I find myself in the other boat. When I first started back packing, I had to force myself to eat. I am still not in the greatest shape, but I have been doing some working out. I find that within half an hour of walking from the car I am starving. By the time I finish a quick weekend hike I am ready for as much food as I can take in.

I have read allot of journals where it took many miles to start building up a hunger. So is this normal? I am not joking, an hour of hiking and I am ready for a good meal, a day of hiking and I want a non stop buffet. I have often picked up fast food after my hike, then an hour later ate again. It usually takes a day or two to work my body back into normal eating habits, and I still lose about 3lbs+ a trip without gaining it back, and I keep losing weight without additional work or diet changes for weeks afterwards!

bigcranky
09-21-2011, 21:26
I'm like you -- as soon as I step on the trail, I'm hungry all the time. Then when I get back, I'm fine. Odd, but I've learned to deal with it.

Sierra Echo
09-21-2011, 21:29
It kills my appetite!!! I can be hungry before a hike and as soon as I start hiking, the hunger goes away.

jlo
09-21-2011, 21:33
Salamander's right...a lot of that is your diet. fast food just fills you up with a lot of calories, but isn't lasting energy, like sugar. Eat more natural foods or a proteing bar and it'll give you more energy. I found that when you work out hard or hike all day, I'm just ready for bed and have to force myself to eat just because I know I need the calories for the next day of hiking. But after 3-4 days I would be hungry ALL THE TIME no matter how much I ate.
But really, we are all different so you are normal :)

Wise Old Owl
09-21-2011, 22:00
Not sure this thread and inforamtion came up before - many here are on the snickers and potato chip plan while hiking - see old threads.

Chatter98
09-21-2011, 23:04
Wise Old I have issues getting the search to find what I am looking for, thank for your patients. I was just curious.

glaux
09-22-2011, 06:50
I get hungry fast when I start a hike, too, after about the first hour. Try to get a good breakfast with a good balance of protein and fat, for longer lasting energy.

tiptoe
09-22-2011, 11:13
When I hike, from time to time I start to run out of energy, but don't actually feel hunger pangs. I've learned to recognize this feeling by now and when it happens, I break into the snacks and the feeling goes away in short order.

Tipi Walter
09-22-2011, 11:22
Most of the food I take out with me is never eaten at home, and so when I step out the door I'm hungry for the special items I saved for the couple weeks before the next trip. I also like to take out "first" foods---grapes, apples, homemade burritos---stuff that I eat in the first couple days. These foods are appetizing right off the bat and can occupy a reststop.

In addition, it helps to fast a day or two before a trip---cleans out the headgear and you start out with a fresh palate. Strenuous exercise dulls the desire for eating, as does hot temps. On a recent trip it was so hot for so long that I had almost no interest in food. And humping a load up a 3,000 foot mountain can really shut down the appetite. But hey, it will eventually hit with a vengeance. Have you every went w/o a breakfast and hiked all day and got shaky and wobbly and HUNGRY?? There's nothing like sitting by your pack and scarfing down a simple meal of bread and water.

Chatter98
09-22-2011, 11:39
But hey, it will eventually hit with a vengeance. Have you every went w/o a breakfast and hiked all day and got shaky and wobbly and HUNGRY?? There's nothing like sitting by your pack and scarfing down a simple meal of bread and water.

Thank goodness no. But I have gotten close without fasting on purpose. Its the reason I carry a good deal of food with me. Plus, because I am a type 2 diabetic, it one of the rare times I can eat what I want without my blood sugar going crazy. I did a hike where I was trying to get a measure of my blood sugar and found I needed to eat after an hour of hiking, you are supposed to wait 2-3 hours of eating to take your blood, and so I ate trail mix, crackers, a snickers bar and some jerky. Figured I would wait two hours and see how high that spiked the old sugar. Well within an hour I could not wait any longer, I needed food. I took my blood and found it was at 92, which is super low for what I ate an hour ago.

So, I now just eat and try to take blood at least at night and in the morning, and as I said, it rarely goes past 100 on a hike.

sbhikes
09-22-2011, 13:56
If you are living ordinary life and getting really hungry, you need to eat more real food. Meat, veggies, fat. Avoid starch and sugar, (especially if you are diabetic) or eat much less of it than you probably eat now. Avoid food that comes in a wrapper, has advertising on it including health claims, and that has ingredients you can't pronounce. That will keep your hunger in check.

If you are thru-hiking, after a period of time, for me it was around 300 miles, a raging hunger beast will wake up inside you. Youl will feel hungrier than you have ever felt in your life and your capacity for food will be bottomless in a way you've never experienced before in your life. At that time, eating becomes a grave responsibility and almost a chore. Maybe sort of fun at first, but eventually an enormous pain in the butt.

Blissful
09-22-2011, 14:20
If you are living ordinary life and getting really hungry, you need to eat more real food. Meat, veggies, fat. Avoid starch and sugar, (especially if you are diabetic) or eat much less of it than you probably eat now. Avoid food that comes in a wrapper, has advertising on it including health claims, and that has ingredients you can't pronounce. That will keep your hunger in check.

If you are thru-hiking, after a period of time, for me it was around 300 miles, a raging hunger beast will wake up inside you. Youl will feel hungrier than you have ever felt in your life and your capacity for food will be bottomless in a way you've never experienced before in your life. At that time, eating becomes a grave responsibility and almost a chore. Maybe sort of fun at first, but eventually an enormous pain in the butt.

This post is right on. Important to keep your nutrition balance the same off and on the trail. Avoid empty calories while hiking. It does nothing to help you and can hinder your efforts and make you even more tired, achy, and more prone to injury (or lack of healing).