Felt the need to write this after talking to a 24 year old who thought that his daily allotment of 5 granola bars, trail mix, and 2 packets of ramen was "probably close to 6000 calories and I just dont know why I'm so tired".

The two big mistakes I see is one not enough fat, and two not enough nutrition.

Gram for gram fat has 9cals/gram while protein and carbs have 4cals. So a pound of fat has more than double the calories. I've been throwing an entire stick of butter or 4ozs of olive oil into my dinners for an additional ~800 cals.

Ramen, pasta, tortillas are all fairly devoid of micronutrients. Throw in some flax seed, sardines, almonds, quinoa, etc. And supplement with multi vitamin and magnesium.

Magnesium is essential to healthy functions. When I was trainer I put every athlete on magnesium and they all reported improvement in mood and energy levels. Our primary dietary source for mag is green leafy veggies so you can bet your ass any thru hiker will be deficient unless they supplement.

I've been on the trail for a month now carrying between 44 and 49lbs(camera gear weighs me down) and have only lost 3lbs. Came into hot springs yesterday and wasn't even hungry for real food lol. So it is very possible to meet your caloric needs on the trail.

I'm 195lb male so I've been shooting for 5k cals/day. Able to make that with all the fat I eat, going through half a pound of cheese and 8-12 Ozs of butter and olive oil in addition to 1lb of trail mix(mostly cashews and almonds) then half a sleeve of pasta(800 cals 200g carbs) some tuna/sardines and bagels/tortillas.

IMO malnutrition is probably one of the leading causes of dropouts on the trail. If you're starved your motivation and energy drops to nothing. That's why they starve you in the military, it's a great way to induce extra stress. So eat more and you'll have a much better time on the trail!!