I'm planning on doing a 2 month section hike on the AT next year as my first long distance hike. I'll be doing some smaller weekend hikes for prep (and have done plenty of day hikes), but I have no way to do a test run for a long-distance hike where hiker hunger would kick in. I'm well on my way to selecting most of my gear, but having issues with food weight, and possible food volume that will impact my pack selection.

I'm a big guy (6'5", >200lb, 37yrs), and eat a LOT normally (calculations show about 3200 Calories, and that seems reasonable). I see references to people burning 6000 calories, etc. a day. I'm assuming those people are closer to a 2000 calorie diet normally? When I run the calculators, I'm showing 8500-9000 Calories to maintain weight if I'm hiking near 10hrs a day. That seems to be well in excess of 3lb of food a day, which is a far cry from the estimates people are giving for 1.5lb a day. Combined with 2L water (I drink/sweat a LOT), I need about 20lb on top of base weight for the start of a section with a 5 day supply carry, and closer to 24lb for very short distances if I'm not camping by a water source.

Do my food/Calorie numbers seem reasonable? If so, do you all run significantly shy of calorie needs on the trail to keep weight down and just rely on making that back with nero/zeroes? I'm thinking I have to be missing something major here....


I put together a tentative gear list (weights yet to go for clothing), and I can't seem to get low enough on total weight to be able to use any of the more common thru-hike packs. I don't think my base weight is looking that bad, but the combined total will be peaking above 40lb. I realize I won't always need 5 days of food, but I need to plan the pack around the max I will need to carry at any given point. Packs like the Arc Haul and Exos seem to max out at an effective 25-30lb weight, so do big guys just have to stick to traditional internal frame packs for thru hikes?

https://lighterpack.com/r/bcq33h


Thank you!