Help me define "2lbs."

[Cave.Goose]

I continually read in books, magazines, and online that a long distant hiker needs to plan on consuming (and carrying) 1.5-2lbs of food per day. But I'm unclear on the definition of "2lbs." I mean, 2lbs of dehydrated food (veggies, beans, pasta, rice, etc.) is dramatically different from 2lbs of peanut butter, power bars, and GORP.

Can anyone help educate me on this topic?

[Malto]

2 lbs is 2lbs of whatever food you choose to carry. Depending on what it is and your own caloric needs you may 1.5 lb, 2 lbs or higher to meet your needs especially for long term hiking. For perspective, I ate over 3 lbs per day on the second half of my thruhike and my average calorie density was about 125 calories per ounce.

[BirdBrain]

4 sets of 4oz.

[Old Hiker]

I tried to look at calorie density as well. I didn't really try to shoot for "2 pounds per day". I looked at overall meals. My tastes changed over 500 miles as well. I found mini-bagels with cream cheese was a GREAT supper, as I didn't have to cook. 2 Pop-tarts with coffee in the morning was good for a start. I started to add an Oatmeal to Go bar with 2 pop-tarts for the calories.

Full disclosure: I was carrying WAY too much weight, but I don't think it was food.

[Pedaling Fool]

I continually read in books, magazines, and online that a long distant hiker needs to plan on consuming (and carrying) 1.5-2lbs of food per day. But I'm unclear on the definition of "2lbs." I mean, 2lbs of dehydrated food (veggies, beans, pasta, rice, etc.) is dramatically different from 2lbs of peanut butter, power bars, and GORP.

Can anyone help educate me on this topic?

It's true that 2lbs is 2lbs. With that said, 2lbs of peanut butter does feel heavier than 2lbs of dehydrated foods, becasue the weight is more concentrated in a smaller area, so I see your point. However, I don't see it as a definition issue, rather as a packing issue.

And that's something you just have to work at.

[Malto]

On further thought I suspect you are really asking about backpacking nutrition. Take a look at this, likely the best overall 101 on long distance backpacking nutrition. http://thru-hiker.com/articles/pack_light_eat_right.php

[Odd Man Out]

The 1.5 to 2 lb guideline is based on having food that doesn't have a lot of water in it, but this doesn't have to be dehydrated veggies, beans, pasta, rice etc... In real-life, a backpacker's food bag will probably contain a variety of things, such as non-dehydrated foods and packaging materials. I think in terms of calorie density (calories per pound). Dry starch and protein have about 1600 calories per pound, so if you were carrying just uncooked rice/pasta/non fat dry milk/etc, your two pounds would have 3200 calories. The highest possible calorie density is vegetable oil at about 4000 cal/lb. So any calorie density higher than 1600 cal/lb is due to fat/oil in the food. Most foods will be a combination of all three macronutrients (carbs, protein, fat) and fall somewhere in between. The weight of water and packaging will bring the calorie density lower.

The examples of backpacking foods suggested are actually more calorie dense than dehydrated beans, pasta, and rice:

A Chocolate Chip Clif Bar comes in at 1602 cal/lb (essentially the same as uncooked rice), but has a nice balance of fat, carbs and protein (7/65/15 ratio).

Regular Trail Mix has 2100 cal/lb with a fat/carb/protein ratio of 29/45/14 (the higher calorie density is due to more fat).

Peanut Butter has a very high calorie density of 2670 cal/lb with a fat/carb/protein ratio of 50/20/25. (even more fat)

As for water content, the nutrient ratios above are grams per 100 gram serving. So if you add the three numbers together and subtract from 100, you get an estimate of how much of the food is not contributing to the calories which would include micronutrients (such as salt, fiber, vitamins, minerals) but probably mostly water. This weight is 13 grams for the Clif Bar, 12 grams for the trail mix and just 5 grams for PB.

There have been long debates on this site about other aspects of nutrition (balance of nutrients, salt contents, role of vitamins, simple sugars vs complex carbs, are all calories equal, natural vs processed, vegan, vegetarian, does cheese spoil, etc...). I don't want to open any of those debates (especially the cheese). Ignoring all of those complexities, you can calculate pretty easily the calorie density and nutrient content of your food bag from the data on the nutrition labels. I use this web site to look up this info http://nutritiondata.self.com/ although I got the Clif bar data from the Clif web site). Also note that the nutritional data is based on the weight of the food. You have to add in the packaging so try to keep that to a minimum.

[Del Q]

Obviously, 2 pounds is 2 pounds.

Where I have messed up in the past is not taking into account meals in town, ie breakfast on day one, dinner on the last day, etc.

As a section hiker, I attempt to skimp on the food I carry, have started liking ramen without cooking it or simply soaking it in water for a few hours. Do not cook anymore so that helps with weight and simplicity. After reading the two books by the barefoot sisters, I now carry raw sunflower seeds, ton of food value and energy. Love dried fruit as well. I also pay attention to how much water is in each food item, ie dry beef jerky vs the heavier varieties.

Finally got my pack with water and food to 30 lbs. Less food was a big part of this.

[Cave.Goose]

Finally got my pack with water and food to 30 lbs. Less food was a big part of this.

How many day's food are you carrying at this point. I have arthritis. So I'm seeking to be as close to ultralight as possible, without sacrificing my hammock.

[Del Q]

I carry 4-5 days of food plus some "hooch" (Scotch / Bourbon)..........my Doctor who is now retired used to tell me that 1200-1500 calories a day is a lot of food. Depends what you eat.

Again, I am a section hiker, cannot accurately comment on caloric requirements of being a thru hiker, most are like me, going out a piece at a time.

Eat like a pig in town, carry little, skimp on food, make it about the calories and weight not trying to mirror home in the woods from a food perspective.

The less I carry and the simpler my food plan the happier I am on the trail BY FAR, plus.............it makes food town that much better!!!

Q

[Kaptain Kangaroo]

The 2lb figure is simply an estimate of how much you would be carrying if you are a typical hiker, carrying typical hiker style dehydrated food.

If you decide to live on fresh fruit on the trail, then you will be carrying much, much more weight than 2lb's per day to meet your nutritional requirements. But if you live on the typical hiker fare of noodles, GORP, peanut butter etc. etc. then most people can get sufficient calories for a day in 2lbs of food.

It's just a rule of thumb that makes a bunch of assumptions about you & the food you are carrying, but the main assumption is that your food is lightweight, low water content, high energy density items...

[garlic08]

Two pounds is most definitely not two pounds. As said above, fat has twice the calorie density of carbs.

A good and relatively healthy target is about 130 calories per ounce, with two pounds giving over 4000 calories per day. Depending on the weight you're carrying and the terrain you're hiking and your metabolism, that's usually enough for a hiker's trail rations. Many hikers find it difficult to eat more than that on trail. You'll probably need to supplement that diet with town meals on a long hike to maintain body weight.

To add healthy fat to your diet, consider tree nuts, olive oil, and cheese. Sugar is pure carbs and has relatively low caloric density.

On my AT hike, 4000 cal per day worked fine to maintain my body weight overall. I lost weight in the Southern Appalachians and in the Whites, and gained it in the mid-Atlantic. I ended only a few pounds lower than my starting weight.

[kidchill]

Umm...yes, I just checked my scale, and 2 pounds of food actually does weigh 2lbs! That doesn't mean the caloric content is equal. 1.5-2.5lbs per day is just a rough estimate of food weight while on the trail. This is JUST an estimate, based on folks that have hiked the trail. It doesn't mean this is what you "should" be carrying, just that an average day of food on the trail will weigh roughly that. Hikers, especially thru-hikers, are primarily interested in high calorie, low weight foods...why? Cause you need the calories without carrying 5lbs of food a day! How much food you carry depends on a lot of factors (how many calories you need per day x's number of days between resupply). I would eat breakfast times two, lunch times two, and then dinner. Sometimes I would also have a snack before bed. If you're just section hiking, your needs may be reduced 'cause you have some fat/muscle stores to run off of...Amount of food is gonna be based on your basal metabolic rate, current physiologic makeup, difficulty of terrain, and ambient temperature.

[max patch]

Its the weight in your pack.

The fact that 2 pounds of dehydrated tomatoes originally weighed 10 pounds is meaningless.

[MuddyWaters]

Most will be in the 100-150 cal/oz range. Thats a 50% difference in cal/day based on the foods you choose.

What do you think you should do? You focus on the highest calorie foods you can. Olive oil, peanut butter, trail mix, cookies and pastries, salami, pepperoni, etc.

Sugar and fat. Plain and simple.

Plainer things like tortillas, jerky, tuna, dried noodles, brings the average down fast, even though you need them too.

[Dogwood]

The 1/5 - 2 lbs a day in trail food is just a general suggestion of about what a typical hiker might need to eat based JUST on wt alone of the food. How that 2 lbs is broken down is another story and can become as complex as you want it to become. I'm atypical, never have been in many ways, so I take this suggestion in context with that knowledge. I'm special. I often get away with carrying an average of about 1 lb 4-6 oz per day when I want to gram weenie my trail diet.

[Dogwood]

The 1 1/2 - 2 lbs a day ....

[Grinder]

What the two pounds per day means is "Try as you may, when you have your food as light as it can be (through all the tricks available to us) the combined total of you food bag will be 1 1/2 to 2 pounds per day.
Obviously, if you carry bread, eggs, fresh meat, fruit etc. The figure will rise.
There is no rule of nature that it couldn't work out to 5 pounds per day.

[The Solemates]

for what its worth, the abbreviation for pounds is lb......without an 's' and without a period.

[Just Bill]

As mentioned- 1.5-2.5 lb per day is a guide, a further guide is the oft misunderstood 125 calories per ounce (caloric density). I use the 125 calorie per ounce as a target and guide, but not gospel. After that... my food comes out to about 2.25 pounds per day on average. Not surprisingly, few foil pouch freeze dried meals actually hit the 125 calories per ounce, especially if you factor the packaging. One truth- on trips less than two weeks- you can carry anything you want- you body will survive it. You can also get by on less food than a thru-hiker (or anyone used to high levels of activity). The best way, I found, to use the 125 calorie guideline is to build meals. Steel cut oatmeal is about 100 calories an ounce, but adding walnuts, raisins, sunflower seeds and other high calorie items brings my meal up to target. By adding good fats, sugars, and proteins to my carbs I can round out my meals both nutritionally and for caloric density. Even a simply PB&J wrap fits this profile PB, about 200/ounce, jelly, 70/ounce, whole wheat tortilla, 95/ounce- works out to 129.5 calories per ounce as a meal. That said- Nutrition, meal planning, and packing- in my opinion is easily the most difficult part of long distance backpacking hands down. Here's one more, very rough guide, that somewhat works; Find out what you eat in town- for basic or short trips multiply by 1.25, for week long trips or cold weather short trips multiply by 1.5, for longer duration trips up to one month multiply by 1.75, once past a month (a thru-hike) you metabolism will be at full speed. At this point town food times 2 is a good guide, although some folks go as high as times 3. At some point though, you can't carry enough food to hit 6000 calories or more a day, which is why Hikers are famous for demolishing AYCE facilities and racking up $20 tabs at Micky D's. The AT is an easy place to grab calorie bombs as you go- such as my personal favorite- the Vermont bomb- one pint B&J, one block Cabot Cheese, one tall boy of beer. (About 2k calories) The most important thing- Bring food you like to eat that makes you feel good. That rule trumps all the others.