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Post by ukpacker on Jul 12, 2019 3:34:51 GMT -8
Like most male backpackers I have generally worked on carrying 1kg (about 2 pounds) food per day on multi day trips.
Earlier this month I did a six day walk through the farmed landscape and villages of SW UK staying at campsites. This trip was intended as preparation for a wilderness backpack later in the year so I carried six days food even though I would pass by small stores en-route. Only this time I carried about 800gms per day (1.76lb). Every day the same, muesli 400 gm milk 50 gm pasta 90 gm chorizo 33 gm cheese 41 gm dry fruit 50 gm biscuits 50 gm chocolate 50 gm malt drink 25 gm dry onion 13 gm stock cube 5 gm soup 10 gm. It was hot and I was in creamy Devon so I do have to confess to having been seduced by farm made ice creams on 3 occasions. After a few days I certainly felt as though my appetite was never quite sated but energy wise I was OK walking 6-15 miles per day in undulating country. On returning home I found that I had lost just over 2 kg ( about 5lb) in weight. Given that I seem to be permanently overweight by 7-10 lbs I see this as a good thing for me. So now I am planning to replicate this strategy on a wilderness walk with 6-8 day sections between resupply and to compensate by over eating in town , the entire trip will last about 6-7 weeks . Unfortunately the settlements I stop at are unlikely to have a coin operated weighing machine to monitor my weight loss which would be useful. Has any one tried such a strategy over several weeks? how did it work out?
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null
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Post by null on Jul 12, 2019 7:37:40 GMT -8
Weight alone is really misleading. Let's say you stop to drink 1 liter of water. All of a sudden the scale shows you gained 1 Kg! But of course nothing has really changed about your body.
A better metric is body fat percentage. It's much more difficult to measure of course but it give you a truer picture of your body composition.
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Post by ukpacker on Jul 12, 2019 10:44:16 GMT -8
I would not ,indeed could not drink a litre of water in one go. Body weight is good enough for my purposes,though it has occured to me that as it is unlikely that I shall encounter coin operated scales at the small towns on route I might instead measure waist size with a knot tied in a spare guy line. I only need a guide as to whether I am eating enough between stages to compensate for short rations while hiking.
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Post by bobcat on Jul 12, 2019 18:30:28 GMT -8
I am a big fan of experimentation within my trip plans. It seemed to work for you when you tried it. You had plenty of energy, no headaches, and generally felt good, so I say go ahead and try what you are planning. You are close enough to civilization that you can always arrange a grocery stop within a few days if you need more calories, right?
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rebeccad
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Post by rebeccad on Jul 12, 2019 20:09:34 GMT -8
The only thing I’d say is that for such a long trip you’d better vary the diet! It might be well enough balance for nutrition, but I can pretty well guarantee you’ll get sick and tired of it.
For the 2 of us, I usually plan between 1 and 1.5 lbs of food per person/day. That has the same effect on us—a modest weight loss and a certain amount of not feeling satisfied, but adequate energy. We haven’t tried it for more than 9 days, though. The binge-eating in town between segments should help to keep it sustainable. One thing I suspect you’ll find: you’ll need more calories as the trip goes on. We haven’t done sustained backpacking for 6 weeks, but we have done trips of a month or more with daily or near-daily hiking, and after about 3 weeks,, the hunger really kicks in and the usual amounts aren’t enough.
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Post by ukpacker on Jul 13, 2019 1:30:06 GMT -8
The only thing I’d say is that for such a long trip you’d better vary the diet! It might be well enough balance for nutrition, but I can pretty well guarantee you’ll get sick and tired of it. I have done quite a few trips like this and just put up with the lack of variety, to be honest I get hungry enough that I am just happy to be eating whatever I have got. It also helps to get the shopping over and done with in quick time as I just wiz round the isles with a notebook adding up the weights of food as I throw packets in the trolley,for me variety consists of buying different types of chocolate , on trail is the only time I eat the stuff and it's a real treat when I set up camp to have a big chunk with a cup of instant coffee. On previous trips I have found myself craving more of the stuff as the weeks pass. There only seem to be four basic foods anyway, fat,protein carbohydrates and fibre everything else is flavoring. I shall be walking in Northern Scandinavia which is a great place for wild foods. In early summer I chew on young pine needles and pick wild sorrel and angelica for salad, the berries start to appear in august and soon fill the forests bogs and tundra, edible mushrooms are common, various bollletus and chantrelles, I throw them into stews of pasta chorizo and dried fried onions maybe with some new shoots of club mosses , stock cubes contain salt and oil to season. It's an ok diet good enough for me. |
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rebeccad
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Post by rebeccad on Jul 13, 2019 8:18:33 GMT -8
ukpacker, that fresh stuff makes all the difference! And I can appreciate what you do with the simplicity, I think I’ll stick with more work up front (at home) and adding boiling water to a range of foods on the trail  . But it sounds like you’ve tested your tolerance for the diet, and if you’re fine with it, then that’s great.
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Post by Magnus B. on Jun 30, 2020 7:20:38 GMT -8
Forgive me if this is unwanted advice. I too had lead myself to believe I was "permanently over weight". Back in 2016 I dropped from a high of 180# (maybe 185#) to a low of 140#. Most of that weight was dropped by closely monitory my caloric intake (all foods weighed with a gram scale, and recorded in a log.) If I did not see weight loss in a given week, I would adjust my consumption of carbohydrates. Often, it was insulin (create by eating carbs) that prevented me from losing the weight. These days, my weight ranges from a low of 140, to a high of 150#. (I am a little 5'6" tall dude.) When I get to fat, I stop my nightly beer drinking. I can then easily eat low glycemic index, and control my calories. The weight falls right off. I agree with other folks. Don't go experimenting with your diet on the trail. If you want to lose some weight, take control of you diet at home.
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ErnieW
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Post by ErnieW on Jul 2, 2020 12:48:43 GMT -8
I am a stocky build. I have issues with "plateauing". I start to gain muscle but lose fat under longer trips. I end up thinner and in better shape but only a bit lighter. Much more healthy.
Measuring weight can be useful but also deceptive.
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. But it sounds like you’ve tested your tolerance for the diet, and if you’re fine with it, then that’s great.
