|
Post by Coolkat on May 8, 2017 7:46:40 GMT -8
There are two situations that I hear people talking about counting calories. If they are trying to loose weight or if they are planning a backpacking trip.
I've never considered calories when buying food for one of my hikes. However, when one starts googling for backpacking food you see lots of talk about making sure you get calorie dense food. So I'm wondering does anyone outside of through hikers who are already at their ideal weight worry about caloric intake on their hikes?
|
|
zeke
Trail Wise!
Peekaboo slot 2023
Posts: 9,886
|
Post by zeke on May 8, 2017 9:25:54 GMT -8
I look at a chart with calories per ounce, to decide which snacks to take or add ons for dinners. I lose weight while bp'ing, so it is important for me not to bonk out from too few calories. Nuts, p-nut butter, and French's Crispy jalapenos all offer up calorie dense snacking.
If you don't count calories, how do you know you are consuming 3-4000 calories per day? I usually expend almost 8000 a day bp'ing. I can deal with losing 1 pound a day while out, but try not to lose any more than that.
|
|
rebeccad
Trail Wise!
Writing like a maniac
Posts: 12,688
|
Post by rebeccad on May 8, 2017 9:35:36 GMT -8
So I'm wondering does anyone outside of through hikers who are already at their ideal weight worry about caloric intake on their hikes? I can't say I count calories, but I'm definitely conscious of a calories/nutrition/weight equation when planning meals. Like Zeke, on a week-long trip, I lose weight, and I do bonk easily, so have to make a pretty conscious effort to have the right stuff for snacking, and dinners that will help restore me (and keep me from killing and eating my tent-mate at 2 a.m.).
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on May 8, 2017 11:01:26 GMT -8
i don't count calories at all, although i try to take plenty of nuts, a few candies, and nutrient-rich foods.
my trips are generally less than a week duration, and losing a few pounds during it is acceptable (even desirable).
|
|
|
Post by Coolkat on May 8, 2017 11:21:03 GMT -8
I can't say I count calories, but I'm definitely conscious of a calories/nutrition/weight equation when planning meals. Interesting responses. I've never bothered worry about calories or nutrient content that much. I figure I can't hurt myself nutritionally much in 10 days or less. The one thing I do try to pay attention is the amount of sugar. Sugar really brings down your immune system and getting sick on the trail has always been one of my big fears, although it's never happened. my trips are generally less than a week duration, and losing a few pounds during it is acceptable (even desirable). Sounds like you and I think alike on this topic.
|
|
swiftdream
Trail Wise!
the Great Southwest Unbound
Posts: 552
|
Post by swiftdream on May 8, 2017 12:50:46 GMT -8
have to make a pretty conscious effort to have the right stuff for snacking, and dinners that will help restore me (and keep me from killing and eating my tent-mate at 2 a.m.). We have a paleo diet, no sugar, no processed, refined carbs. Although we take a lot of food it is easy to get wrapped up in hiking and exploring. One two week backpacking trip I lost 15 lbs. I'm slim so that was a bit too much. The next trip I made a conscience effort to eat more food and it worked. I don't add up calories but just add more food for those times. They say that half of Americans now eat 180 lbs of sugar per year now. That stuff used to kill my energy so fast and keep me ravenously hungry. I hardly get hungry anymore now that I don't use it or other refined carbs, hardly any carbs at all now. Been that way for about 10 years now. Some endurance athletes are going the same way and finding good results.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on May 8, 2017 14:10:17 GMT -8
Typically, for backpacking trips, I try for 3,000 calories per person per day.
My wife just did a 92.8 mile (GPS measured with WAAS error of 27 feet) backpacking trip in 3.5 days. When she headed out on the first day her pack weighed 35.01 pounds. In that 35 pounds she had 6 liters of water and 4 days worth of food. She arrived at the first meet up point, at 50.2 miles (GPS measured with WASS error of 27 feet), on the evening of the 2nd day. She had eaten 3 days worth of food and was on the last dregs of water. She had, already, visibly lost weight on day 2. I resupplied her with water on day 3 and 4. When she met me on the morning of day 4, I could tell she was near done. When, I met up with her at 1300 she was done with the hike and then proceeded to eat. The first thing she did was down 2 beers, the first beer was downed in about 30 seconds and the next beer was done in about 2ish minutes, along with a can of Spaghetti-0's, a liter of soda, and several ice cream bars. About an hour later she ate 2 Arby’s roast beef’s, with my plan on making sure she got to eat as much protein as she could stand for the next 2 days.
My wife was intent on seeing how hard she could push herself.
I think one has to look at the trip and the goal of the trip. A trip like my wife just did, for us, required fairly accurate measurements that included calories per day. Each calorie equaled weight to be carried which would affect speed of travel. Other, more leisurely, trips do not need as much attention to the details.
|
|
whistlepunk
Trail Wise!
I was an award winning honor student once. I have no idea what happened...
Posts: 1,446
|
Post by whistlepunk on May 8, 2017 15:44:17 GMT -8
Some research shows an average of 3600-4000 calories per day backpacking. Some days will be more, some days less, so that is a working average for the average trekker. If you push yourself harder than average then eat accordingly.
For trips of a week or less you can safely ignore the micronutrient content (vitamins, minerals, etc.) and instead focus on the macronutrients. Push carbs, but still keep a balance. The forgotten nutrient is fiber, and nearly all of the prepared freeze-dried meals are low in fiber. The recommendation is 14 gm fiber per thousand calories, and recent research suggests that amount is still too low. I shoot for closer to twenty.
|
|
zeke
Trail Wise!
Peekaboo slot 2023
Posts: 9,886
|
Post by zeke on May 8, 2017 16:24:44 GMT -8
Despite the low fiber content, I seem to have no trouble going when I eat freeze dried commercial dinners.
|
|
BigLoad
Trail Wise!
Pancakes!
Posts: 12,939
|
Post by BigLoad on May 8, 2017 17:22:59 GMT -8
I don't worry as much about calories as about having some alternatives to account for what I may or may not feel like eating on the trail. Exertion, hydration, heat and altitude all affect my appetite in a variety of ways, and sometimes I can't enjoy eating what I originally planned. I take a little extra of this and that to be sure that I'll always have something that works in the moment.
|
|
rebeccad
Trail Wise!
Writing like a maniac
Posts: 12,688
|
Post by rebeccad on May 8, 2017 19:23:55 GMT -8
I confess to an absolute inability to understand this. Granted, I have survival rations around my midsection... Me too. But I can still bonk, and badly. That bugs me. I'd like to have better access to the extra!
|
|
toejam
Trail Wise!
Hiking to raise awareness
Posts: 1,795
|
Post by toejam on May 9, 2017 4:15:08 GMT -8
I'm wondering does anyone outside of through hikers who are already at their ideal weight worry about caloric intake on their hikes? I didn't eat enough on a short trip about 20 years ago and have packed too much food on every backpacking trip since. This was really only a problem when I packed about 15 days worth of food for the first 10 days of the John Muir Trail. Most trips I finish with a couple extra Cliff bars and some trail mix left over, but I can consider it emergency food. I eat when I get hungry, but sometimes start to bonk before then and make myself eat. The only time eating lots on the trail is a problem is when I've been home for a couple of days and I'm still eating like I'm on the trail. The answer to the question is I eat plenty to stay fueled on the trail and usually lose weight anyway.
|
|
|
Post by Coolkat on May 9, 2017 4:32:41 GMT -8
I don't forget to eat, it's more like I loose my appetite. Since I'm afraid of getting sick on the trail I usually take a multi-vitamin. Normally in the form of emergen-c. I find the responses interesting because it does look like you guys pay more attention to their food than I do. I haven't yet tried to balance anything, count calories, etc.. but then again my longest trip has been 11 days. Maybe there is a thread for it somewhere but it would be interesting to see what everyone packs for food. As I've gotten ideas that I'd never think of from talking to others.
|
|
tomas
Trail Wise!
Posts: 1,906
|
Post by tomas on May 9, 2017 4:51:16 GMT -8
Exertion, hydration, heat and altitude all affect my appetite in a variety of ways, and sometimes I can't enjoy eating what I originally planned. I take a little extra of this and that to be sure that I'll always have something that works in the moment. I thought I was the only one who had this happen! I can't count the number of times something sounded yummy during trip planning and ended up "meh" once it was cooked up and ready to eat.
|
|
rebeccad
Trail Wise!
Writing like a maniac
Posts: 12,688
|
Post by rebeccad on May 9, 2017 9:59:35 GMT -8
yummy during trip planning and ended up "meh" once it was cooked up and ready to eat. This has happened to me, but it's usually because a recipe sounded good...but wasn't. I do know that the taste for salt and fat (and sugar) goes up as the trip goes on.
|
|