[pct-l] Remedies for loss of appetite

[Erik The Black]

Hi Clint, 

I've had a similar experience before, not just with hiking but with other
strenuous endurance activities. In my case it was always a combination of
not eating enough calories combined with extreme physical over-exertion.

I think you're on the right track with the solution. If I was you here is
what I would do:

1) Cut your base pack weight down to a max of 15 lbs. This should be easy.
23 lbs is pretty outlandish these days. You should be able to get down to 15
lbs (or less) with no trouble. My base pack weight is down to 9.5 lbs now
and I don't even miss anything.

2) Up your food to at least 2-3 lbs per day and make sure to include lots of
fat, sugar and carbohydrates. (Chocolate, cheese, skittles, sausage, chips,
crackers, cookies, tortillas, olive oil, etc.) You don't have to replace all
your food with junk food if you don't want to, but you can add a bunch of it
to your regular trail diet just to bump up the calories.

You will probably want to buy as you go instead of doing mail drops. That
way you won't feel committed to eating food that you selected weeks or
months ago. Then you can make adjustments as necessary without wasting the
stuff you've already prepared, or eating it out of guilt even though it's
not what you really need.

3) Try to gain an extra 10 pounds or so of body weight before you leave on
your next big hike. This will help act as a buffer against your fast
metabolism. No matter how much food you carry you'll probably still be
running a caloric deficit. But if you have some extra fat then your body can
metabolize it for extra energy when it's not getting enough calories from
food.

I think that with a combination of lighter pack and more calorie dense food
you'll probably be feeling a lot stronger. The only other things I can think
of is to keep your head away from direct sunlight (with a good hat or
umbrella) and drink lots of water.


Happy trails,
Erik the Black
www.eriktheblack.com




-----Original Message-----
From: pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net [mailto:pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net]
On Behalf Of Clint Kaul
Sent: Tuesday, June 16, 2009 6:03 AM
To: pct-l at backcountry.net
Subject: [pct-l] Remedies for loss of appetite

Hello,

I was intending to post this in October when thru-hikers are home.
But I'm getting antsy to get back on the trail and try another segment
of the PCT.  I'm hoping you can provide some insight and possible
solutions to the issue.  I haven't seen this discussed in the archives;
there seems to be more talk of this on the whiteblaze.net site.

The problem that took me off the trail was my stomach and constant hunger.
I had a complete lose of appetite around Wrightwood (mile 364).  Over
the next two weeks I had to gag/choke my food down in small quantities.
The last few days I was throwing-up my breakfast.  I felt tired/lethargic
most of the day.  I had a few "bonking"/"hitting the wall"/"complete
energy shutdown" events while hiking where I simply had to sleep an
hour or so before resuming.  It bothered me enough I eventually quit
at Tehachapi (mile 566).

I'll first talk about the suggestions I've received already as well
as read about regarding loss of appetite.  The question is whether
I'm missing something.  Afterwards I'll give more gory details as to
my decline on the trail.  Maybe it will provide insight into something
I am over-looking.


The suggestions/ideas I have received so far:
1.  I talked with Donna Saufley about this.  She says it happens to
    some hikers, including her.  I should just continue gagging the
    food down and the body will eventually adjust.  Maybe I gave up
    too soon?
2.  Most people suggested I was not drinking enough water.  My urine
    was clear to slightly yellow.  I never had a dehydration headache.
    I drank 1/4 - 1/3 liter per mile depending on the heat.
3.  High temperatures were commonly mentioned as well.  It is true
    the heat affected me at times.  But I was ahead of the herd for
    the most part and was fortunate with mostly good temps (mid 80s).
4.  One hiker suggested taking digestive enzymes which I did for a while.
    They didn't seem to help, but the packaging never indicated the
    dosing schedule.
5.  Shear lack of calories.  I realize I screwed up from the start by
    only eating 3500 cal/day.  I should have started with 4500 cal/day.
    I guess I burned through all my fat reserves early on which may
    explain why I felt so good the first couple of weeks.
6.  Many google results for lose of appetite in athletes seem to indicate
    the problem is over training.  I don't see how I can stop "training"
    since I'm on a thru-hike.  Perhaps fewer miles/day and push the
    weather window?  Yes, I know I need to lighten my pack as well - a
    baseweight around 23 pounds.  Leaving a full resupply it probably
    weighed in the 45-50 pound range.
7.  I finally found one decent article "Pack Light Eat Right" at:
        http://thru-hiker.com/articles/pack_light_eat_right.php
    It is proposing a 50:40:10 (carb:fat:protein) ratio for food.
    Going through what I was eating, it was more like 50:30:20.
    It appears I was eating too much protein which the body has to
    really work at to digest.  I bought a bunch of high carb/high fat
    foods (focused on low protein) to augment my food supply.
    Later I found Erik The Black's Junk Food Diet page:
        http://www.eriktheblack.com/blog/junkfood-hiking-diet/
    which seems to bolster this.  Unfortunately I never got a chance to
    test the new balance; food poisoning the first day out of Tehachapi ;(


I'm a tall, lean male who has a high metabolism.  I eat a lot even in
civilian life.  From day 2 onward I knew I hadn't packed enough food
in my resupply boxes.  I would buy extra food along the way to suppli-
ment.  I figure I was eating about 3500 cal/day from Mount Laguna to
Wrightwood.  I would be hungry at times, but felt fine.  The hunger
would kick in starting in the late afternoon (to Warner Springs),
then early afternoon (to Idyllwild), then late morning (to Big Bear)
until I would wake up hungry (from Big Bear onward).

>From Wrightwood onward is when I had problems.  I would wake up
hungry.  I could mostly eat my milk/cereal before gagging.  From
6AM to around noon I would snack every 10-15 minutes.  I would always
feel hungry but after 1/2 bar I would gag/retch trying to eat more.
Normally by noon my stomach seemed to be on track and I could eat
without gagging through the rest of the day.  Although I was always
hungry and felt a bit tired.

I staid three days (2 nero, 1 zero) in Agua Dulce (the Saufleys are
a true heaven) trying to eat as much as I could, which wasn't much.
On the third day I finally started to have an appetite and could
easily eat.  I decided to try section E, bought enough food so I
was carrying 4000+ cal/day and headed off even though I wasn't feeling
"normal" by any means.

Section E was not kind to me.  I normally threw-up breakfast.  I could
eat only small portions before gagging.  I would retch/dry-heave along
the trail every 15-20 minutes in the morning.  I found I could no
longer eat while hiking.  I had to sit down, rest a couple of minutes
and then gag something down before continuing.  I "bonked" almost
every afternoon.  I felt lethargic all the time.

Even with all those problems I typically hiked 20-22 miles/day.  At
the end of the day I had gagged down 4000+ calories, so I could get
the food in, just not pleasantly.  My weight didn't seem to drop much;
4 pounds over 4 weeks (home to Agua Dulce).


I'm open to any suggestions/comments/remedies others may have for this
loss of appetite and hunger.  Right now I'm leaning toward adding "junk
food" to my existing resupply boxes to get more carbs/fats and eat at
least 4500 cal/day.  I don't have a better potential solution yet.

Thank you for any information,
clint
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