[pct-l] Weight loss on the trail

[Bruno Barrera Yever]

Hello,

I've been lurking around here for a while, since I'm preparing for a thru
hike next year. My main concern right now is my fitness level.

I'm 19 years old, 180cm tall and weigh 61kg, which is on the low side of my
healthy weight (60-80kg). I'm not a very sporty person... when I was
younger I played some tennis, but I stopped at around 12. Since then I've
been mostly sedentary. Also I've been smoking for the past 6 years (I've
quit a number of times (for more than a year), and I'm quite capable of
doing it, I just don't really want to... I enjoy tobacco (I smoke actual
tobacco, not cigarettes) :) ). For the past year and a half, I've been
vegetarian, I just recently started eating meat again, to try to gain
weight (not really enjoying it tho...)

I'm quite confident in myself, and despite all the bad things from that
last paragraph, I think I can get in shape by April... at least to get in
the 40kms per day range. My concern though, is weight. I'm afraid I'll
loose too much weight on the trail, so my question is: is there an average
weight loss while on the trail? I've read that you need to ingest between
4000 and 6000 calories per day, just to maintain your weight! This is a
problem for me because I dont eat very much... Not because I'm anorexic or
something, but because its difficult for me. I have a small stomach and
very fast metabolism, so its really difficult for me to eat so much and
gain weight.

Another question... As I said in the beginning, I was a vegetarian (i ate
eggs and dairy products, but no seafood, chicken, meat or any other
animal), and recently stopped as an attempt to gain weight. I realized I
dont enjoy meat as much as I used to, and would like to remain a
vegetarian, so the question is: is it possible to eat between 4000-6000
calories per day on a vegetarian diet? I know most of the stuff you eat
while on the trail are junk food (pop tarts, snickers, etc) except for the
main meals, which are usually pasta with cheese. All that sounds vegetarian
enough for me, but I'm guessing that the meals you have while on towns
count a lot to the overall healthiness of the diet (and I'm sure you're not
going to stuff yourself with a salad after 5 days of pop tarts!)

I'm sure a lot of people here a very experienced and have done a lot thru
hikes, so this may not pose a problem to you anymore, but any insight into
this would greatly help me. Also, if you know of some physical training to
get in shape, I would really appreciate you experience. Right now I'm
running daily -except weekends- 'working out' at home (I hate gyms), and I
try to go hike on weekends, but there aren't very may places around here (I
live in Mexico City).

/walloftext

TL;DR:

- thoughts on smoking and thru-hiking?
- high calorie vegetarian diet for a thru hike?
- how much weight will I loose?
- fitness tips?

Thanks!
-- 
Bruno Barrera Yever
http://www.untechoparamipais.org/mexico/
http://www.ubuntumexico.org
http://cruzrojadf.org/