[pct-l] Weight loss on the trail

[Sir Mixalot]

Eating over 4500 calories is not easy, and can be very tedious if you try
to stick to a traditional 3 meals a day.  It becomes much easier if you
snack ALL the time.  My trail diet is vegetarian other than dairy.  I don't
eat any meat on the trail.

On Sat, Dec 24, 2011 at 11:21 AM, Bruno Barrera Yever <bbyever at gmail.com>wrote:

> 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/
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