[pct-l] Weight question

[Diane Soini of Santa Barbara Hikes]

I don't think it's worthwhile to put on weight before the hike.  
You'll lose all your excess weight in the first few weeks. I met a  
guy near Tehachapi who had lost 50lbs. I, a woman who is  
metabolically gifted for long distance hiking, lost 25lbs by Big  
Bear. If you are metabolically gifted for sitting on your butt eating  
potato chips without looking like you do, you'll lose any extra  
weight in a week.

Unless you can keep extra weight on longer than a couple weeks, it's  
probably not going to help you.

Diane

On Mar 4, 2011, at 4:53 PM, pct-l-request at backcountry.net wrote:

> But not packweight - this one is querying those experienced thru- 
> hikers:
>
> Is it better to put on some bodyfat before hiking the trail?  I can  
> gain and
> lose weight pretty easily, so I was wondering if people found it  
> was better
> to lose weight to have less to cart around on the trail, or to gain  
> a bit of
> fat they could then burn off while hiking and not be as hungry/rely  
> on if
> they didn't have enough food.
>
> Thoughts? Opinions?
>
> Thanks!
>
> Regards,
> Eric