[pct-l] How much food a day do you need?

[goforth at cio.net (Joanne Lennox)]

You slowly build up a energy debt; I do not know anybody that did not lose
some 
weight in the first two months.  In the last months, some people ,
especially women, gained some of the weight back.

Almost everybody puts too much food in their resupply boxes the first three
weeks, but very soon after that there is not enough.  you will always buy
some food if you can, and you look forward to the things that you can add. 
You might want to send the things that you will not be able to buy, or be
more ample in those resupply boxes where the choice will be limited,
especially if you are a picky eater or allergic to certain foods.  Resupply
boxes allow you to have more variety in your foods, which is critical to
staying upbeat in the hike.  I would not add too many things that you do
not eat at home - like energy bars.  By Sierra City I was tossing most of
these and still have an aversion to most of them.  I think a lot of people 
are using 5,000 calories a day at the end of the first month -depends on 
speed of hiking and temperatures and snow.

There were very few items that I added later, that I would have done better
having from the begaining : These were olive oil(improved every dinner),
spirulina and ground flax seeds (I was missing linoleic acid).

Years ago somebody posted a story that went something like this:  "I walked
into a convenience gas station at Lee Vining (near Yosemite), and bought a
bag of chips, a muffin, a sandwich, a candy bar, a soft drink.  When I
walked out, I did not remember having eaten any of it"!

I remember somebody inviting me for dinner with their family.  there was 5
other people at the dinner.  When I saw the food, I remember thinking, I
could easily eat it all myself.  I tried to eat about the same as they did,
it was painful.

Goforth




----------
> From: The Mountain Goat <themtgoat@yahoo.com>
> To: pct mailing list <pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net>
> Subject: [pct-l] How much food a day do you need?
> Date: Sunday, January 11, 2004 7:51 PM
> 
> Greetings again;
>  
> I have been working on the food needed for the PCT trip. I am one of
those dreaded pre-planners (sorry to those who prefer to buy food as you
go-hikers :-)...). I used to take about 1.25LB of food per day regardless
of length of trip. But a couple of my Backpacking buddies have told me that
I couldn't last because I would lose to much weight. 
>  
> First of all, I think they are right. I generally lose weight on most
backpacks, which isn't a problem is your only going out for 10 days, but we
are talking about the PCT here....
>  
> In your experience's....
> 1. How much food per day, do you generally take. (I am a male weighing
~142 pounds.)
> 2. Does anyone have a general calories to pounds conversion. Right now I
am using 2000 calories to a pound. This is because there seems to be 1300
to 2700 calories to a pound depending on what type of food your taking.
2000 Being a nice middle ground number.
>  
> My current plan is to buy food based on what I think I need, then at the
resupply points buy extra food, after I have a good feel for what my body
requires...
>  
> Thanks in advance.....
> -Mountain Goat- 
>  
>  
>  
> 
> 
> 
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