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

[brentramsby-pct at yahoo.com (brentramsby-pct@yahoo.com)]

Hey Mountain Goat

Trying to figure out how much you need to eat isn't as easy as you
would think.  There are many variables which influence your calorie
intake requirements (or hunger level) on any given day.  For me,
temperature affected my hunger more than anything else.  When daytime
highs were over 100 degrees, I ate much less than average.  When
daytime temperatures were below 40 degrees, i ate much more than
average.  

My Profile
- 2003 thru-hiker
- 33 yr old male
- 140 lbs
- vegetarian
- normal metabolism = "rabbit-like"

My Experience
- maintained 140 lbs prior to reaching onyx
- lost 10 lbs between onyx & kennedy meadows (giardia)
- gained back 10 lbs between km and washington
- lost 5 lbs in the 2 weeks prior to reaching manning park (very cold
weather)

Normal day
- Breakfast: 800-900 cal
- Midmorning snack: 600-700 cal
- Lunch: 800-1000 cal
- Midafternoon snack: 600-700 cal
- Late afternoon snack: 200-300 cal
- Dinner: 800-1000 cal
- Midnight snack: 200-300 cal
------------------------------
Average = 4,450 cal


As far as trying to figure out weight, 2000 calories per pound is a
good goal.  I made my own dehydrated food and was able get 2500-3000
calories per pound fairly easily.  Anything over 3000 calories per
pound started to taste really oily.

If you want to dig into your nutritional requirements and how your
body processes food, take a look at a book called "Endurance Sports
Nutrition."  I found it very helpful.

-Teflon



--- The Mountain Goat <themtgoat@yahoo.com> wrote:
> 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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