I just backpacked the Grand Canyon. Why didn't I lose any weight?
lovetolose20
Posts: 29 Member
I just backpacked the entire Grand Canyon, it took 3 days. My pack weighed 20-25 lbs and I figure I burned about 3,000 calories each day minimum. I consumed an average of 2,000 or less calories a day.
I weighed 190.0 when I left and 190.0 when I got back. I'm still trying to lose 20 more lbs. I'm a 5'10", 38 year old female.
I'm just curious if any of you have an answer for this, I just don't understand.
Thanks for any replies.
I weighed 190.0 when I left and 190.0 when I got back. I'm still trying to lose 20 more lbs. I'm a 5'10", 38 year old female.
I'm just curious if any of you have an answer for this, I just don't understand.
Thanks for any replies.
0
Replies
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How can you be sure how much you ate and how many cals? if you didn't weigh your food while hiking then you can't be a hundred percent sure that CI<CO0
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If 1 lb = 3500 calories, and you were indeed under by 1000 calories a day, that's only 3000 calories. Not even 1 lb.23
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It was only 3 days.
Increased activity is often paired with water retention in the muscles, which can mask fat loss for a period of time.
It was only 3 days.35 -
Yeah, I'm willing to bet your body made up for those burned calories by eating more. Same thing happened to me in Italy...but it was totally worth it!
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eveandqsmom wrote: »Yeah, I'm willing to bet your body made up for those burned calories by eating more. Same thing happened to me in Italy...but it was totally worth it!
Oh gosh, I didn't want to read this. haha I'm leaving for Italy NEXT WEEK and I'm terrified of putting on weight, but I want to enjoy myself!!
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you hiked the grand canyon, one of our most treasured national icons and you brought home disappointment? hmm, I'm thinking there's a novelty tee opportunity here.34
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eveandqsmom wrote: »Yeah, I'm willing to bet your body made up for those burned calories by eating more. Same thing happened to me in Italy...but it was totally worth it!
Oh gosh, I didn't want to read this. haha I'm leaving for Italy NEXT WEEK and I'm terrified of putting on weight, but I want to enjoy myself!!
Then enjoy yourself !!!! If you put on weight oh well you will loose it again !9 -
I would consider a 3-day backpacking trip great fun, not a weight loss plan.26
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did you take the back pack off when you were on the scale?? lol23
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eveandqsmom wrote: »Yeah, I'm willing to bet your body made up for those burned calories by eating more. Same thing happened to me in Italy...but it was totally worth it!
Oh gosh, I didn't want to read this. haha I'm leaving for Italy NEXT WEEK and I'm terrified of putting on weight, but I want to enjoy myself!!
I didn't gain! I ended up exactly the same after all the walking and eating and drinking. It was fantastic!4 -
You're most likely retaining some water in your muscles. Up your water intake and watch your sodium levels and see if your weight drops.3
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I just got back from 16 days in Italy. Walked everywhere! Came back 13 pounds heavier but the water weight is dropping off fast. I still expect to be up 3-4 pounds though. Worth it. Back to work.7
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Thanks for the replies.
I didn't do it to lose weight, I did it for fun.
But when you are trying to lose weight and you backpack 18 miles, you hope you do lose a little.
I'm jealous of the Italy travelers, that sounds so fun!!2 -
Yes, your poor muscles are all banged up from the huge effort they put forth on your adventure and are swollen up with water. Water is heavy.
Every time you exceed your accustomed exercise levels you damage your muscles, and in response they heal and reinforce, getting bigger and stronger in the process. That's good news, but that repair work hurts, takes time and uses a lot of water. I've seen myself put on 3-6lb of water after 1 day of hiking.
When the muscles are done repairing and strengthening - a few days to a week - the water will shed again and if you've been careful in the meantime you may see a loss.
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CattOfTheGarage wrote: »Yes, your poor muscles are all banged up from the huge effort they put forth on your adventure and are swollen up with water. Water is heavy.
Every time you exceed your accustomed exercise levels you damage your muscles, and in response they heal and reinforce, getting bigger and stronger in the process. That's good news, but that repair work hurts, takes time and uses a lot of water. I've seen myself put on 3-6lb of water after 1 day of hiking.
When the muscles are done repairing and strengthening - a few days to a week - the water will shed again and if you've been careful in the meantime you may see a loss.
Does this happen every time you start a new routine?0 -
Thank you for taking the time to reply and for your wisdom. This makes a lot of sense.CattOfTheGarage wrote: »Yes, your poor muscles are all banged up from the huge effort they put forth on your adventure and are swollen up with water. Water is heavy.
Every time you exceed your accustomed exercise levels you damage your muscles, and in response they heal and reinforce, getting bigger and stronger in the process. That's good news, but that repair work hurts, takes time and uses a lot of water. I've seen myself put on 3-6lb of water after 1 day of hiking.
When the muscles are done repairing and strengthening - a few days to a week - the water will shed again and if you've been careful in the meantime you may see a loss.
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lovetolose20 wrote: »I just backpacked the entire Grand Canyon, it took 3 days. My pack weighed 20-25 lbs and I figure I burned about 3,000 calories each day minimum. I consumed an average of 2,000 or less calories a day.
How in gods name did you do this with a 25 pound pack? You must have had to carry water most of the way.Colorscheme wrote: »How can you be sure how much you ate and how many cals? if you didn't weigh your food while hiking then you can't be a hundred percent sure that CI<CO
Most backpackers eat pre-packaged, freeze-dried slop. It comes weighed and calorated. It's unpalatable, so you don't really eat a lot of it. The whole time you're out you dream of raspberries and veggie burgers, but because you're carrying your tent, sleeping bag, extra clothing, cooking gear, water filtering gear, and everything else you need, luxuries like an orange just aren't worth the added weight.
Hopefully the OP ate better than Mountain House but:
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I'm leaving for vacation in Spain in a few weeks. The tour director (it's for my sister's school) said people came back losing weight but I doubt I will after the water weighteveandqsmom wrote: »Yeah, I'm willing to bet your body made up for those burned calories by eating more. Same thing happened to me in Italy...but it was totally worth it!
Oh gosh, I didn't want to read this. haha I'm leaving for Italy NEXT WEEK and I'm terrified of putting on weight, but I want to enjoy myself!!
1 -
NorthCascades wrote: »lovetolose20 wrote: »I just backpacked the entire Grand Canyon, it took 3 days. My pack weighed 20-25 lbs and I figure I burned about 3,000 calories each day minimum. I consumed an average of 2,000 or less calories a day.
How in gods name did you do this with a 25 pound pack? You must have had to carry water most of the way.Colorscheme wrote: »How can you be sure how much you ate and how many cals? if you didn't weigh your food while hiking then you can't be a hundred percent sure that CI<CO
Most backpackers eat pre-packaged, freeze-dried slop. It comes weighed and calorated. It's unpalatable, so you don't really eat a lot of it. The whole time you're out you dream of raspberries and veggie burgers, but because you're carrying your tent, sleeping bag, extra clothing, cooking gear, water filtering gear, and everything else you need, luxuries like an orange just aren't worth the added weight.
Hopefully the OP ate better than Mountain House but:
Ok, but how can you know the weight is actually reliable? I've had things that said 4 oz or whatever in a bag and it was more like 5 oz or so. Remember, the FDA allows a 20 percent discrepancy for each serving size.0 -
While its a nice thought to think what we just did yesterday or the day before(or the day before in you case) will immediately show up on the scale, that's not how it really works. What you did last week, and the week before, and the week before is what shows up now, which is why consistency is key. I would have not been surprised if the scale was heavier from backpacking, just due to water weight from increased excursion and your muscles holding onto water while they try to repair.
Overall though, I hope you enjoyed your time and don't only take away the fact that your weight "stayed the same" (as a side note, I would love it if my weight stayed the same while on vacation. I swim, run, walk everywhere for miles while on vacation, but I also probably eat more than I should....but its vacation so I don't worry about it).2 -
I'm going to repeat what some others have said:
It was only 3 days. Often weight loss is delayed, and often muscles take on water during times of heavy use.
How did you get by with only 20-25 lb. pack? *I'm assuming you traveled with someone else who carried a heavier pack and had most of the shared items such as a stove, tent, much of the food, etc. I hiked with 2 others for a week last fall. We cached some of our food half-way, but my pack was 37 lbs. at the start. The 2nd person's pack was well over 50 lbs. at the start and the 3rd was around 20-25 lbs. - this is because the 2nd person was carrying most everything for the 3rd person.
Also, it takes longer than 3 days to lose weight. You don't backpack for only 3 days with the intent to lose weight... you can hike several days every month for years to lose weight and get into better shape.2 -
Colorscheme wrote: »CattOfTheGarage wrote: »Yes, your poor muscles are all banged up from the huge effort they put forth on your adventure and are swollen up with water. Water is heavy.
Every time you exceed your accustomed exercise levels you damage your muscles, and in response they heal and reinforce, getting bigger and stronger in the process. That's good news, but that repair work hurts, takes time and uses a lot of water. I've seen myself put on 3-6lb of water after 1 day of hiking.
When the muscles are done repairing and strengthening - a few days to a week - the water will shed again and if you've been careful in the meantime you may see a loss.
Does this happen every time you start a new routine?
If there's enough of an increase in activity and enough damage done.
I retained water when I added distance running to lifting. And again when adding lifting back in after dropping it for a while.1 -
I hiked over 10 miles Monday with lots of up and down hills supposedly burned 2500+ calories and I was up about 3 lbs - definitely sore muscles holding on to water.1
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We had 6 people in our group and only 2 tents so the weight was distributed. My husbands pack was definitely heavier. I weighed my pack after the hike, without any food or water in it so it was probably more like 30. I can't imagine a 37-50 lb pack. Maybe someday I'll be that strong!
And btw, I LOVE mountain house. Beef Stroganoff is my fave2 -
midwesterner85 wrote: »How did you get by with only 20-25 lb. pack? *I'm assuming you traveled with someone else who carried a heavier pack and had most of the shared items such as a stove, tent, much of the food, etc.
I was hoping for some neat ultralight tips.
I replaced my mummy bag with a down quilt. Some weight saving, major improvement to comfort.
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Colorscheme wrote: »CattOfTheGarage wrote: »Yes, your poor muscles are all banged up from the huge effort they put forth on your adventure and are swollen up with water. Water is heavy.
Every time you exceed your accustomed exercise levels you damage your muscles, and in response they heal and reinforce, getting bigger and stronger in the process. That's good news, but that repair work hurts, takes time and uses a lot of water. I've seen myself put on 3-6lb of water after 1 day of hiking.
When the muscles are done repairing and strengthening - a few days to a week - the water will shed again and if you've been careful in the meantime you may see a loss.
Does this happen every time you start a new routine?
If there's enough of an increase in activity and enough damage done.
I retained water when I added distance running to lifting. And again when adding lifting back in after dropping it for a while.
Exactly. I'm sure there are people who don't see fluctuations, but I'm not one of them. If I have to take a week off of exercising, I'll usually drop a pound. When I re-start my normal routine, I'll be up a pound. Up my miles? I'll be up on the scale too. At this point, because I weigh in on a regular schedule, it's totally predictable.1 -
NorthCascades wrote: »midwesterner85 wrote: »How did you get by with only 20-25 lb. pack? *I'm assuming you traveled with someone else who carried a heavier pack and had most of the shared items such as a stove, tent, much of the food, etc.
I was hoping for some neat ultralight tips.
I replaced my mummy bag with a down quilt. Some weight saving, major improvement to comfort.
I figured it was sharing items, then without water and food makes a bit more sense too. To be honest, I care more about comfort than weight. I recently switched to a pack that is 3 lbs. heavier by itself, but is 1,000% more comfortable. I'm not an ultra-lighter by any means... I will support cutting weight if it doesn't hurt other factors. But I'm doing most of my backpacking solo, so there is no sharing of shared items like tent, stove, water filter, etc. I have a heavier inflatable sleeping pad, but I feel like it is worth it.2 -
I like the down quilt idea. I feel too restricted in my bag, I may try that.
I don't have any ultra light tips, sorry. Just share weight with others
What kind of pack did you get midwesterner85?0 -
NorthCascades wrote: »Most backpackers eat pre-packaged, freeze-dried slop. It comes weighed and calorated. It's unpalatable, so you don't really eat a lot of it. The whole time you're out you dream of raspberries and veggie burgers, but because you're carrying your tent, sleeping bag, extra clothing, cooking gear, water filtering gear, and everything else you need, luxuries like an orange just aren't worth the added weight.
I could not, ever, dream of a veggie burger. Raspberries? Oh yeah.
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I got a Deuter AirContact 75+10. Lots of space.
To be fair, my previous pack was a cheap generic large pack with poorly designed straps and basically just a large sack covered with MOLLE connectors, pockets along the sides, and a few large (non-MOLLE) external straps. It would be rather difficult to design something less comfortable than that, but it worked to hold all my stuff. I finally decided to change to a more comfortable pack after that one started to rip in places and the flimsy internal plastic frame (basically a hard plastic sheet) became weak and bent.0
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