Lost 25 pounds eating 6,000 calories per day :)
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Raptor2763 wrote: »For the most part, during my first Iraq tour, we were living off MRE's at (roughly) 3,000 calories PER meal. Despite the intake, I lost weight - mostly from the demands of my mission(s) and the heat. Bottom line - yah, you can lose weight taking in no all kinds of calories, but you still need that calorie deficit to actually lose weight.
Just wanted to say thank you for putting yourself on the line like that.. I am From NZ, I do not get much opportunity to give thanks to the folks in the armed forces.11 -
VintageFeline wrote: »All I have done since reading this is tried to imagine what 6000 calories of something calorie dense like candy bars or cake looks like. That's a lot of food!
Yummy, LOL.
All the visuals are making me hungry, frankly...
But then like you, I'm envisioning Milky Ways, not jars of peanut butter...oh wait, peanut butter, mmmmmmmm.3 -
NorthCascades wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »I wonder what he ate to get all those calories. It seems like a lot of food to tote around. The article doesn't say, just says he tried to eat 6000 calories a day.
Mostly freeze dried food, because it doesn't weigh much, and you can cook it quickly and easily by adding water you boiled from a creek.
He probably carried about a week of food at a time on average and re-supplied by hitchhiking to nearby towns where the trail meets a road. That's how most self-supported thru-hikers do it.
Yes, and I would add that a lot of self-supported thru-hikers will stop at buffets on town days and load up their bellies. So to average 6K calories consumed per day, it is not necessary to carry 6K calories per day while on the trail.
Though I have never even thru-hiked 1 of these great trails (I would like to, but can't afford that much time off from work), I tend to carry more than 30 lbs. when I backpack even for a few days. I know there are a lot of ultra-light hikers with small loads, but I just can't deal with the anxiety of not having certain things (plus I need medicine and medical equipment that most hikers don't need). Heavier pack carried = more calories it takes to hike with it.5 -
futureicon wrote: »Damn.. I wish I had the free time and spare cash to join the "elite few" and go hiking for a year..
Me too! I keep telling my husband I want to do this when we retire. I'm not sure he's on board with it. He seems to just be hoping I'll get over it by then.4 -
Need2Exerc1se wrote: »
Me too! I keep telling my husband I want to do this when we retire. I'm not sure he's on board with it. He seems to just be hoping I'll get over it by then.
I have far off dreams of doing a through hike on one of the trails once the kids are older. Unsure if I could really convince my wife to do it with me, although by the time I'd feel secure taking the time off work she may be tired enough of me that she could do with a few months of me off on a trail.
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midwesterner85 wrote: »NorthCascades wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »I wonder what he ate to get all those calories. It seems like a lot of food to tote around. The article doesn't say, just says he tried to eat 6000 calories a day.
Mostly freeze dried food, because it doesn't weigh much, and you can cook it quickly and easily by adding water you boiled from a creek.
He probably carried about a week of food at a time on average and re-supplied by hitchhiking to nearby towns where the trail meets a road. That's how most self-supported thru-hikers do it.
Yes, and I would add that a lot of self-supported thru-hikers will stop at buffets on town days and load up their bellies. So to average 6K calories consumed per day, it is not necessary to carry 6K calories per day while on the trail.
Though I have never even thru-hiked 1 of these great trails (I would like to, but can't afford that much time off from work), I tend to carry more than 30 lbs. when I backpack even for a few days. I know there are a lot of ultra-light hikers with small loads, but I just can't deal with the anxiety of not having certain things (plus I need medicine and medical equipment that most hikers don't need). Heavier pack carried = more calories it takes to hike with it.k9education wrote: »As an avid backpacker, I am just as impressed that he was able to keep his pack under 30 lbs as I am with the miles.
My pack is 5 pounds. Padding is expensive in ounces and grams. I have a very light down quilt and love it. But I use a full tent, not a tarp, because we have a lot of bugs.
I also carry 10 pounds of camera gear.0 -
VintageFeline wrote: »All I have done since reading this is tried to imagine what 6000 calories of something calorie dense like candy bars or cake looks like. That's a lot of food!
Yummy, LOL.
All the visuals are making me hungry, frankly...
But then like you, I'm envisioning Milky Ways, not jars of peanut butter...oh wait, peanut butter, mmmmmmmm.
Here's one of the views from the Pacific Crest Trail.
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Need2Exerc1se wrote: »I wonder what he ate to get all those calories. It seems like a lot of food to tote around. The article doesn't say, just says he tried to eat 6000 calories a day.
MREs (the food that soldiers eat) are lightweight and have a ton of calories. When my now-husband, then-boyfriend, first started camping together he said that's what he always took camping and I said no way...that's 4000 calories to sit and fish. This guy (and soldiers) have more of a need for it. 2 -
NorthCascades wrote: »midwesterner85 wrote: »NorthCascades wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »I wonder what he ate to get all those calories. It seems like a lot of food to tote around. The article doesn't say, just says he tried to eat 6000 calories a day.
Mostly freeze dried food, because it doesn't weigh much, and you can cook it quickly and easily by adding water you boiled from a creek.
He probably carried about a week of food at a time on average and re-supplied by hitchhiking to nearby towns where the trail meets a road. That's how most self-supported thru-hikers do it.
Yes, and I would add that a lot of self-supported thru-hikers will stop at buffets on town days and load up their bellies. So to average 6K calories consumed per day, it is not necessary to carry 6K calories per day while on the trail.
Though I have never even thru-hiked 1 of these great trails (I would like to, but can't afford that much time off from work), I tend to carry more than 30 lbs. when I backpack even for a few days. I know there are a lot of ultra-light hikers with small loads, but I just can't deal with the anxiety of not having certain things (plus I need medicine and medical equipment that most hikers don't need). Heavier pack carried = more calories it takes to hike with it.k9education wrote: »As an avid backpacker, I am just as impressed that he was able to keep his pack under 30 lbs as I am with the miles.
My pack is 5 pounds. Padding is expensive in ounces and grams. I have a very light down quilt and love it. But I use a full tent, not a tarp, because we have a lot of bugs.
I also carry 10 pounds of camera gear.
My pack empty is 6 lbs. 6 oz. (Deuter AirContact 65+10). I have used some lighter weight packs that were also not as well designed... and this may be heavier, but it is so much more comfortable. It contours in the right places, doesn't trap sweat against my back as much, and cinches up in all the right spots to the right amount. The rain cover works and is quick to apply, and it seems to hold up pretty well under trail conditions. The extra weight for this better pack is definitely worth it and it feels like it actually weighs less.3 -
futureicon wrote: »Damn.. I wish I had the free time and spare cash to join the "elite few" and go hiking for a year..
I can't picture how difficult this is, physically, emotionally, and logistically.0 -
NorthCascades wrote: »futureicon wrote: »Damn.. I wish I had the free time and spare cash to join the "elite few" and go hiking for a year..
I can't picture how difficult this is, physically, emotionally, and logistically.
Agreed. But it is what I've thought about for years on my "If I win the lottery" plan. It would be supported, then, but my plan is to hire someone to meet me at trailheads with supplies, to swap out gear when weather changes, and to get my mail and bills / take care of my personal business while I'm out exploring.2 -
Jeannie3099 wrote: »Sounds like B.S. to me.
Ever done that kind of sustained exertion? It doesn't sound like B.S. to me at all. A grown man carrying a pack and hiking thousands of miles on mountainous terrain could easily burn that kind of calories.6 -
Jeannie3099 wrote: »Sounds like B.S. to me.
So you've hiked nearly 8,000 miles and have first hand knowledge of the toll this takes on the body and the actually energy required to accomplish it? Do tell.6 -
Need2Exerc1se wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »I wonder what he ate to get all those calories. It seems like a lot of food to tote around. The article doesn't say, just says he tried to eat 6000 calories a day.
I read an article in National Geographic many years ago about people who were trekking/working/something or other in the Arctic (it was so long ago I can't accurately remember what they were doing) and they estimated they were eating around 6,000-7,000 calories a day and losing weight. The people profiled in the article said they ate a jar of peanut butter a day, along with dried fruit and candy bars for calories.
All those jars of pb would weigh a lot!
They were using dogsleds.0 -
Sounds very similar to the calorie needs of someone climbing Mt. Everest. Actually those needs might be higher.0
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My husband and I have thruhiked four long trails (AT, PCT, CDT, GDT). On every hike, he loses 30-40 pounds. Unfortunately, after he stops doing the hard exercise, he gains most of it back. That's pretty typical. I know one long distance trail runner ate a lot of power bars every day to get in the calories he needed. I think if you're capable of running 40 miles a day, lack of variety is a small thing.9
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Jeannie3099 wrote: »Sounds like B.S. to me.
How so? Averaging 21 miles per day, every day. Average backpacking speed is: 2 miles per hour, +1 hour for every 1000 feet of elevation climb. That's roughly 10 hours of hiking per day. 6000 isn't utterly astounding, but his daily exercise rate is. It sounds completely believable.6 -
Need2Exerc1se wrote: »I wonder what he ate to get all those calories. It seems like a lot of food to tote around. The article doesn't say, just says he tried to eat 6000 calories a day.
I read an article in National Geographic many years ago about people who were trekking/working/something or other in the Arctic (it was so long ago I can't accurately remember what they were doing) and they estimated they were eating around 6,000-7,000 calories a day and losing weight. The people profiled in the article said they ate a jar of peanut butter a day, along with dried fruit and candy bars for calories.
I bring (freeze) dried fruit when I go backpacking because fresh fruit is heavy. All luxuries are heavy things: an inflatable "mattress" instead of a foam pad, some people bring frying pans, or a book, or wine, etc. I brought a fresh orange when I hiked from Cascade Pass to Stehekin (35 miles) and really enjoyed it at the end of the second day. Just brought a bag of dried mixed berries with me to Sahale Glacier Camp.
Here's the view from Cascade Pass. I brought 10 pounds of camera for this.
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Well ... when I was really actively into randonneuring, I deliberately put on 10-20 lbs during the winter because come summer, it would drop off and I would struggle to eat enough to stay within a normal BMI range and not become underweight. But I usually did fall into the underweight category for a while toward the end of the season.
I'd go through grocery stores looking for the smallest, highest calorie foods I could find. And when I was on a long ride, those 700 calorie convenience store pastries and cookies were good for quick energy ... as well as massive plates of french toast, scrambled eggs, perogies, chicken sandwiches, etc. etc. on longer breaks.
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