Lost 25 pounds eating 6,000 calories per day :)

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  • LAWoman72
    LAWoman72 Posts: 2,846 Member
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    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.
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
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    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.
  • discnjh
    discnjh Posts: 33 Member
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    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. :)
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
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    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.
    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. :D

    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.
  • RunBakeLove
    RunBakeLove Posts: 101 Member
    edited November 2016
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    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. :)
  • T1DCarnivoreRunner
    T1DCarnivoreRunner Posts: 11,502 Member
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    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.
    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. :D

    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.
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
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    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.
  • T1DCarnivoreRunner
    T1DCarnivoreRunner Posts: 11,502 Member
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    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.
  • evileen99
    evileen99 Posts: 1,564 Member
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    evileen99 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.
  • newheavensearth
    newheavensearth Posts: 870 Member
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    Sounds very similar to the calorie needs of someone climbing Mt. Everest. Actually those needs might be higher.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,132 Member
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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. :grin: