Am I really suppose to eat all that!?

I am also a hiker and can't eat all of what I "should" so I don't. here is why: I don't hike every day. I go on a big hike maybe once a month. I always pack high calorie food to eat along the way, like PB&J sandwich, trail mix as a snack, etc. and eat a good meal afterwards. Other than that, I don't worry about it. If you were hiking like that frequently, then you'd have to be concerned. For most of us with regular 9-5 jobs Monday through Friday, it isn't a big deal to leave the deficit on the table.

I look at it as one day every once in a while with a big deficit hurts me no more than the one day every once in a while where I eat dinner without worrying about calories.

Just use your common sense. You know you can't eat 5 pizzas on top of your "normal" amounts of foods. So obviously, no, you are not "suppose to eat all that."

I'd have to say no too. This isn't something you're going to be doing all the time. You need to eat back some of those calories while you're hiking so you have the energy to continue your hike. From what I've learned from people that do long athletic events is you need protein during to keep going. And as I'm writing this I see melsinct's post and I agree. You aren't doing this all the time so not eating it all back isn't a big deal. Have your snacks during and a nice big meal after and you'll be good.

Also up your calories the day before and the day after to stay energized and not crash the next day.

This past weekend I went hiking and burnt over 3500 calories in just a few hours.

No you didn't

this

if you need to eat 12,000 calories I recommend going to a all you can eat buffet to save your wallet

This past weekend I went hiking and burnt over 3500 calories in just a few hours.

No you didn't

I have to agree.. you need a new HRM...

............It's hard to eat 12,000 calories?



This is exactly what I was thinking! give me the icecream and toppings!

This past weekend I went hiking and burnt over 3500 calories in just a few hours.

No you didn't

Time out.

I think it depends on how many "a few" is. 2? 3? 4?

And he's 370 pounds, so if he hiked vigorously for 3-4 hours...on hellacious terrain...with a full pack.

Okay, yeah, you're probably right...he probably didn't top 3500 calories...but 2500 doesn't seem unreasonable.


I'm going with most of the advice up there^^^. Eat *some* more to fuel the work if you're hungry, but don't force yourself to eat to some magic number.

Are you are you burnt 3500 calories in a few hours? If I run for an hour I burn about 600 calories & only about 300 if I walk for the same amount of time. Based on that I would have to walk for over ten hours to burn over 3000 calories - you're super blessed if you can burn that much in just a few hours, but more power to you I guess.:drinker:

Hi MFP community. This is my very first new topic post.

I am totally down with eating back most of my exercise calories but I have just now ran into a bit of a dilemma. This past weekend I went hiking and burnt over 3500 calories in just a few hours.

I have my eye set on this big hike that is located not too far from here and if my math is correct (based on my weight, age, HRM) I may burn around 10,000 calories in this all day hike. I weigh a bit over 370 and am a 33yo male. Obviously there is a chance I might not make it for the full 20 miles. All I know is that the more I hike the more I want to hike. Both days this past weekend I only came out of the woods because the sun was going down.

Anyhow the point is I can't reasonably eat over 12,000 (10,000 plus my normal daily) calories, can I? I couldn't imagine eating the equivalent of 5 pizzas on top of my normal intake for a day.

So I know that I will probably get many different opinions but I still want to hear all of them.

Your body is the end game, not the calculator. If you gain weight, eat less. If you need to lose and are not, eat less. If you are under 12% body fat and risk starvation mode (fat people don't go into starvation mode) then don't eat too low. Other than that it's trial and error until you find what works for YOU. Everyone is different. There is no one size fits all.

You just need to find the correct calories for YOU to be healthy and sustainable and still lose weight. It might require some experimentation and tremendous patience. You can always notch up and down by 100 until you find what is sustainable and still allows you to lose weight.

If you have emotional eating issues than you are not going to be able to handle such a deep deficit and if you eat to low it will backfire. A better strategy is to eat at a shallower deficit, and sometimes give yourself a break from the deficit and eat at maintenance. This is not going backwards, but eating to low and then binging because you can't sustain it is going backwards. It's better to stay forwards even if it is slower. The tortoise wins this race in the end.

Too many changes at once can be hard on some people. I've always eaten healthy so it easy for me to simply eat less. Eating at a calorie deficit is hard on people; even a small deficit puts your body in a state of flux with hormones and such. Everyone is different. Some people can handle a deeper calorie deficit than others, this is not right or wrong, it just is. Stress in your life affects your hunger hormones; lack of sleep, fatigue, job stress, family stress, financial stress, etc. Add in emotional eating issues and it gets even more complicated. Most people can only handle so much change/stress at once, they try to do too much and fail. Sometimes it might be a better strategy to eat at maintenance and make some small changes first, it really depends on how much stress you are taking in at the moment.

But keep in mind...

Your body loses weight in chunks, not linear. I have found that you can do everything right and your weight loss seems to plateau but if you are patient and keep exercising and eating at a deficit (however slight) you will lose it, it will suddenly "whoosh". There are so many variables for the scale; water retention, digestion, hormones, allergies, sodium, carbs, water intake, DOMS, inflammation, the list goes on. People mistakenly think they lose or gain weight when they eat more or less because of these fluctuations.

Losing weight requires tremendous patience. You will not lose it when you want it or where you want it. The body does its thing. Some apparent plateaus can last a month or so. You cannot make it happen faster. You must focus on two things; calories and exercise. Nothing else matters. Scales and metrics don't matter. The day in and day out grind of exercise and calories are all that matters. It is not very exciting until things fall into place. You get your victories and you ride one victory to the next.

The scale is a trend tool. The scale is good but put it away and only check once a week and only use it as a trend tool. It will fluctuate, it does not matter. Take front side and back progress pictures at least once a month. You will see differences that the metrics won't tell you and it's that little bit of NSV that will keep you going until the next victory.

I routinely burn 3000-4000 calories in my workouts. On a rest day my calorie limit is 1700. On a day I workout I don't really have a "limit," I just eat what I need to replenish my body from such a huge burn. Yesterday I ate 2500, but burned over 4000.

I routinely burn 3000-4000 calories in my workouts.

No you don't

I don't eat back calories because I have them built in but I have wondered this.....what is the max cal/minute burn possible? I realize some has to do with actual body weight. I don't have a HRM and don't care to start checking my burns but I am a "little" curious what I might be burning doing a strenous activity.

Any links? Any threads for those of us wanting to learn more about this?

Thanks!

Michael Phelps .. the Olympic Athlete swimmer had to eat 14,000 calories a day during his hey day

No he didn't

Oh .. my bad .. he needed to eat 12,000 calories a day ..

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2177613/Michael-Phelps-12-000-calories-day-dont-doing-harm.html
article title: Michael Phelps reveals details of his 12,000 calories a day diet... and he doesn't look bad on it either girls!