I just backpacked the Grand Canyon. Why didn't I lose any weight?
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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 -
I saw several Deuter packs down in the canyon, they make great packs. I have a Gregory and love it.
Well, Happy trails to you!1 -
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!!
Don't worry about it, you do a lot of walking in Italy, and unlike in America they give your proper proportions, I had Gelato 14 times in the 10 days I was there, and I was 10lbs heavier when I got home, and my wife was 5 or 6lbs heavier, and we have both lost that already, and it has only been 5 days, because it was pretty much all water weight.
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@lovetolose20 I'm guessing you have some retained water as well. Give it about a week and update us.
Also, as you are female, compare your weight to last month rather than last week. Last time I ovulated I was up two pounds from the prior week but down three pounds from the previous month.
See also this video, which is long; I watched it while doing yoga warmups:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6846ZTBu08k&index=4&list=PLUXvX9BaxgqG9yO5XWB3gA_QshvrrcjVr
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OP, serious question:
What did you expect to happen?
Did you expect to drop five pounds over the weekend because you did a bit more hiking? I'm not trying to be an @$$, but you may enjoy your next trip more if you don't give yourself unrealistic expectations.
Weight loss can be super slow. It often is. Focusing too much on numbers can be incredibly discouraging if you expect them to do unrealistic things.0 -
Wicked_Seraph wrote: »OP, serious question:
What did you expect to happen?
Did you expect to drop five pounds over the weekend because you did a bit more hiking? I'm not trying to be an @$$, but you may enjoy your next trip more if you don't give yourself unrealistic expectations.
Weight loss can be super slow. It often is. Focusing too much on numbers can be incredibly discouraging if you expect them to do unrealistic things.
I've never understood why people feel the need to comment on posts and be rude and try to make the original poster feel stupid. Isn't this suppose to be a website where people come to learn and support each other??
I obviously don't understand how it works. I honestly thought I would get on the scale this morning and see a little drop in weight. That is the reason I started the thread. I wanted to get a little input and wisdom from people who know and understand weight loss better than I.
You must not have read all of the things that I wrote, because I said that I didn't hike it to lose weight, I hiked it for fun and I just thought it would be great to lose a little weight as a bonus.2 -
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 stay far away from the Gelato. Just kidding eat all the Gelato and enjoy your trip.1 -
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lovetolose20 wrote: »I like the down quilt idea. I feel too restricted in my bag, I may try that.
Mine looks a lot like this. It opens completely flat, like a blanket at home. So when I camp during a heat wave, I don't get too hot and stuffy at night. When it's slightly colder I close it around my feet but leave the top open. Only when it's really cold will I close it up around me. It's so much more comfortable than a mummy bag I can't believe it. Also weighs a pound less. I don't like camping near the road, I prefer to hike into the wilderness and find a place to sleep, so light weight is the same thing as comfort for me. I use this with a NeoAir XTherm inflatable sleeping pad. Just a wonderful system.
If you look close, you can see my tent in the bottom-right corner of this picture. And a mountain goat to the left. This was Sahale Glacier Camp, it was a 7 mile hike and 4,200 feet of elevation gain to get there.
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Weight loss can take days or weeks to actually register...0
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How did you manage a three day adventure with just a 25 pound pack? Was somebody else hauling some of your stuff, too? I WISH my pack was that light...
ETA: I'm about to go out on a single night trip. I think I'm gonna try for 30 pounds and see if I can swing it! 1
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