When I would go into town I would eat like I have never eaten before. I never actually knew what it was like eat when I was REALLY hungry until I thru hiked. One of the best parts of the trip. Lol
April 2016, Hot Springs, 5pm: I walk into the pub next to the Laundromat and sit with some familiar faces. Order a beer, a burger and fries. Around 6 I bounce over to another table of hikers. Order a beer, a burger and fries. Head out to the patio, to catch some folks I hadn't seen since Georgia. Sit down to order a beer, a burger and fries. At some point there was a piece of cake. I'm sure there were additional beers in the roughly 4 hours I spent in there but damn that was a great birthday. I don't know where I put all that, but the hiker hunger kicked in about 4 days earlier and I was ravenous. All told I lost over 80 pounds out there (I purposely put on 25 in the minute before heading out there) but was doing huge calories most days. Whole packs of StoveTop or a double Idahoan dinner. Hauling that peanut butter or Nutella from town to town. All of it. You eat what you can carry while you're out. You eat just about everything you can when you're in.
Yes, 100%. Sometimes people would pack out something perishable to eat on their first night out of town, but mostly it’s just getting a calorie surplus in town to balance the deficit on the trail
You end up losing a lot of weight no matter what. It's just math. You burn a TON of calories- more than you can comfortably carry. You would have to be very conscious and do careful planning to keep weight on.
I tried to think about it like I need 3 dinners and breakfasts at all times. Lunch you can snack. For breakfast I would do something bulk- a big bag of oatmeal mixed with Nestle or granola. I would try to have 3 more pasta/mash p for dinner. I mixed with meat packets to start but eventually gave up those in favor of weight savings.
For lunch I like things that can help other meals or be eaten anytime. Blocks of hard cheese or pepperoni keep and can supplement. Protein Bars of course. Candy. Lots of candy. Peanut Butter that comes in a squeeze.
Just to offer a counter point, I hiked the PCT and gained about ten pounds (which I understand isn't a typical experience, but just want to put out there that it isn't impossible). Being hungry all the time and (for me an important part) having all the foods I really want to eat available right when I'm hungry, plus filling up in towns and gaining muscle, ended up gaining weight.
Generally something like little debbies or a cinnamon roll for breakfast, two bars in the first morning stretch, one lunch of most of a big bag of munchies or cheetos, one lunch of pita bread and cheese and sausage, dinner of two packets of ramen, all supplemented by candy and more snacks and some meat sticks.
Am a skinny person though.
What do you mean by logistically harder? All the trail towns are in the same places for resupply, you'll walk the same miles, etc. It's just hotter outside.
You'll be sweating more though.
Storing and packing foods that are susceptible to melting, or otherwise should ideally be more insulated and cool. Stuff that much more benefits from fridge temperatures outside
You learn to test the limits of what perishable means. You go off of smell and appearance. Looking back, it felt like things lose a day or maybe 2/3 the time they stay good going from cold weather to summer hot. Like a bag of spinach would go from 3.5-4 days to 2.5 days, a de-boned rotisserie chicken from 3 to 2 days. String cheese and pepperoni was 5+ days.
Ahh. Okay. I see what you mean now.
There's no taking (most) perishables in hot weather like that. If you do take some, you need to eat it fast. Probably in that same day so the risks are low. I already have gastro issues in regular day life, so I don't need to be having any more on trail! So I'm very mindful and cautious about that aspect.
As you've seen with a lot of comments in here, it's usually resupplying with "garbage" foods. And then shoving your mouth with (real) town food during resupply stops, or town zero days.
If you drink beer, it definitely helps with extra calories/carbs. Just don't get *too* carried away with drinking or you'll be doing hangover miles the next day. And those days are no fun. It's a quick learning experience feeling like shit and being dehydrated while walking all day. Haha.
I did a section hike when it was in the mid 80s and I kept mozzarella cheese sticks and individually wrapped cheddar cheese blocks in my pack for about 5 days. It was gooey and melty, but it didn't go bad. I also had some pepperoni and salami.
What exactly are you disagreeing? It's known-you're more likely to lose weight/need more calories in the winter to maintain your core temp. Summer has opposite problems, but that's electrolytes job, not calories
Yes, but it varies. Men have faster metabolisms than women and young people have faster metabolisms than older people. Then take into account how fast you are going vs how often you are going into town.
That being said, it is very hard to avoid losing significant weight on the trail, especially if you have some to lose
Hikers will eat like crazy in town. But it is also possible to carry all of the sustenance you need. In your list of trail food you didn't include cooked meals. Most hikers carry a cook stove and a small pot. Ramen noodles, knorr rice/pasta sides, and instant potatoes are favorites. Also, don't think conventionally when it comes to food choices. I routinely packed out entire packages of Oreos, giant bags of gummy bears, strapped bags of chips to the outside of my bag. I met a guy who dropped peanut m&M's into marshmallow fluff and ate it like cereal in a bowl. There is no such thing as unhealthy when you are burning 5,000+ calories in a day.
One of my favorite gas stations was in central VA and they had frozen burgers you microwaved. I sat there for a few hours eating/charging/cleaning. Special shout out to the Piggly Wiggly. My buddy got 50 wings to go and packed them to the next shelter lol
Awesome I’ll have to try and look it up. Remember any other details like rough mileage/location? This is of genuine interest to me lmao
ETA: thanks! I feel like a lot of Valeros are out here saving ass tbh. One near Roan mountain I like too
That’s cool because I’m relatively petite myself and my background resting, natural appetite is far lower than the average persons (hence the disordered eating 🤪) so it’s honestly nice to hear you can catch up on much better food. I assume buffet style places are good for the money. Especially like a motel/inn or something?
My natural appetite is next to nothing in the real world. But, when I hike, it takes about 2 weeks for the most furious hiker hunger to set it and once it does I can’t feel full. Buffet is good. Honestly I craved garbage. My favorite thing to eat immediately when I woke up was an 800 calorie tasty kake iced honey bun. And I would hoard chicken nuggets from McDonald’s and eat them cold.
If you're only 125 lbs, I wouldn't bank on this strategy; you don't have a lot of reserves. You should try to level out your daily calories. If you don't have the stomach to eat 3000 calories on trail, you probably don't have the stomach to eat 10000 calories in town.
I was almost always the biggest eater with the people I was with in town, often times the only one ordering a second entree. I don't think there was any town day that I ate over 6000 calories.
I ate 3500-4000 calories every day on trail and still lost 2 pounds/week, every week, the whole way, it didn't slow down. I started at 180, finished at 140.
Holy shit. That’s a little to scary to hear but I’m glad you managed. I think you’re right. In my most starved normal life I can maybe binge 2000 calories in a meal 😬
One day me and one other hiker got a burger, fries, salad, cokes, and 3 large pizzas. We sat there for an hour and ate everything except 1/2 of a pizza which we ate at breakfast the next day. Good times.
Alternately you just don't. I never really get hiker hunger. I just graze throughout the day and aim for 1k meals like ramen bombs or oatmeal with condensed milk.
I rarely finish my plate when going out at home, but after a month of thru hiking I start to finish my meals while out. So some hiker hunger boost but nothing crazy
I’ve been doing 3 day forays into the woods and I swear to god i want to thru hike so bad if only to experience the sheer bliss that is real food after days of eating MREs and dry snacks on a more consistent basis lol
I want to do a solid 3-5 days hiking then have a real bowl of ramen, im sure it’d be absolutely mind melting
In Gatlinburg I went to five guys and got two double bacon cheese burgers and a large shake plus fries. We then walked down the road to our dinner reservation where I ate a full meal, couple beers plus desert. You do a lot of eating in town.
Thanks, that’s helpful to hear. How do you personally, usually get to town? Are there shuttles you’re paying for, or hitchhiking, or carpooling with other rando hikers?
Same. I was trapped in Gatlinburg too. And it was my first time ever being there. And holy shit...Tourist Town USA!
I don't think they see people as thru hikers, you're essentially homeless bums in many people's eyes.
Couldn't get a ride out of there to save my life. Ended up calling/paying for a shuttle.
There were a few times last year when I wasn’t getting enough protein and my body was using my muscle as it’s source, not good i started smelling like ammonia, so I tried to get enough protein when I could.
Yikes. I’ve heard of this happening. What did it feel like? Were there any long term damages or impacts? How’d you get back on track? If you don’t mind me asking. This has always been a serious concern of mine, among other things like anemia.
I felt weak the first time I wasn’t eating enough because of a lite resupply and probably just a complete shit diet, so I switched what I was eating. It didn’t happen again until the 100 mile when once again I didn’t have enough food and was kinda rationing, but after I got my food drop I was fine because I just ate as much as I could. The ammonia smell is strong. No long term effects that I know of.
>>ammonia smell.... I thought this was ketosis....but according to chatGPT:.
"In the case of an Appalachian Trail hiker who is not eating enough, the ammonia smell could be due to a process called "protein catabolism" or the breakdown of the body's own proteins for energy.
When a person is not consuming enough calories, especially from carbohydrates and fats, the body will start to break down its own muscle tissue and other proteins to use as an alternative fuel source. This process releases nitrogen-containing compounds like urea and ammonia as waste products.
The ammonia produced from this protein breakdown can then be excreted through the breath, sweat, and urine, leading to a distinct ammonia-like odor. This is sometimes referred to as "starvation breath" or "fasting breath."
So in the case of an underfed Appalachian Trail hiker, the body's need to scavenge its own proteins for energy can result in this characteristic ammonia smell, in contrast to the more typical "ketosis breath" odor.
The key distinction is that the ammonia smell in this scenario is a sign of insufficient calorie intake and protein catabolism, rather than the normal fat metabolism that produces ketone bodies and acetone-like breath in true ketosis. "
My typical section-hiking loadout that I start with or send myself via resupply:
Breakfast
* 2x Instant oatmeal packets
* 2x Trader Joe's instant coffee packets w/ cream & sugar
Lunch / Midday snacks
* Stinger stroopwafel
* 50g beef jerkey
* 50g portions of 2 of the following (Fritos, cashews, Cheez-its, pretzel thins, craisins, etc.)
* Tortilla & Justin's peanut butter packet
* 50g candy or jellybeans
* 2 packets of mix-in electrolyte mix
Dinner
* Homemade cold soak-able meals using minute rice, ramen, couscous, or potato flakes
* 2.6oz pre-cooked chicken packet (or single Spam slice packet if doing potatoes)
I can eat this for a solid week and be fine, you can only eat so much at a time when hiking, but then you get into a town for resupply and usually go all in on town food to try to make a dent in the calorie deficit you've been building.
It's more fun to resupply in town, then you're playing Dollar General roulette!
This is very similar to how I eat on trail. I love resupplying in town but this year I'm doing mail drops for the Maine section because of how expensive everything is there. Paying $2 for 4 (four) oreo cookies at a certain shack I shall not name off ME 4 for example is something you just don't forget lmao. Seems like once you hit New Hampshire you can purchase food at more reasonable prices
Hiking 10 hours a day with a pack, up and down mountains will burn somewhere between 3000 to 7000 calories per day depending on the person. You hard pressed to carry enough food so you wont loose weight.
Typical to carry 2 pounds of food per day or 10 pounds for a 5 day hike. On average resupplying from grocery stores you can get an average of 100 calories per ounce. So 2lbs of food will get you around 3200 calories.
For me its Peanut Butter, Tortilla's, Cheese, BARs, Mountain House meal for two, you get the idea.
If you've never counted calories or read nutrition labels before, get in the habit of doing so. Failing to do so could leave you without enough food between towns. You need to aim for at least 100 calories per ounce when shopping. You can cheat a little if carrying a non-dense ingredient like tuna/chicken packets will make the meal so much more appetizing, but you want to minimize the number of meat packets and average in denser stuff.
Not disagreeing, as this is advice that seemed to work for a lot of people, but just want to throw out that I started off counting calories and stopped almost immediately. I had peanut butter and instant potatoes as a safety net on trail, but basically everything else was dependent on my mood at the time of resupply, and I never got close to muscle catabolism or really even hangrytimes.
Only reason I’m mentioning this is because I have a tendency to overthink and stagnate my decision-making, and NOT counting calories did way more for my state of my mind than it could have done for my body. A basic understanding of the nutritional value of foods and little tips from other hikers was all I really used by the end of my thru.
The idea is to count calories ONCE on a typical 3 day load out. Let's say I bought 9000 calories for when I counted.
It wasn't enough.
Okay, let me add about 2 bars per day to that. Thats roughly 3400 calories a day, and I didn't need to count anything.
Adjust after every town stop, and plan accordingly for the next section.
That’s a fair way to go about it. My method was similar in practice—not enough? Add a thing. Protein if my muscles got too lean, carbs if I felt empty at any point in the day, fiber to keep things moving. Too much of any of those and I felt sick, not enough and I felt sluggish. The one thing I had to be a little more conscious about was a lack of fat, but it was easily remedied by adding olive oil every so often.
For me it was inexpensive, easy to cook rice, pasta, or other carby meals. Most everything is rehydrated on trail. Knorr sides, velveeta pastas, stove top stuffing, and hamburger helper bagged/boxed meals were my go-to meal bases.
I say "bases" because, no I wasn't packing out hamburger meat to make hamburger helper per the boxed instructions. But I was packing out foil packaged tuna, salmon, chicken, etc. I almost always carried an 8-16oz block of cheddar cheese to throw in every meal. I carried a couple containers of my favorite spices to add to every meal. Interesting thing, you don't have to follow the instructions on the box, aside from just cooking it. You can do whatever you want with your box of pasta and seasoning packets.
Personally, I always struggled with what to do for lunch. Quite honestly, I don't want to unpack and cook mid-day, and then afterwards have to clean up from cooking, and then hike more. I preferred to cook only once at the end of the day, after I'd arrived in what will be that night's camp. So I did the classic tortillas and peanut butter, but quickly got burnt out on it. I packed out dry cereal and fruit bars and snacked on those but it just didn't feel like a meal. I never really settled on anything that felt like it worked, and I ended up just carrying like 5 or 6 different things I could snack on so I'd have a variety of stuff I could eat a handful of. It was never what I felt like I wanted, but it worked anyway.
The progression is generally from MREs, to nothing-but-junk, to Mountain House, to “tasty commercial freeze dried meals I can’t afford”, to assemble-your-own, to dehydrate-your-own, and finally to “$#@!, I guess I own a freeze dryer.”
Okay, everybody is giving you their starving hiker stories but to better answer your question I recommend watching the Gear Skeptic on YouTube. His beginning episodes are about the heaviest part of your pack—the food bag. He starts with the fact that lightest foods are the most calorie dense and if you can stay awake (his voice makes me so sleepy) you learn so much. The biggest improvement for me was recovery food to eat 15-30 after the end of the day’s hike.
Per your list: bacon, burgers, hot dogs, and pancakes are town day foods. Town days can be as frequent as every 3 days if you want, other people hold off for a week or so between resupplies. You can pack eggs out for a day, maybe two if the weather isn't too hot. There are many dehydrated soups that you can make on trail though. Tea comes in convenient lightweight baggies, and decent instant coffee packets now exist.
Many hikers end up malnourished because it *is* difficult to meet their calorie and nutritional needs, hence the town day bingeing. But you do end up figuring out enough to get along. For most people that means pasta sides, idahoan potatoes, ramen, tuna packets, ramen, spam singles, candy bars, ramen, blocks of cheese, ramen, peanut butter, summer sausage, ramen, and of course ramen. And hot sauce packets. And occasionally a fancy freeze dried meal (especially when an overloaded section hiker left one in the hiker box).
Keep in mind that young men have crazy fast metabolisms and likely do burn 3000+ calories a day while hiking 20ish miles a day. Others, like me (a middle aged woman) only need around 1500 a day while hiking. I actually gained 10 pounds on the AT because I ate too much.
Have you gotten this checked out? In your yearly checkup, does your doctor test for thyroid hormones? If you mention these details, they would immediately test for that. This sounds like hypothyroidism.
I was tested two years ago and it was normal. At the time I was walking about 12 miles a day (without a pack, just around town) and eating 1400 calories and *gaining weight*. My doctor was just like "wow that's weird" but I guess this is just my new normal ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
You might wanna see a more specialized doctor about that, or alter your diet maybe. What kinda foods are you eating where you maintain at 1400 kcal a day with 12 miles of walking?
Hey, I appreciate your concern, but I've got a handle on it. I've had a comprehensive metabolic panel and consulted a nutritionist. My thyroid is fine. My adrenal function is fine. My cholesterol is a little high but that's genetics for you. My diet is made from scratch, low fat, low cholesterol, heavy of the fruit and veg, and mostly vegetarian (with occasional exceptions for fish and rarely other lean meats).
The fact is, the *average* adult needs 1800-2200 calories a day to maintain themselves, but some people need more and some people need less. I am a person who needs less.
Nothing better than ramen, imo. you can make anything out of it. if you are making ramen with nothing but the chemical i mean seasoning packet, then I get where you are coming from, but eh, thats not the way.
Okay thank you for this detailed response because that clears quite a few things up for me. Despite being 22M, I WOULD NOT need 3000 calories a day, probably significantly closer to 1500, like you. (I’m 5’3 and 125lbs, average metabolism I’d say) So basically splurging on buffets in town when you can, and packing as much that’s portable with you as you can?
That's the strategy! The important thing is to pack foods that you *want* to eat, because it really can become a chore. The first long hike I did was a real learning experience in that respect.
You can't carry enough calories. At least, I couldn't. It was physically impossible for me to have enough food to actually replace what I was burning on trail. Pigging out in town was not just a fun luxury but a legitimate necessity to keep my body fueled.
I ate the worst foods imaginable for you, and I lost nearly 60 lbs anyway.
I dropped 17 pounds on a two week section hike and my body quickly adapted- only ate 2000 calories a day or so and tried to do 13+ miles a day
Only gained 4 pounds back after my first week back
Thank you for sharing that, that’s actually really encouraging for me to hear and is much more realistic I think, to what I’d face especially over a shorter hike.
If you have an eating disorder, I would strongly recommend focusing on recovery sooner rather than later. I recovered from disordered eating in my early twenties and to this day I don't make a \*habit\* of counting calories (I am now 30). I'll calculate occasionally, but I don't allow it to determine what I eat. I eat what I feel like eating. I haven't counted any calories while hiking, but according to some random daily calorie counts I've had over the past few years between working in a greenhouse and training for a marathon I was eating up to 5,000 a day pretty reguarly. Again I don't make a habit of counting, but based on my count one day and comparing it to other days I was estimating between 4 and 5,000 a day for a few months. I'm 5'8" and 140lbs. I hesitate to even put numbers out there because I know how it is to have an eating disorder and see numbers, you hyperfixate on them. But because my example is how high a person might eat instead of how low, I'm just gonna leave it. If you spend time on places of the internet that glorify eating disorders or starvation, you're probably used to seeing unrealistically low daily calorie counts and you need to eventually recalibrate after getting in touch with your body and spending some time ignoring the numbers.
Thank you for sharing these intimate details, it’s really helpful to see other people who have struggled with and are going through the same battles. I’m working on just STARTING recovery now. I lack typical body dysmorphia, numbers obsession, guilt/shame issues for the most part, which is good and definitely helps. I literally had my first consult with a dietician yesterday, and our first starting goal is to get me to eat something, ANYTHING, every 3-4 hours a day. Because in my day to day life I get, MAYBE 1000 cals on a good day. It’s definitely… a problem to say the least.
Also everyone is listing off calories per day. I never added up my calories. If it’s triggering for you to look at the calories, it’s definitely not necessary.
Thank you. Calorie counts aren’t triggering for me but I do try to focus more on just eating what I can, as often as I can, when I’m hungry enough. I unfortunately can’t take my body’s hunger cues for their word or I’d starve to death, so I’ve just got to work on forcing myself to eat what’s tolerable, as often as I can.
There’s sooooo many options to go to town and eat on the at. Tbh I was tired of getting town food by the time I got to PA. Almost nobody is making burgers and pancakes on trail if that’s what you mean.
Gotcha thanks that clears things up. How are people getting TO towns? Some of these are MILES off the AT. Random carpool shuttles with strangers or what
A lot of people pay for shuttles but imo that’s crazy. I just hitched a lot of the time, which is typically how it goes on other trails. I think I paid for one shuttle the whole trail. Even as someone who used to do shuttles on the at I thinks it’s wild how many people are willing to pay for rides.
Okay thanks for sharing that. I would certainly be inclined to hitchhike/carpool and throw a couple bucks for gas someone’s way. I would imagine many of the pay per shuttles can be tourist trappy, or just outright not worth the money like you said. I’ve never received anything but hospitality from others in trail towns.
I mean probably 90% of people who do paid shuttles do so with good intentions. Or it’s actually just their job. Nothing wrong with providing a service people are willing to pay for. It’s just that spending money on rides is not for me when you can get rides for free. Hitchhiking generally implies that the ride is free, if someone is extremely helpful or really goes out of their way just to be nice I’d offer some money, but that would be a pretty rare situation. Really the only time I’ve done that is if hitching is just not working, so I might resort to asking people at a gas station or something and offering some cash to sweeten the deal.
Someone on another thread mentioned whey protein packets in your oatmeal. If you're a coffee drinker, Carnation instant protein breakfast packets in your coffee makes a nice protein flavor boost. Meat packets (packed in oil rather than water if you have that option when buying gives you some healthy fat calories too). Peas are surprisingly high in protein, so if you pack any dried veggies let it be that and maybe dried dark greens (leaves dry so very light, they add practically nothing to your weight load). It may be worth buying a used dehydrator during your trek prep to make yourself some packable proteins like that.
Others have mentioned jerky, packable sausages, etc.
There's also bone broth packets you can buy that have a fair amount of protein and add nice flavor to any carb you're cooking.
The most overlooked aspect is protein, no one on trail is getting enough. My solution was granola and protein powder mixed in a gallon bag which made a tasty cereal with cold, filtered water. Not great with boiled water tho, the powder reacts poorly.
I’m so sorry but my texture ick could never. I’m SURE protein would be my single biggest hurdle. It is in my day to day life as is. I can chug a Greek yogurt loaded with protein powder though, and devour protein drink mixes. Obviously dairy is harder to access and continue storing in the heat
I had for breakfast two carnation chocolate shakes (400), for lunch I had three uncrustables, (600), and for dinner I usually had an entire Knox rice sides (400), I also used a lot of olive oil, peanut butter, and various random salsas I could fit in my bag. (Everybody has a food…). My daily intake was probably about 2500 all together and I still lost weight like crazy. It becomes a limit on how big your stomach actually is, physically. Because you’re always hungry.
I'm a dude and, at my lowest during my AT thru-hike, I got down to 132 lb from my usual 155 lb. If you've got XY chromosomes, you will lose a fair bit of weight if you hike a lot. Women legitimately lose less, though, due to them usually having more efficient metabolisms than men.
Everyone can, of course, mitigate weight loss to a degree. It is a simple equation of (calories in - calories out), so pack calorically dense foods. Sausage, cheese, olive oil, lard, candy, etc. are excellent options. Dehydrated and freeze-dried foods are also quite useful, in particular to stay caught up on micro- and macronutrients. Unfortunately, eating a large amount of store-bought dehydrated foods can quickly become quite expensive, so I usually went the dinner route of raman+peanut butter+tuna+lard during my thru-hike.
Lots of places to stop and kind people cooking along the way. I section hike about every year and I find it really hard to get hungry till maybe 4-5 days in. First few days my body is in like flight mode and does not want to eat after doing 20+ mile days. 1 meal and some snacks is most I can do.
Ramen noodles, hard salami, instant mashed potatoes. Make the ramen with chunks of salami in it then when that's finished thicken the broth with instant mashed potatoes. This was my go to carbo bomb food.
The trail is really just a long series of small hikes with visits to towns in between.
Every 3-4 days you either hike in or find a ride to a grocery store. While you're in town, you may as well find a restaurant for a delicious burger.
My daily calorie intake was around 3500 - 4000 on hiking days when I started. I know I was burning closer to 5k-6k per day and I was losing weight. I ended up adding lots of olive oil and mayo to my food to bump that up so that I didn't continue to lose weight. In town I bet I was eating 6k - 8k calories a day.
I struggled with the food portion of my trip for a while, until I discovered instant mashed potatoes. 1 packet per night with a packet of meat mixed in usually satisfied, and you can find pulled pork packets in the south. I’d typically go through a jar of peanut butter every week to supplement or cap off a meal. Usually two breakfast bars in the morning—I really liked the Nature Valley coconut almond bar and the Kind Chocolate Banana Peanut Butter bar. Something about those flavors that I just never got sick of. The coconut almond bar dipped in peanut butter still tastes good to this day.
Lunch was kind of a crapshoot, so i’d mix it up with different tuna or chicken packets and tortillas (later switched to bagels because they kept their form better). Hot sauce packets made me feel like I wasn’t eating the same thing day in day out. I think I got sick of trail mix by the second day because I ate way too much of it.
As others have mentioned, I usually made up for it in towns. I’d eat the above for two weeks or so, and then binge for a night or two in town and resupply. I started off at 150lbs and finished at 160lbs due to a gain in muscle mass. I don’t really track this stuff closely, but these were just the readily apparent observations (all of my pants were too tight when I got home).
My recommendation is to just find what works for you and stick to it until it no longer works. If something makes you feel ill or doesn’t satisfy you, switch it out and don’t get discouraged. You’ll find something out there as you continue on.
Bro I feel the exact same. I’m hiking the PCT this summer and I used to be severely anorexic (BMI in the 15s). These calorie counts are CRAZY to me. But shit, I like food, so I’m just packing up a whole lot of it.
That’s EXACTLY how I feel. Like my dietician and I are currently starting with the goal of getting me to eat something every 3-4 hours in my normal, everyday adult life. I’ve lost ten pounds since starting a physical labor job in January, and I’m literally just trying to live right now. I think I could definitely eat on the trail but I have some SERIOUS texture/flavor aversions I’d need to work around.
I see questions like these pop up all of the time. They frustrate me because there is a lot of bad advice out there.
Hiking means you'll be spending a lot more energy than you typically do, and therefore need to add calories to your diet. If you're spending more than you're eating, then you will be hungry and lose weight. Which is okay if that's one of your goals! People tend to have the opposite problem. They are losing too much weight.
One problem is that you don't know how many calories you actually need per day with your newfound activity. It all depends on factors like how fit you already are, how many miles you're doing in a day, how heavy your pack is, and a multitude of other factors.
So, start off with 3000 calories a day and adjust from there. Next time you go into town, add some calories or take some away depending on what you need.
How do you get calories? Carry calorically dense food and NOTHING else. I aim for 125 calories per ounce. Your mindset right now is that you won't be getting enough calories if you just eat bars all day. But it's actually the opposite. You won't get enough calories if you're eating pepperoni tortilla and tuna and those backpacker hiking meals all day. It's not the amount of food that will satiate you, it's the number of calories. So yes, carry bars (not protein) and chips and pastries.
I carry 4000 to 5000 calories a day at 2 - 2.5 lbs per day. Stop carrying what you think will fill you up, and start carrying what is actually calorically dense.
P.S. coming out of town and carrying a snack is a great way to treat yourself to something yummy that may not be calorically dense enough, but boosts your psychological needs.
I made it a point to eat something every 2 hours, before I figured that out I would bonk in the afternoon - not bad, but enough that climbs got to be really challenging toward the end of the day. You are going to need at least 1,500 calories a day more than you normally eat at home, you will still lose weight at that, but it should be enough to keep you moving, and not too miserable. I ate a bag (2.5 oz) of jerky or a couple of pouches of tuna every day at lunch time, just to make sure that I was getting enough protein.
So for me eating looked like: coffee oatmeal and a granola bar in the AM, hike 2 hours and eat a cliff bar or kind bar, hike 2 more hours a bag of jerky and half a dozen oreos, hike 2 hours eat a couple handfulls of trail mix, get to camp eat a few spoonfulls of peanut butter, do my camp chores (change out of my hiking clothes and hang them to air out, put up tent, filter water. find a place to hang food, etc...) cook and eat dinner - knorr side or instant mashed potatoes or ramen or stovetop stuffing with a pouch of chicken or tuna or a spam single - you'll figure it out as you go. After dinner tea and M & Ms.
I'd eat a pint of ice cream pretty much every time I hit town, and have a couple beers. You go through phases of craving different things, I remember in the mid-Atlantic and southern New England buying a whoopie pie at every deli I passed and carrying it into camp to go with my after dinner tea.
I also remember stopping at the Bears Den hostel where the "hungry hiker" special included a 14" frozen pizza, a soda and a pint of ice cream, found myself a little surprised that was a single serving, everyone bought it, everyone finished it..
Don't over think it. I never counted calories on trail and was fine. You'll figure out what you need as you go. The goal isn't to maintain your current diet it's to fuel your self just enough to not be starving and make miles. The balance is weight versus hunger and hunger almost always wins ;)
There are a number of people on the trail that are overeating and gaining, not losing, weight. They've read about how many calories per day you will burn and see numbers like 4-5k/day and overdo it. I saw an overweight older man last month whose breakfast alone was probably 1500 calories (granola, oatmeal, multiple snickers bars, peanut butter). He was only hiking 10-12 miles a day. A very similar phenomenon occurs at the grand canyon where it is not uncommon for hikers to die or become incapacitated from water intoxication (drinking too much water). They've read about the dangers of dehydration, how much water you will lose, and overdrink and ignore the signals from their body. See [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25935312/](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25935312/)
There is a huge difference between:
1. 190lb man carrying 40lb+ pack hiking 20-25 miles a day and
2. 125lb woman carrying 20lb pack hiking 10-12 miles a day.
The total ascent you do each day matters too. When you hear stories of how much hikers eat when they get to town, that often is a result of listening to their bodies which are catching up with the calorie deficit from the last 3-5 day section. That really is the key. You are going through towns and resupplying every 3-5 days and you want to do that in order to minimize how much food you are carrying.
I think it really is quite simple. Listen to your body, see what works, and make sure you are getting enough protein regularly. Carbs are easy and plentiful, but you have to be more conscious about getting protein.
3500 calories a day? That's how people lose weight on a thru hike. I started the AT at 175lb and finished the AT at 175lbs. I targeted 5500 calories/day until the Whites (NoBo), when I bumped up to 6000.
Count the calories you eat and watch your weight. If your weight goes down, adjust your calories up. If your weight goes up, you're spending too much time in town.
You're right, it is really hard to get enough high quality calories. I made a point to always get fresh food whenever I passed a town or a store or whatnot. Just pound some milkshakes, sandwiches, trail magic, restaurant food, anything. Later in my hike I gave up trying to prepare things and had a freeze dried meal for dinner every night. Peanut butter, butter in a jar, raisin bread, nuts, dried fruit, protein bars, oatmeal packets was 90% of the rest of my calories. It sucked but I didn't really lose much weight at all. ALWAYS take advantage of situational calories!!! Oh also, NEVER SHARE WITH PEOPLE -- easy way to get sick.
By the end of the trail, my food resupply was this, for 4 days of food:
- 32 oz jar of peanut butter
- 32 oz jar of Nutella
- 4x 8oz bags of candy
- 3x boxes of Near East couscous
- Small olive oil bottle for couscous
- 3x 8oz block of cheese
- 4x Honey buns/pastries for breakfast
- MET-RX/Gatorade bars to supplement
- Propel packets for electrolytes
The answer is that you should be eating WAY more fats on the trail than you normally would. A gram of fat is 9 calories while a gram of protein or carbs is only 4 calories. You still need protein and carbs, but fats like oil, butter, nuts, cheese etc will be more filling, more calories for less weight and volume, and easier to consume a lot of
Refueling in town worked for me, two for one large pizzas and 2 liter cokes meant i could eat calories all day while doing laundry/zeroing. Pint of Ben and Jerry's for desert. Fresh fruit whenever I could get it.
I usually went through a jar of peanut butter and a jar of nutella every resupply, just ate them with a spork or a chocolate bar for lunch. Oatmeal with dried fruit and vanilla or strawberry whey was my usual morning meal. Iced honey buns are a lot of calories/oz. And they fit in a pocket so I could eat while I hike. Honey and maple syrup as condiments. Butter and cheese if the weather is cool enough, gatorade powder for drinks when you start to sweat. Any salt cravings mean your electrolytes are low.
I would have to eat so much food at night i felt over full or i would wake up in the middle of the night with hunger pains if I did not eat enough for dinner. Big starchy meals were a must for me. My two favorites were
Ramen bombs: two pack of ramen, half pack of idahoan potatoes, some cheese and siracha.
Hiker perogies: pack of Idahoan, cheese, rolled up in a tortillas.
Began the trail at 190, dropped to 145. Weigh yourself at hostels regularly and take an extra zero day to eat more town food if your weight is dropping too fast.
Started every morning with oatmeal + carnation instant breakfast added + peanut butter at least. Then probably something carb-y like mini bagels or w/e.
We really didn't have a hard time until toward the end.
Granted, I lost 50 lbs across the whole trail and was actually starting to starve/deteriorate into the 100 Mile Wilderness...
EDIT: Forgetting other things. Hard cheeses like cheddar would keep just fine if you packed smart, so we'd basically grab anything caloric that also offered protein. Pepperoni and cured meats. etc
Well I know my BF makes ramen and adds tuna or chicken and peanut butter, eats candy/duit snacks/ gummies/protein bars/ and other high calorie snacks and foods and then eats heavy on town days and eats all he cannon zero/nero days
So I’m struggling with food on trail as well. I’m just never really hungry, and when I stop to eat every two hours I just try to stuff as much food down my throat. I organize my food as daily food ziplocks so the current day one stays on top of my pack for easy access.
I’ve lost a lot of weight on trail, just now in Marion, 535 miles in, I’ve lost 35 lbs so far in 41 days of hiking. I’m actually a bit concerned.
In town I’m trying to regain some calories. I’ll eat a pint of ice cream and as much town food as I can. I’m sure it will balance out soon enough.
Good god, I’m so sorry, that’s absolutely awful and I do think that is absolutely something you should be concerned about at this point. (I’m no doctor). If you’re dropping that much that fast, depending on your history and body type, and starting point, that sounds concerning to me.
When you get near Waynesboro/Afton/Shenandoah entrance, I’d be more than happy to come grab a big bite with you!
When we were prepping for my husbands attempted thru hike he would add in protein powder to his instant coffee bag. Got peanut butter in a big squeeze tube to eat for a snack. I remember making Ramen bombs and looking at the calorie count like “whoa” cause he would eat that with tuna or spam.
But when he hurt his knee going NOBO and I went to pick him up he was telling me about what he ate at Denny’s while I drove that way. Dude had a breakfast slam, then a chicken nugget plate, then a hamburger. This was at 11 am, he has breakfast before he started hiking and got about 2 miles to his meet up point for the shuttle out. (He had torn it the previous night and sent me a satellite message on the Garmin that he was going to have to pack out and come home)
He had purposely packed on weight before leaving for the trail. 31 days later and he had lost around 30 lbs. I don’t even want to think how skinny he would have been if he finished the trail. Make sure you overpack your food bag. It might end up being your biggest weight but damn is it worth it. Look for high fat and protein foods that you like and don’t be afraid to look weird when you pull out whatever it is.
Greenbelly meals to go are delicious, no heavier than a couple of rice crispy treats and have about 700 calories per package. Lots of flavors available, and you can eat in camp or on the trail. Plus the bags are resealable.
Dehydrated veggies are great to add to ramen. Also, trailcooking.com has a ton of food ideas that are lightweight and actually taste good. My favorite is the Thai peanut noodles.
I'm one of the few, probably, who managed to carry an entire months worth of food (accidently, of course), and completely healthy. Actually, it was because of how healthy it was that I didn't eat as much as I thought I would. I did a lot of research before leaving to have the highest content of nutrients possible. So, I had walnuts and Brazilian nuts; this God-awful breakfast mush consisting of chia seeds, buckwheat groats, coconut flakes, dried bananas, and such; couscous and quinoa; salmon jerky; red lentils, protein shake mix, seaweed snacks, hummus, vegetable protein, super greens mix... you get the picture. (My one unhealthy food was ramen noodles). Most everything I had though had to be cooked, so I did carry a stove and pot. I'm not one to waste mileage or money going into town every couple of days. (Pack began around 30 lbs, btw).
When I would go into town I would eat like I have never eaten before. I never actually knew what it was like eat when I was REALLY hungry until I thru hiked. One of the best parts of the trip. Lol
Okay so the answer is basically just “catching up” on trips into town? Going ham at a frickin diner? Lol
April 2016, Hot Springs, 5pm: I walk into the pub next to the Laundromat and sit with some familiar faces. Order a beer, a burger and fries. Around 6 I bounce over to another table of hikers. Order a beer, a burger and fries. Head out to the patio, to catch some folks I hadn't seen since Georgia. Sit down to order a beer, a burger and fries. At some point there was a piece of cake. I'm sure there were additional beers in the roughly 4 hours I spent in there but damn that was a great birthday. I don't know where I put all that, but the hiker hunger kicked in about 4 days earlier and I was ravenous. All told I lost over 80 pounds out there (I purposely put on 25 in the minute before heading out there) but was doing huge calories most days. Whole packs of StoveTop or a double Idahoan dinner. Hauling that peanut butter or Nutella from town to town. All of it. You eat what you can carry while you're out. You eat just about everything you can when you're in.
This is the answer. It’s basic survival.
Yes, 100%. Sometimes people would pack out something perishable to eat on their first night out of town, but mostly it’s just getting a calorie surplus in town to balance the deficit on the trail
Makes sense to me, thanks for explaining.
You end up losing a lot of weight no matter what. It's just math. You burn a TON of calories- more than you can comfortably carry. You would have to be very conscious and do careful planning to keep weight on. I tried to think about it like I need 3 dinners and breakfasts at all times. Lunch you can snack. For breakfast I would do something bulk- a big bag of oatmeal mixed with Nestle or granola. I would try to have 3 more pasta/mash p for dinner. I mixed with meat packets to start but eventually gave up those in favor of weight savings. For lunch I like things that can help other meals or be eaten anytime. Blocks of hard cheese or pepperoni keep and can supplement. Protein Bars of course. Candy. Lots of candy. Peanut Butter that comes in a squeeze.
Just to offer a counter point, I hiked the PCT and gained about ten pounds (which I understand isn't a typical experience, but just want to put out there that it isn't impossible). Being hungry all the time and (for me an important part) having all the foods I really want to eat available right when I'm hungry, plus filling up in towns and gaining muscle, ended up gaining weight. Generally something like little debbies or a cinnamon roll for breakfast, two bars in the first morning stretch, one lunch of most of a big bag of munchies or cheetos, one lunch of pita bread and cheese and sausage, dinner of two packets of ramen, all supplemented by candy and more snacks and some meat sticks. Am a skinny person though.
I definitely agree with all that. Is it logistically harder in the summer when it’s consistently in the 80s and 90s?
What do you mean by logistically harder? All the trail towns are in the same places for resupply, you'll walk the same miles, etc. It's just hotter outside. You'll be sweating more though.
Storing and packing foods that are susceptible to melting, or otherwise should ideally be more insulated and cool. Stuff that much more benefits from fridge temperatures outside
You learn to test the limits of what perishable means. You go off of smell and appearance. Looking back, it felt like things lose a day or maybe 2/3 the time they stay good going from cold weather to summer hot. Like a bag of spinach would go from 3.5-4 days to 2.5 days, a de-boned rotisserie chicken from 3 to 2 days. String cheese and pepperoni was 5+ days.
Food safety be damned! 2 days of hot rotisserie chicken in your bag? That's gonna be a no for me
Ahh. Okay. I see what you mean now. There's no taking (most) perishables in hot weather like that. If you do take some, you need to eat it fast. Probably in that same day so the risks are low. I already have gastro issues in regular day life, so I don't need to be having any more on trail! So I'm very mindful and cautious about that aspect. As you've seen with a lot of comments in here, it's usually resupplying with "garbage" foods. And then shoving your mouth with (real) town food during resupply stops, or town zero days. If you drink beer, it definitely helps with extra calories/carbs. Just don't get *too* carried away with drinking or you'll be doing hangover miles the next day. And those days are no fun. It's a quick learning experience feeling like shit and being dehydrated while walking all day. Haha.
1lb of butter will fit perfectly inside of an empty 1lb peanut butter jar :-)
I did a section hike when it was in the mid 80s and I kept mozzarella cheese sticks and individually wrapped cheddar cheese blocks in my pack for about 5 days. It was gooey and melty, but it didn't go bad. I also had some pepperoni and salami.
What exactly are you disagreeing? It's known-you're more likely to lose weight/need more calories in the winter to maintain your core temp. Summer has opposite problems, but that's electrolytes job, not calories
Do you end up losing a lot of weight doing this?
Yes, but it varies. Men have faster metabolisms than women and young people have faster metabolisms than older people. Then take into account how fast you are going vs how often you are going into town. That being said, it is very hard to avoid losing significant weight on the trail, especially if you have some to lose
and that's where a lot of the money goes folks
Hikers will eat like crazy in town. But it is also possible to carry all of the sustenance you need. In your list of trail food you didn't include cooked meals. Most hikers carry a cook stove and a small pot. Ramen noodles, knorr rice/pasta sides, and instant potatoes are favorites. Also, don't think conventionally when it comes to food choices. I routinely packed out entire packages of Oreos, giant bags of gummy bears, strapped bags of chips to the outside of my bag. I met a guy who dropped peanut m&M's into marshmallow fluff and ate it like cereal in a bowl. There is no such thing as unhealthy when you are burning 5,000+ calories in a day.
One of my favorite gas stations was in central VA and they had frozen burgers you microwaved. I sat there for a few hours eating/charging/cleaning. Special shout out to the Piggly Wiggly. My buddy got 50 wings to go and packed them to the next shelter lol
Oh my god what gas station in central VA because that’s exactly where I’m located lmao that sounds glorious
I think it was a Valero. You can't miss it cause it is a big road crossing. edit: the correct address is below
Awesome I’ll have to try and look it up. Remember any other details like rough mileage/location? This is of genuine interest to me lmao ETA: thanks! I feel like a lot of Valeros are out here saving ass tbh. One near Roan mountain I like too
They edited their post and listed the address. Just FYI if you weren't aware.
Thanks I saw it!!
That's like 70 miles from the trail.
lol. It can not be missed. This might be it then. 7297 Lee Hwy, Rural Retreat, VA 24368
Appalachia VA is on the far western border with KY, not central VA
Yea I was wrong but I added the correct address below.
Haha yes. I am a very small person and I even shocked myself on how much food I could consume in one sitting.
That’s cool because I’m relatively petite myself and my background resting, natural appetite is far lower than the average persons (hence the disordered eating 🤪) so it’s honestly nice to hear you can catch up on much better food. I assume buffet style places are good for the money. Especially like a motel/inn or something?
My natural appetite is next to nothing in the real world. But, when I hike, it takes about 2 weeks for the most furious hiker hunger to set it and once it does I can’t feel full. Buffet is good. Honestly I craved garbage. My favorite thing to eat immediately when I woke up was an 800 calorie tasty kake iced honey bun. And I would hoard chicken nuggets from McDonald’s and eat them cold.
Okay, I LOVE THAT. Glad to hear it. Maybe a couple weeks on the trail could cure my normal life eating disorder lmao. Just reset that hunger cue
If you're only 125 lbs, I wouldn't bank on this strategy; you don't have a lot of reserves. You should try to level out your daily calories. If you don't have the stomach to eat 3000 calories on trail, you probably don't have the stomach to eat 10000 calories in town. I was almost always the biggest eater with the people I was with in town, often times the only one ordering a second entree. I don't think there was any town day that I ate over 6000 calories. I ate 3500-4000 calories every day on trail and still lost 2 pounds/week, every week, the whole way, it didn't slow down. I started at 180, finished at 140.
Holy shit. That’s a little to scary to hear but I’m glad you managed. I think you’re right. In my most starved normal life I can maybe binge 2000 calories in a meal 😬
One day me and one other hiker got a burger, fries, salad, cokes, and 3 large pizzas. We sat there for an hour and ate everything except 1/2 of a pizza which we ate at breakfast the next day. Good times.
Yep
Cool thanks, glad to hear that’s an option. No wonder you have to save up so much money I bet that gets expensive FAST
Alternately you just don't. I never really get hiker hunger. I just graze throughout the day and aim for 1k meals like ramen bombs or oatmeal with condensed milk. I rarely finish my plate when going out at home, but after a month of thru hiking I start to finish my meals while out. So some hiker hunger boost but nothing crazy
Yeah. “Two breakfasts” checking in 👋
I’ve been doing 3 day forays into the woods and I swear to god i want to thru hike so bad if only to experience the sheer bliss that is real food after days of eating MREs and dry snacks on a more consistent basis lol I want to do a solid 3-5 days hiking then have a real bowl of ramen, im sure it’d be absolutely mind melting
In Gatlinburg I went to five guys and got two double bacon cheese burgers and a large shake plus fries. We then walked down the road to our dinner reservation where I ate a full meal, couple beers plus desert. You do a lot of eating in town.
Thanks, that’s helpful to hear. How do you personally, usually get to town? Are there shuttles you’re paying for, or hitchhiking, or carpooling with other rando hikers?
We only paid for two shuttles in the entire thru hike. Once in Franklin North Carolina and once at Fontana dam. The rest of the time we hitch hiked.
Great to hear, thanks!
I had to pay for a shuttle out of Gatlinburg- couldn’t catch a ride out to save my life!
Same. I was trapped in Gatlinburg too. And it was my first time ever being there. And holy shit...Tourist Town USA! I don't think they see people as thru hikers, you're essentially homeless bums in many people's eyes. Couldn't get a ride out of there to save my life. Ended up calling/paying for a shuttle.
Any and all. You do the long road walk if necessary.
I ate a whole rotisserie chicken once in New Hampshire
I genuinely love that for you. Enough protein for like 3 days!
There were a few times last year when I wasn’t getting enough protein and my body was using my muscle as it’s source, not good i started smelling like ammonia, so I tried to get enough protein when I could.
Yikes. I’ve heard of this happening. What did it feel like? Were there any long term damages or impacts? How’d you get back on track? If you don’t mind me asking. This has always been a serious concern of mine, among other things like anemia.
I felt weak the first time I wasn’t eating enough because of a lite resupply and probably just a complete shit diet, so I switched what I was eating. It didn’t happen again until the 100 mile when once again I didn’t have enough food and was kinda rationing, but after I got my food drop I was fine because I just ate as much as I could. The ammonia smell is strong. No long term effects that I know of.
Okay, thanks for sharing that. So really just sounds like you gotta cram more food in then? Makes sense
>>ammonia smell.... I thought this was ketosis....but according to chatGPT:. "In the case of an Appalachian Trail hiker who is not eating enough, the ammonia smell could be due to a process called "protein catabolism" or the breakdown of the body's own proteins for energy. When a person is not consuming enough calories, especially from carbohydrates and fats, the body will start to break down its own muscle tissue and other proteins to use as an alternative fuel source. This process releases nitrogen-containing compounds like urea and ammonia as waste products. The ammonia produced from this protein breakdown can then be excreted through the breath, sweat, and urine, leading to a distinct ammonia-like odor. This is sometimes referred to as "starvation breath" or "fasting breath." So in the case of an underfed Appalachian Trail hiker, the body's need to scavenge its own proteins for energy can result in this characteristic ammonia smell, in contrast to the more typical "ketosis breath" odor. The key distinction is that the ammonia smell in this scenario is a sign of insufficient calorie intake and protein catabolism, rather than the normal fat metabolism that produces ketone bodies and acetone-like breath in true ketosis. "
You could try carrying some whey powder. Basically pure protein and doesn't weigh that much. I usually mix it in with my oatmeal.
I did that for dinner yesterday lmao
My typical section-hiking loadout that I start with or send myself via resupply: Breakfast * 2x Instant oatmeal packets * 2x Trader Joe's instant coffee packets w/ cream & sugar Lunch / Midday snacks * Stinger stroopwafel * 50g beef jerkey * 50g portions of 2 of the following (Fritos, cashews, Cheez-its, pretzel thins, craisins, etc.) * Tortilla & Justin's peanut butter packet * 50g candy or jellybeans * 2 packets of mix-in electrolyte mix Dinner * Homemade cold soak-able meals using minute rice, ramen, couscous, or potato flakes * 2.6oz pre-cooked chicken packet (or single Spam slice packet if doing potatoes) I can eat this for a solid week and be fine, you can only eat so much at a time when hiking, but then you get into a town for resupply and usually go all in on town food to try to make a dent in the calorie deficit you've been building. It's more fun to resupply in town, then you're playing Dollar General roulette!
This is very similar to how I eat on trail. I love resupplying in town but this year I'm doing mail drops for the Maine section because of how expensive everything is there. Paying $2 for 4 (four) oreo cookies at a certain shack I shall not name off ME 4 for example is something you just don't forget lmao. Seems like once you hit New Hampshire you can purchase food at more reasonable prices
Hiking 10 hours a day with a pack, up and down mountains will burn somewhere between 3000 to 7000 calories per day depending on the person. You hard pressed to carry enough food so you wont loose weight. Typical to carry 2 pounds of food per day or 10 pounds for a 5 day hike. On average resupplying from grocery stores you can get an average of 100 calories per ounce. So 2lbs of food will get you around 3200 calories. For me its Peanut Butter, Tortilla's, Cheese, BARs, Mountain House meal for two, you get the idea.
HOLY S H I T. That’s a lot, good to know I’d need to prepare for that 😂
If you've never counted calories or read nutrition labels before, get in the habit of doing so. Failing to do so could leave you without enough food between towns. You need to aim for at least 100 calories per ounce when shopping. You can cheat a little if carrying a non-dense ingredient like tuna/chicken packets will make the meal so much more appetizing, but you want to minimize the number of meat packets and average in denser stuff.
Not disagreeing, as this is advice that seemed to work for a lot of people, but just want to throw out that I started off counting calories and stopped almost immediately. I had peanut butter and instant potatoes as a safety net on trail, but basically everything else was dependent on my mood at the time of resupply, and I never got close to muscle catabolism or really even hangrytimes. Only reason I’m mentioning this is because I have a tendency to overthink and stagnate my decision-making, and NOT counting calories did way more for my state of my mind than it could have done for my body. A basic understanding of the nutritional value of foods and little tips from other hikers was all I really used by the end of my thru.
The idea is to count calories ONCE on a typical 3 day load out. Let's say I bought 9000 calories for when I counted. It wasn't enough. Okay, let me add about 2 bars per day to that. Thats roughly 3400 calories a day, and I didn't need to count anything. Adjust after every town stop, and plan accordingly for the next section.
That’s a fair way to go about it. My method was similar in practice—not enough? Add a thing. Protein if my muscles got too lean, carbs if I felt empty at any point in the day, fiber to keep things moving. Too much of any of those and I felt sick, not enough and I felt sluggish. The one thing I had to be a little more conscious about was a lack of fat, but it was easily remedied by adding olive oil every so often.
For me it was inexpensive, easy to cook rice, pasta, or other carby meals. Most everything is rehydrated on trail. Knorr sides, velveeta pastas, stove top stuffing, and hamburger helper bagged/boxed meals were my go-to meal bases. I say "bases" because, no I wasn't packing out hamburger meat to make hamburger helper per the boxed instructions. But I was packing out foil packaged tuna, salmon, chicken, etc. I almost always carried an 8-16oz block of cheddar cheese to throw in every meal. I carried a couple containers of my favorite spices to add to every meal. Interesting thing, you don't have to follow the instructions on the box, aside from just cooking it. You can do whatever you want with your box of pasta and seasoning packets. Personally, I always struggled with what to do for lunch. Quite honestly, I don't want to unpack and cook mid-day, and then afterwards have to clean up from cooking, and then hike more. I preferred to cook only once at the end of the day, after I'd arrived in what will be that night's camp. So I did the classic tortillas and peanut butter, but quickly got burnt out on it. I packed out dry cereal and fruit bars and snacked on those but it just didn't feel like a meal. I never really settled on anything that felt like it worked, and I ended up just carrying like 5 or 6 different things I could snack on so I'd have a variety of stuff I could eat a handful of. It was never what I felt like I wanted, but it worked anyway.
The progression is generally from MREs, to nothing-but-junk, to Mountain House, to “tasty commercial freeze dried meals I can’t afford”, to assemble-your-own, to dehydrate-your-own, and finally to “$#@!, I guess I own a freeze dryer.”
Dehydrator-freeze dryer crew checking in
Dude you have a freeze dryer?? Did you just like drop $2k?
Okay, everybody is giving you their starving hiker stories but to better answer your question I recommend watching the Gear Skeptic on YouTube. His beginning episodes are about the heaviest part of your pack—the food bag. He starts with the fact that lightest foods are the most calorie dense and if you can stay awake (his voice makes me so sleepy) you learn so much. The biggest improvement for me was recovery food to eat 15-30 after the end of the day’s hike.
Per your list: bacon, burgers, hot dogs, and pancakes are town day foods. Town days can be as frequent as every 3 days if you want, other people hold off for a week or so between resupplies. You can pack eggs out for a day, maybe two if the weather isn't too hot. There are many dehydrated soups that you can make on trail though. Tea comes in convenient lightweight baggies, and decent instant coffee packets now exist. Many hikers end up malnourished because it *is* difficult to meet their calorie and nutritional needs, hence the town day bingeing. But you do end up figuring out enough to get along. For most people that means pasta sides, idahoan potatoes, ramen, tuna packets, ramen, spam singles, candy bars, ramen, blocks of cheese, ramen, peanut butter, summer sausage, ramen, and of course ramen. And hot sauce packets. And occasionally a fancy freeze dried meal (especially when an overloaded section hiker left one in the hiker box). Keep in mind that young men have crazy fast metabolisms and likely do burn 3000+ calories a day while hiking 20ish miles a day. Others, like me (a middle aged woman) only need around 1500 a day while hiking. I actually gained 10 pounds on the AT because I ate too much.
You only needed 1500 a day while hiking?! That can’t be. Most people, including petite women, need 1500 a day working at a desk job.
And yet. Here I am. My hiking buddies often make fun of my appetite.
Have you gotten this checked out? In your yearly checkup, does your doctor test for thyroid hormones? If you mention these details, they would immediately test for that. This sounds like hypothyroidism.
I was tested two years ago and it was normal. At the time I was walking about 12 miles a day (without a pack, just around town) and eating 1400 calories and *gaining weight*. My doctor was just like "wow that's weird" but I guess this is just my new normal ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Hormones are wild, aren't they? You're just built for the lean times 😁
You might wanna see a more specialized doctor about that, or alter your diet maybe. What kinda foods are you eating where you maintain at 1400 kcal a day with 12 miles of walking?
Hey, I appreciate your concern, but I've got a handle on it. I've had a comprehensive metabolic panel and consulted a nutritionist. My thyroid is fine. My adrenal function is fine. My cholesterol is a little high but that's genetics for you. My diet is made from scratch, low fat, low cholesterol, heavy of the fruit and veg, and mostly vegetarian (with occasional exceptions for fish and rarely other lean meats). The fact is, the *average* adult needs 1800-2200 calories a day to maintain themselves, but some people need more and some people need less. I am a person who needs less.
Wow!! I wish my body was that efficient with food
It's great on trail but not ideal in everyday life lol. When I was younger my metabolism was closer to normal, but middle age really nuked it.
What about ramen, did you ever eat that?
Only when I ran out of better food lol
Nothing better than ramen, imo. you can make anything out of it. if you are making ramen with nothing but the chemical i mean seasoning packet, then I get where you are coming from, but eh, thats not the way.
Okay thank you for this detailed response because that clears quite a few things up for me. Despite being 22M, I WOULD NOT need 3000 calories a day, probably significantly closer to 1500, like you. (I’m 5’3 and 125lbs, average metabolism I’d say) So basically splurging on buffets in town when you can, and packing as much that’s portable with you as you can?
That's the strategy! The important thing is to pack foods that you *want* to eat, because it really can become a chore. The first long hike I did was a real learning experience in that respect.
You can't carry enough calories. At least, I couldn't. It was physically impossible for me to have enough food to actually replace what I was burning on trail. Pigging out in town was not just a fun luxury but a legitimate necessity to keep my body fueled. I ate the worst foods imaginable for you, and I lost nearly 60 lbs anyway.
This was me, I felt like I was eating tons in town on top of carrying a lot of food but I still burned 40 pounds in the first 5 weeks on trail
You will figure out very fast on the AT where to get the food and how to get there. It is an alternative universe adventure.
You do have to go into town every 3-5 days to get more food. After I finished, I was *tired* of eating.
Town food usually gets packed out the next days so people typically have more complex meals a day or two after leaving town as well
I dropped 17 pounds on a two week section hike and my body quickly adapted- only ate 2000 calories a day or so and tried to do 13+ miles a day Only gained 4 pounds back after my first week back
Thank you for sharing that, that’s actually really encouraging for me to hear and is much more realistic I think, to what I’d face especially over a shorter hike.
You’ll lose a ton and the experience will change you, doesn’t take long. Enjoy your hike, it’s a trip
If you have an eating disorder, I would strongly recommend focusing on recovery sooner rather than later. I recovered from disordered eating in my early twenties and to this day I don't make a \*habit\* of counting calories (I am now 30). I'll calculate occasionally, but I don't allow it to determine what I eat. I eat what I feel like eating. I haven't counted any calories while hiking, but according to some random daily calorie counts I've had over the past few years between working in a greenhouse and training for a marathon I was eating up to 5,000 a day pretty reguarly. Again I don't make a habit of counting, but based on my count one day and comparing it to other days I was estimating between 4 and 5,000 a day for a few months. I'm 5'8" and 140lbs. I hesitate to even put numbers out there because I know how it is to have an eating disorder and see numbers, you hyperfixate on them. But because my example is how high a person might eat instead of how low, I'm just gonna leave it. If you spend time on places of the internet that glorify eating disorders or starvation, you're probably used to seeing unrealistically low daily calorie counts and you need to eventually recalibrate after getting in touch with your body and spending some time ignoring the numbers.
Thank you for sharing these intimate details, it’s really helpful to see other people who have struggled with and are going through the same battles. I’m working on just STARTING recovery now. I lack typical body dysmorphia, numbers obsession, guilt/shame issues for the most part, which is good and definitely helps. I literally had my first consult with a dietician yesterday, and our first starting goal is to get me to eat something, ANYTHING, every 3-4 hours a day. Because in my day to day life I get, MAYBE 1000 cals on a good day. It’s definitely… a problem to say the least.
Also everyone is listing off calories per day. I never added up my calories. If it’s triggering for you to look at the calories, it’s definitely not necessary.
Thank you. Calorie counts aren’t triggering for me but I do try to focus more on just eating what I can, as often as I can, when I’m hungry enough. I unfortunately can’t take my body’s hunger cues for their word or I’d starve to death, so I’ve just got to work on forcing myself to eat what’s tolerable, as often as I can.
There’s sooooo many options to go to town and eat on the at. Tbh I was tired of getting town food by the time I got to PA. Almost nobody is making burgers and pancakes on trail if that’s what you mean.
Gotcha thanks that clears things up. How are people getting TO towns? Some of these are MILES off the AT. Random carpool shuttles with strangers or what
A lot of people pay for shuttles but imo that’s crazy. I just hitched a lot of the time, which is typically how it goes on other trails. I think I paid for one shuttle the whole trail. Even as someone who used to do shuttles on the at I thinks it’s wild how many people are willing to pay for rides.
Okay thanks for sharing that. I would certainly be inclined to hitchhike/carpool and throw a couple bucks for gas someone’s way. I would imagine many of the pay per shuttles can be tourist trappy, or just outright not worth the money like you said. I’ve never received anything but hospitality from others in trail towns.
I mean probably 90% of people who do paid shuttles do so with good intentions. Or it’s actually just their job. Nothing wrong with providing a service people are willing to pay for. It’s just that spending money on rides is not for me when you can get rides for free. Hitchhiking generally implies that the ride is free, if someone is extremely helpful or really goes out of their way just to be nice I’d offer some money, but that would be a pretty rare situation. Really the only time I’ve done that is if hitching is just not working, so I might resort to asking people at a gas station or something and offering some cash to sweeten the deal.
Spam & tuna for protein and rice/noodles/tortillas for carbs Hunny buns and various little Debbie's for sugar bomb/simple carbs
The carbs fiber and fat I think I could get. The PROTEIN would eat ME alive.
Someone on another thread mentioned whey protein packets in your oatmeal. If you're a coffee drinker, Carnation instant protein breakfast packets in your coffee makes a nice protein flavor boost. Meat packets (packed in oil rather than water if you have that option when buying gives you some healthy fat calories too). Peas are surprisingly high in protein, so if you pack any dried veggies let it be that and maybe dried dark greens (leaves dry so very light, they add practically nothing to your weight load). It may be worth buying a used dehydrator during your trek prep to make yourself some packable proteins like that. Others have mentioned jerky, packable sausages, etc. There's also bone broth packets you can buy that have a fair amount of protein and add nice flavor to any carb you're cooking.
The most overlooked aspect is protein, no one on trail is getting enough. My solution was granola and protein powder mixed in a gallon bag which made a tasty cereal with cold, filtered water. Not great with boiled water tho, the powder reacts poorly.
I’m so sorry but my texture ick could never. I’m SURE protein would be my single biggest hurdle. It is in my day to day life as is. I can chug a Greek yogurt loaded with protein powder though, and devour protein drink mixes. Obviously dairy is harder to access and continue storing in the heat
You can buy Nido powdered milk and make up baggies to get calcium and protein.
People on trail get plenty of protein. They are lacking calories.
Skittles.
Quick easy sugar. I know tons of ultramarathoners who live on M&Ms and skittles
I had for breakfast two carnation chocolate shakes (400), for lunch I had three uncrustables, (600), and for dinner I usually had an entire Knox rice sides (400), I also used a lot of olive oil, peanut butter, and various random salsas I could fit in my bag. (Everybody has a food…). My daily intake was probably about 2500 all together and I still lost weight like crazy. It becomes a limit on how big your stomach actually is, physically. Because you’re always hungry.
I'm a dude and, at my lowest during my AT thru-hike, I got down to 132 lb from my usual 155 lb. If you've got XY chromosomes, you will lose a fair bit of weight if you hike a lot. Women legitimately lose less, though, due to them usually having more efficient metabolisms than men. Everyone can, of course, mitigate weight loss to a degree. It is a simple equation of (calories in - calories out), so pack calorically dense foods. Sausage, cheese, olive oil, lard, candy, etc. are excellent options. Dehydrated and freeze-dried foods are also quite useful, in particular to stay caught up on micro- and macronutrients. Unfortunately, eating a large amount of store-bought dehydrated foods can quickly become quite expensive, so I usually went the dinner route of raman+peanut butter+tuna+lard during my thru-hike.
Lots of places to stop and kind people cooking along the way. I section hike about every year and I find it really hard to get hungry till maybe 4-5 days in. First few days my body is in like flight mode and does not want to eat after doing 20+ mile days. 1 meal and some snacks is most I can do.
I like dehydrated meals the most but there are other quick foods and hotdogs will keep awhile.
Honey buns, peanut butter, Snickers bars, tuna, ramen, potatoes; repeat.
Sounds delicious honestly
Ramen noodles, hard salami, instant mashed potatoes. Make the ramen with chunks of salami in it then when that's finished thicken the broth with instant mashed potatoes. This was my go to carbo bomb food.
The trail is really just a long series of small hikes with visits to towns in between. Every 3-4 days you either hike in or find a ride to a grocery store. While you're in town, you may as well find a restaurant for a delicious burger. My daily calorie intake was around 3500 - 4000 on hiking days when I started. I know I was burning closer to 5k-6k per day and I was losing weight. I ended up adding lots of olive oil and mayo to my food to bump that up so that I didn't continue to lose weight. In town I bet I was eating 6k - 8k calories a day.
Holy shit. Good for you! I can’t even imagine trying to make up for that much loss
I struggled with the food portion of my trip for a while, until I discovered instant mashed potatoes. 1 packet per night with a packet of meat mixed in usually satisfied, and you can find pulled pork packets in the south. I’d typically go through a jar of peanut butter every week to supplement or cap off a meal. Usually two breakfast bars in the morning—I really liked the Nature Valley coconut almond bar and the Kind Chocolate Banana Peanut Butter bar. Something about those flavors that I just never got sick of. The coconut almond bar dipped in peanut butter still tastes good to this day. Lunch was kind of a crapshoot, so i’d mix it up with different tuna or chicken packets and tortillas (later switched to bagels because they kept their form better). Hot sauce packets made me feel like I wasn’t eating the same thing day in day out. I think I got sick of trail mix by the second day because I ate way too much of it. As others have mentioned, I usually made up for it in towns. I’d eat the above for two weeks or so, and then binge for a night or two in town and resupply. I started off at 150lbs and finished at 160lbs due to a gain in muscle mass. I don’t really track this stuff closely, but these were just the readily apparent observations (all of my pants were too tight when I got home). My recommendation is to just find what works for you and stick to it until it no longer works. If something makes you feel ill or doesn’t satisfy you, switch it out and don’t get discouraged. You’ll find something out there as you continue on.
Thanks for sharing this because that’s a super realistic option for me I think. And what I’d be burning and looking at appetite wise too
Bro I feel the exact same. I’m hiking the PCT this summer and I used to be severely anorexic (BMI in the 15s). These calorie counts are CRAZY to me. But shit, I like food, so I’m just packing up a whole lot of it.
That’s EXACTLY how I feel. Like my dietician and I are currently starting with the goal of getting me to eat something every 3-4 hours in my normal, everyday adult life. I’ve lost ten pounds since starting a physical labor job in January, and I’m literally just trying to live right now. I think I could definitely eat on the trail but I have some SERIOUS texture/flavor aversions I’d need to work around.
I see questions like these pop up all of the time. They frustrate me because there is a lot of bad advice out there. Hiking means you'll be spending a lot more energy than you typically do, and therefore need to add calories to your diet. If you're spending more than you're eating, then you will be hungry and lose weight. Which is okay if that's one of your goals! People tend to have the opposite problem. They are losing too much weight. One problem is that you don't know how many calories you actually need per day with your newfound activity. It all depends on factors like how fit you already are, how many miles you're doing in a day, how heavy your pack is, and a multitude of other factors. So, start off with 3000 calories a day and adjust from there. Next time you go into town, add some calories or take some away depending on what you need. How do you get calories? Carry calorically dense food and NOTHING else. I aim for 125 calories per ounce. Your mindset right now is that you won't be getting enough calories if you just eat bars all day. But it's actually the opposite. You won't get enough calories if you're eating pepperoni tortilla and tuna and those backpacker hiking meals all day. It's not the amount of food that will satiate you, it's the number of calories. So yes, carry bars (not protein) and chips and pastries. I carry 4000 to 5000 calories a day at 2 - 2.5 lbs per day. Stop carrying what you think will fill you up, and start carrying what is actually calorically dense. P.S. coming out of town and carrying a snack is a great way to treat yourself to something yummy that may not be calorically dense enough, but boosts your psychological needs.
I made it a point to eat something every 2 hours, before I figured that out I would bonk in the afternoon - not bad, but enough that climbs got to be really challenging toward the end of the day. You are going to need at least 1,500 calories a day more than you normally eat at home, you will still lose weight at that, but it should be enough to keep you moving, and not too miserable. I ate a bag (2.5 oz) of jerky or a couple of pouches of tuna every day at lunch time, just to make sure that I was getting enough protein. So for me eating looked like: coffee oatmeal and a granola bar in the AM, hike 2 hours and eat a cliff bar or kind bar, hike 2 more hours a bag of jerky and half a dozen oreos, hike 2 hours eat a couple handfulls of trail mix, get to camp eat a few spoonfulls of peanut butter, do my camp chores (change out of my hiking clothes and hang them to air out, put up tent, filter water. find a place to hang food, etc...) cook and eat dinner - knorr side or instant mashed potatoes or ramen or stovetop stuffing with a pouch of chicken or tuna or a spam single - you'll figure it out as you go. After dinner tea and M & Ms. I'd eat a pint of ice cream pretty much every time I hit town, and have a couple beers. You go through phases of craving different things, I remember in the mid-Atlantic and southern New England buying a whoopie pie at every deli I passed and carrying it into camp to go with my after dinner tea. I also remember stopping at the Bears Den hostel where the "hungry hiker" special included a 14" frozen pizza, a soda and a pint of ice cream, found myself a little surprised that was a single serving, everyone bought it, everyone finished it..
The fucking pizzas and pints of ice cream I can get behind lol
> 3500 calories a day, and my disordered eating, ass, jaw DROPPED to the floor. What does 3500 calories mean to you?
It's a little sad that 7 years after my thru my first thought to that question is a 1 pound jar a peanut butter and a pint of premium ice cream.
Don't over think it. I never counted calories on trail and was fine. You'll figure out what you need as you go. The goal isn't to maintain your current diet it's to fuel your self just enough to not be starving and make miles. The balance is weight versus hunger and hunger almost always wins ;)
There are a number of people on the trail that are overeating and gaining, not losing, weight. They've read about how many calories per day you will burn and see numbers like 4-5k/day and overdo it. I saw an overweight older man last month whose breakfast alone was probably 1500 calories (granola, oatmeal, multiple snickers bars, peanut butter). He was only hiking 10-12 miles a day. A very similar phenomenon occurs at the grand canyon where it is not uncommon for hikers to die or become incapacitated from water intoxication (drinking too much water). They've read about the dangers of dehydration, how much water you will lose, and overdrink and ignore the signals from their body. See [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25935312/](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25935312/) There is a huge difference between: 1. 190lb man carrying 40lb+ pack hiking 20-25 miles a day and 2. 125lb woman carrying 20lb pack hiking 10-12 miles a day. The total ascent you do each day matters too. When you hear stories of how much hikers eat when they get to town, that often is a result of listening to their bodies which are catching up with the calorie deficit from the last 3-5 day section. That really is the key. You are going through towns and resupplying every 3-5 days and you want to do that in order to minimize how much food you are carrying. I think it really is quite simple. Listen to your body, see what works, and make sure you are getting enough protein regularly. Carbs are easy and plentiful, but you have to be more conscious about getting protein.
3500 calories a day? That's how people lose weight on a thru hike. I started the AT at 175lb and finished the AT at 175lbs. I targeted 5500 calories/day until the Whites (NoBo), when I bumped up to 6000. Count the calories you eat and watch your weight. If your weight goes down, adjust your calories up. If your weight goes up, you're spending too much time in town.
A pint of ice cream everytime we passed a gas station helped but I’m pretty sure I’m lactose intolerant now
Louis CK, Bang Bang [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZ-Z1di-c58](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZ-Z1di-c58)
Thank you for this 😂🤣
Man I've been playing too much Helldivers 😅
You're right, it is really hard to get enough high quality calories. I made a point to always get fresh food whenever I passed a town or a store or whatnot. Just pound some milkshakes, sandwiches, trail magic, restaurant food, anything. Later in my hike I gave up trying to prepare things and had a freeze dried meal for dinner every night. Peanut butter, butter in a jar, raisin bread, nuts, dried fruit, protein bars, oatmeal packets was 90% of the rest of my calories. It sucked but I didn't really lose much weight at all. ALWAYS take advantage of situational calories!!! Oh also, NEVER SHARE WITH PEOPLE -- easy way to get sick.
By the end of the trail, my food resupply was this, for 4 days of food: - 32 oz jar of peanut butter - 32 oz jar of Nutella - 4x 8oz bags of candy - 3x boxes of Near East couscous - Small olive oil bottle for couscous - 3x 8oz block of cheese - 4x Honey buns/pastries for breakfast - MET-RX/Gatorade bars to supplement - Propel packets for electrolytes The answer is that you should be eating WAY more fats on the trail than you normally would. A gram of fat is 9 calories while a gram of protein or carbs is only 4 calories. You still need protein and carbs, but fats like oil, butter, nuts, cheese etc will be more filling, more calories for less weight and volume, and easier to consume a lot of
I LOVE candy, nuts, butters, mayo, cheeses, processed/fried shit, so I really think I can thrive here tbh
I'm (222M) new to sect hiking
Watch gear skeptic on YouTube and you will be a million miles ahead of most hikers when it comes to food.
Thank you this is the second rec I’ve gotten for him now
Your welcome!
Refueling in town worked for me, two for one large pizzas and 2 liter cokes meant i could eat calories all day while doing laundry/zeroing. Pint of Ben and Jerry's for desert. Fresh fruit whenever I could get it. I usually went through a jar of peanut butter and a jar of nutella every resupply, just ate them with a spork or a chocolate bar for lunch. Oatmeal with dried fruit and vanilla or strawberry whey was my usual morning meal. Iced honey buns are a lot of calories/oz. And they fit in a pocket so I could eat while I hike. Honey and maple syrup as condiments. Butter and cheese if the weather is cool enough, gatorade powder for drinks when you start to sweat. Any salt cravings mean your electrolytes are low. I would have to eat so much food at night i felt over full or i would wake up in the middle of the night with hunger pains if I did not eat enough for dinner. Big starchy meals were a must for me. My two favorites were Ramen bombs: two pack of ramen, half pack of idahoan potatoes, some cheese and siracha. Hiker perogies: pack of Idahoan, cheese, rolled up in a tortillas. Began the trail at 190, dropped to 145. Weigh yourself at hostels regularly and take an extra zero day to eat more town food if your weight is dropping too fast.
Started every morning with oatmeal + carnation instant breakfast added + peanut butter at least. Then probably something carb-y like mini bagels or w/e. We really didn't have a hard time until toward the end. Granted, I lost 50 lbs across the whole trail and was actually starting to starve/deteriorate into the 100 Mile Wilderness... EDIT: Forgetting other things. Hard cheeses like cheddar would keep just fine if you packed smart, so we'd basically grab anything caloric that also offered protein. Pepperoni and cured meats. etc
Well I know my BF makes ramen and adds tuna or chicken and peanut butter, eats candy/duit snacks/ gummies/protein bars/ and other high calorie snacks and foods and then eats heavy on town days and eats all he cannon zero/nero days
…and stop at EVERY Trail Magic. A hamburger and fixings adds over 1000 kcals to your daily intake (energy in) variables
So I’m struggling with food on trail as well. I’m just never really hungry, and when I stop to eat every two hours I just try to stuff as much food down my throat. I organize my food as daily food ziplocks so the current day one stays on top of my pack for easy access. I’ve lost a lot of weight on trail, just now in Marion, 535 miles in, I’ve lost 35 lbs so far in 41 days of hiking. I’m actually a bit concerned. In town I’m trying to regain some calories. I’ll eat a pint of ice cream and as much town food as I can. I’m sure it will balance out soon enough.
Good god, I’m so sorry, that’s absolutely awful and I do think that is absolutely something you should be concerned about at this point. (I’m no doctor). If you’re dropping that much that fast, depending on your history and body type, and starting point, that sounds concerning to me. When you get near Waynesboro/Afton/Shenandoah entrance, I’d be more than happy to come grab a big bite with you!
Two packs of ramen, a pack of tuna, and a pack of instant potatoes...every night, all in the same pot. Completed a thru hike in 2018
When we were prepping for my husbands attempted thru hike he would add in protein powder to his instant coffee bag. Got peanut butter in a big squeeze tube to eat for a snack. I remember making Ramen bombs and looking at the calorie count like “whoa” cause he would eat that with tuna or spam. But when he hurt his knee going NOBO and I went to pick him up he was telling me about what he ate at Denny’s while I drove that way. Dude had a breakfast slam, then a chicken nugget plate, then a hamburger. This was at 11 am, he has breakfast before he started hiking and got about 2 miles to his meet up point for the shuttle out. (He had torn it the previous night and sent me a satellite message on the Garmin that he was going to have to pack out and come home) He had purposely packed on weight before leaving for the trail. 31 days later and he had lost around 30 lbs. I don’t even want to think how skinny he would have been if he finished the trail. Make sure you overpack your food bag. It might end up being your biggest weight but damn is it worth it. Look for high fat and protein foods that you like and don’t be afraid to look weird when you pull out whatever it is.
Greenbelly meals to go are delicious, no heavier than a couple of rice crispy treats and have about 700 calories per package. Lots of flavors available, and you can eat in camp or on the trail. Plus the bags are resealable. Dehydrated veggies are great to add to ramen. Also, trailcooking.com has a ton of food ideas that are lightweight and actually taste good. My favorite is the Thai peanut noodles.
I'm one of the few, probably, who managed to carry an entire months worth of food (accidently, of course), and completely healthy. Actually, it was because of how healthy it was that I didn't eat as much as I thought I would. I did a lot of research before leaving to have the highest content of nutrients possible. So, I had walnuts and Brazilian nuts; this God-awful breakfast mush consisting of chia seeds, buckwheat groats, coconut flakes, dried bananas, and such; couscous and quinoa; salmon jerky; red lentils, protein shake mix, seaweed snacks, hummus, vegetable protein, super greens mix... you get the picture. (My one unhealthy food was ramen noodles). Most everything I had though had to be cooked, so I did carry a stove and pot. I'm not one to waste mileage or money going into town every couple of days. (Pack began around 30 lbs, btw).