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Some friends and I are currently doing a thru hike of the Appalachian Trail, and only ten days in the four of us clocked 7, 8, 10, and 17 pounds lost... But we'
by JackMorgan 5y ago
Some friends and I are currently doing a thru hike of the Appalachian Trail, and only ten days in the four of us clocked 7, 8, 10, and 17 pounds lost... But we're hiking 6+ hours a day with heavy packs. We've been eating easily ~3000kcal each daily. I think at the extreme edges, nutrition science is a lot less well understood. We were very surprised to see we'd lost anything at all, as we're stopping to eat 300 calories almost every waking hour.
- PaulDavisThe1st 5y ago6hrs a day @ 3 mph = 18 miles per day, 100 calories per mile without packs = 1800 calories per day on top of basal metabolic needs. Given your user name, I'd guess that you're male, and given that you're hiking the AT and have already started, I'd also guess that you're younger rather than older, so I'd peg your basal metabolism at around 2200-2400 calories. Add in the packs and the hills, and it should be clear why you're losing weight.
- colechristensen 5y agoA lot of an initial 10 pounds of weight loss can be dehydration and less food in the process of digestion.
- JackMorgan 5y agoThat's a good point.
- 0x640x6D 5y agoSeems early to start the thru hike. How many people are on the trail?
- JackMorgan 5y agoIt's already at least 10 people at each shelter every night. There's ~60 people scheduled to leave on 2/22/22, and ~60 on 3/1/22. It's going to be real busy real soon, this year will be packed by March. We're taking it pretty slow and getting off trail whenever the weather turns sketchy (like last night possible thunderstorms). The real part we're concerned about is getting over the Smokies without getting stuck up there in the snow.