Fwd: [at-l] How much food is enough?

[sloetoe@yahoo.com (Sloetoe)]

TJ-- I saved this one as a good summary of food ("fuel")
requirements. This would be the calender neighborhood of when an at-l
discussion likely occured.
Sloetoe

--- "Robinson, Brian A" <brian.robinson@compaq.com> wrote:
> From: "Robinson, Brian A" <brian.robinson@compaq.com>
> To: "'BackpackingLight@egroups.com'" <BackpackingLight@egroups.com>
> CC: "'at-l'" <at-l@backcountry.net>, "'pct-l'"
> <pct-l@backcountry.net>
> Subject: [at-l] How much food is enough?
> Date: Tue, 31 Oct 2000 15:11:48 -0800
> 
> Singletrack,
> 
> 1.5 pounds of food per day was probably not enough for you.  If it
> was typical backpacking food, it averaged 125 calories per ounce
for a total of 3,000 calories per day.  A lean 150 pound man needs
about 2,000 calories per day to be a couch potato.  As a thru-hiker
averaging 15 miles per day, you burned another 1500 calories hiking
those miles and another 500 or so repairing the extra wear and tear. 
That adds up to 4,000 calories per day.
> The 1,000 calorie per day deficit came out of stored body fat at
> about 3,500 calories per pound.  So you should have been losing
about 2 pounds per week. Since you were only losing about 1 pound per
week, I can only assume that you probably ate another 500 calories of
Ben and Jerry's ice cream per day ;-)  But seriously, restaurant food
counts too.
> 
> An interesting point is how close to the "edge" you were.  If you
> were losing more than about a pound per week, your body would have
taken some of the deficit out of muscle tissue.  That would NOT have
left you feeling stronger and faster.  If you go again, you'd be
better off carrying two pounds of food per day.
> 
> For those wondering about higher mileage, all the factors stay
> about the same except for 100 calories per mile.  To support 30
miles per day, a 150 pound man needs 2000 + 500 + 30*100 = 5,500
calories per day. That's a LOT of Little Debbies!  This also explains
why most people can't average 30+ miles per day for extended periods.
 It raises their calorie deficit beyond the danger level, their
muscles waste away and mileage drops.  To avoid this, you have to eat
the equivalent of 10+ Big Macs every day! Even if you're eating one
every two hours, there just aren't enough hours to digest it all.  As
you can see, a 30 miles per day thru-hiker has to be a lean mean
EATING machine!
> 
> I know this because my Calendar Triple Crown plan calls for an
> average of more than 30 miles per day during the snow-free months
on the northern PCT and CDT next year.  That's 3 pounds of food per
day.
> 
> Brian Robinson 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: jimmygreene@webtv.net [mailto:jimmygreene@webtv.net]
> 
> I hiked 139 days on my AT thru hike. Most of the time I carried on
the average 1 1/2 lbs of food per day. This is a fair guess. I am
sure i burned more calories than I consumed. My weight over this
period of time dropped from 159lbs. to 138lbs. Yes I was very hungry,
but i wanted something that tasted good, and satisfying. The longer I
was on the Trail the stronger and faster I got. Never feeling a loss
of energy, or extremely tired. Would like to know more on this
subject.  Singletrack2000
> * From the AT-L |  Need help? http://www.backcountry.net/faq.html 
*


=====
Spatior, Nitor, Nitor, In Nitor!

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