Warning! This contains some serious math!
Deciding how much food to carry is a major decision. The rule of thumb is that you want to carry about two pounds of calorie dense food per day. This is what I’m starting with:
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| Food |
kCals |
Quantity |
Total |
| Clif Bar |
250 |
2 |
500 |
| Wafer Bar |
215 |
2 |
430 |
| Protein Bar |
215 |
1 |
215 |
| Salmon |
70 |
1 |
70 |
| Peanut Butter |
190 |
2 |
380 |
| Tortillas |
150 |
3 |
450 |
| MM’s |
140 |
9 |
1260 |
| Chili Mac |
460 |
1 |
460 |
| Summer Sausage |
360 |
1 |
360 |
| Almonds |
164 |
1 |
164 |
| Total: |
4289 |
So how much will I burn per day?
First, I will burn a base of 2,500 kCals per day just staying alive. If it is colder out or if the conditions are wet, I will burn more kCals just to maintain my body temperature.
Then I can expect to burn about 900 kCals per hour backpacking. This is assuming a 20# or more pack with elevation changes. This number will decrease as I get my hiker legs. Once I’m in full trail shape, I will burn about 700 kCals per hour. That is really important to remember. Once I get my hiker legs, I will burn 200 less kCals per hour.
My very first day of the trail is a 9.0 mile hike to the Springer Mountain Shelter. Assuming I can maintain 2 mph, it will take me 4.5 hours to get to the top of the mountain and I will burn 4,050 kCals, or 6,550 total kCals.
That is a 2,500 kCal deficit for the day, which is not sustainable.
How will I make up for the deficit?
Fortunately, I have an additional “food bag”, my fat reserves to make up the difference. The rule of thumb is that you can burn 30 calories per pound of body fat before you start burning muscle. I want to avoid burning muscle at all costs. The hard part of all this is calculating how many pounds of fat my “dad bod” is carrying. I have been weight lifting three times a week for the past five years. I’m stronger than I have ever been. My guess is that I have about 40 pounds to burn. So, 40# @ 30 kCals is 1,200 total kCals.
Burning that fat is like burning a candle however. I cannot do it forever. 4289 + 1200 = 5489 kCals.
That doesn’t add up?
You are correct. I still have a 1,000 kCals deficit at the beginning. I will probably burn some muscle along with the fat until I get to my full hiking capability. I’ll need to find some additional reserves.
The first place is my liver. Your liver is the only organ that gives up its reserves. When you work out and are completely exhausted and all of a sudden you feel that burst of energy commonly called your “second wind”? That is your liver.
Here is the deal, it can only do it once. Once you burn that, you “hit the wall”. You cannot take another step. On the PCT, coming out of from under the I-10 in Southern California, I was absolutely crushed by the heat. I was drinking too much water and I was completely full. Unable to move, I sat and ate nearly a day’s worth of food. I knew that it meant that I didn’t have enough to get to Big Bear Lake. My hiking partner, Fish Tank also ran out of food. Fortunately, we ran into Little John. He was carrying too much food and he gave me a black bean and angel hair pasta. It was enough for us to bail out early and hitch into town. Fish Tank and I consumed an entire large pizza each!
Having learned my lesson, I carried one of the meals that Little John gave me the entire rest of the PCT. It was the backup reserve meal. I’m doing the same thing this time. What I have is a dehydrated chicken breast and some instant mash potatoes. I’ve enhanced the potatoes with two tablespoons of dehydrated butter. I also have a small bag of dehydrated butter to add to things. That will give me an emergency 800 calories.
The other thing I will have is way more trail angels! Each one of those angels will be passing out food. I will thank them. That is one of the great advantages of the AT over the PCT. There will simply be more people there.
How long will it take for you to get your hiker legs?
Based upon my time on the PCT, not very long. Once I reach that point, I’ll burn just 700 kCals per hour or less. I’ll still have a calories deficit, but I’ll loose about two pounds per week, or just a good healthy weight loss diet. I just have to get there. I suspect by mile 200, my legs will be in full shape. On the PCT, it wasn’t until about mile 350 until I was in good shape.
Once I reach that point, then I’ll hover around there, slowing burning fat while hopefully keeping my muscle mass. Once I get closer to the end, I’ll need to add calories, but I’ll worry about that once I get there.
