Debra,
What could possibly make you think that? I join you in your prayers.
Gg-man
New to Hiking, but doing a THRU-HIKE
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#42
Ive had enough of this forum already…Ill do this on my own. If you wanna follow me, follow me, if not, dont.
KING GATOR
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#43
King Gator, thanks for your openness, and i wish you a fulfilling journey.
It’s a long thread and i haven’t studied every word, but i’m pretty sure Debra is suggesting, VERY rightly, that while doing a thru-hike you need to be eating many more calories, MORE food, than you do at home.
I lost 35 lbs. on my PCT hike while eating roughly twice as much as i do at home. (On trail just a little more, but in town 3x or 4x as much.) I think the worry is that in your planning you haven’t considered just how much extra food you need while hiking, EVEN if you have weight you plan to lose.
With less food than you eat at home, you’ll likely just bonk and not get far. One of the wonders of a thru-hike is eating a ton and still losing weight. If you’re thinking “less food”, seriously and i’m doing this myself for my 2nd thru-hike this year, make a short plan for how you’ll eat AFTER your hike. That’s the hard part.
hike on!
markv
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#44
P.s. Re: your refrigerator comment, it makes sense to assume you have to carry less. With some research into which foods contain the most calories for the least weight, you really can carry more calories than you eat at home without breaking your back.
Some good examples: olive oil, nuts (especially macademias), cheese. It doesn’t take a huge load to carry 4000 calories per day if you have lots of these items, along with chocolate, dried fruit, etc.
markv
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#45
Thank you for your advice bro. Here is the deal…If that is indeed the case than I guess we will eat MORE FOOD. I am not saying that we “cant” eat more food. I was just assuming that we will eat less. Here, we eat steak, potatoes, and big meals. I am pretty sure that we will not be eating real big meals on the trail. Im sure there will be a LOT of snacking.
My issue with her is that she acted like I was PLANNING for us to neccessarily eat less. I simply said that eating less would be something we would have to get used to. I say that in terms of MEALS.
Eating a side of NOODLES or POTATOES is FAR different than how we eat here at home. I have a tendency to cook a LOT of four course meals here at home. I highly doubt we will be eating like that on the trail.
Basically, we can only haul around so much. I “assume” that we will eat less.
If we end up eating more…cool. Im ok with that. I just assumed we would eat less. Her response sounded really TRAGIC as if I KNEW that we would eat less. ****, I dont know for sure if we will eat more or less and WONT KNOW until we are doing it.
I assume at that very moment, I will either say damn, we are eating alot, or damn, we are not eating much at all.
KING GATOR
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#46
Your refrigerator response makes sense to me. Trust me, due to YOUR advice, I will gladly try to carry as many calories as possible. I am thinking of NUTELLA as one of them chocolate type of items. I will try to give us as many calories as possible. Thank you for your advice. It is REALLY appreciated.
KING GATOR
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#47
Even with those calories, we may eat more calories and I am sure we will. However, the AMOUNT or SIZE of the meals is what will change for us. We will do more snacking to accumulate our calories I would assume. Trust me, I hope I DO have the opportunity to eat more food without breaking the bank at all of these restaurants.
KING GATOR
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#48
Good luck with your hike and your goals, Gator. I’m curious to hear from other thru-hikers out there; did the reduced body weight that you reached during your thru-hike become the weight that you continue to maintain in your daily, off-trail life?
For me, I am a little over a year removed from my CDT thru-hike. The calories I ate on my hike and the calories that I burned on my hike don’t impact my life anymore. It is the calories that I ate and burned today that affect me. Yes, thru-hiking is difficult, but maintaining an active, healthy lifestyle and diet when I am removed from my thru-hikes is much, much, much, much, much more difficult. A thru-hike can act as a catalyst for positive lifestyle change, but maintaining that change is harder than walking 2k miles, 20k miles or even 200k miles.
space monkey
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#50
Thank you very much bro for your comment. I am looking forward to where the weight aspect of this takes me.
KING GATOR
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#51
Well, I may be a little of both. However, regardless of intelligence, I cannot read minds. With that being said, I have no idea what your comment is in reference to. There was a lot said on this thread, so if your just trying to insult, you can kiss my a$$.
However, I wouldn’t mind hearing about what was so “idiotic” about any of my post.
KING GATOR
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#52
Something I have noticed on this and other forums is that typically the same people saying negative things to me say negative things to others quite often as well. That leads me to understand exactly who you are and it makes me laugh.
I truly think that SOME of the hikers that have already done this are not really too “into” letting other people join their little “fraternity”. I assume that is because they have ZERO life outside the trail. It’s actually kind of sad.
Me on the other hand have not and will NEVER make this my life. I could care less if I end up being one of the only “few” thru-hikers on the earth. I could care less about the title. I am NOT a hiker. When this hike is OVER, whether I win or lose, I will more than likely never pick up a hiking pack again.
I enjoy the supportive people (there are many) that I have met or talked to in my small amount of time in this community. However, just like any other online community, there are plenty of trolls. There are plenty of people that are just dying to get their punk a$$ comments out because in real life, they would NEVER say it to someone’s face.
I find that hilarious.
With all of that said, I am concerned with my hike and the people that choose to support that option. The people that are trying to talk ME out of it are regularly trying to talk MANY OTHERS out of it as well.
They try to intimidate others so they can keep their little “1/14,000” title. Well, listen…your little trail may be scary to some. But to someone like me, it really isnt. Prison was some what scary. Being stabbed was somewhat scary. Being shot was somewhat scary. Living in poverty and in hoods was somewhat scary. Fighting for the first time in a cage was scary. Walking for 2,000 miles is NOT SCARY.
The only thing intimidating about this trail is the thought of LOSING the sh!t that we have in REAL LIFE. Most of us have a REAL LIFE to go home to. This hiking thing is not some of our’s real life. I will NEVER be a mountain man. I will NEVER be a hiker. I will NEVER get used to being a scrub for six months out of the year.
HOWEVER, for THIS YEAR (2013), I WILL DO SO. This is a choice about adventure and something different. This is not a choice about really anything other than that.
With all of that said, to the supporters and wonderful people of the community, THANK YOU. You have made me feel VERY WELCOME. To the haters and prunes of this community that would rather troll or to attack NEWBIES so they feel important in their little hiker life (Lets be real, most people wouldn’t choose that life even if they HAD to), those people can kiss my a$$. Your opinions are not important. You sound like a bunch of old people that dont want us “youngins” steppin on your turf.
If not, you are a bunch of people that work out constantly that hate the idea of someone YOU consider out of shape doing the same thing YOU can do. I deal with it ALL THE TIME. When I choke the sh!t out of some of the “fitness gurus” in the MMA world, they look just as surprised and just as butt hurt that YOU are going to look when I do EXACTLY what you can do despite not starving myself in real life to be as “fit as you”.
KING GATOR
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#53
I’ll be looking for your Journal, but somehow think you are full of sh!t… something doesn’t add up with you…
Bill
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#54
Full of sh!t about what? LOL! Holy sh!t…lol…
Some of yall are CERTIFIABLE crazy.
Listen *******, even if I FAIL and finish 100 miles in, that doesn’t mean I was full of sh!t, it just means that I was unable to complete this AMAZING journey.
KING GATOR
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#55
Hey Gator. Again good luck to you and the kids. Slow @ steady at first and the miles will come to all 3 of you. Can see where this site is going. Don’t get sucked into it. Have seen this many times. I think you got enough info and should now concentrate on tweeking your packs and getting ready. You still can get all kinds of info in your guest book and delete any neg. or stupid comments right away. HYOH X 3 !!!
Dan Paradise
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#56
Thank you, it has been a REAL PRIVILEGED to hear from you on this matter. Your the best!
KING GATOR
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#58
Which part?
Can you be more detailed so it doesn’t seem so insulting? Which part are you concerned with?
You wanna know if the ENTIRE thing is a joke? LOL!
Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuure, Im gonna spend all this time on trying to make some mountain people that I would have never met in my entire existence laugh.
That’s been my goal all along…you got me.
KING GATOR
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#59
Your right tho. No fat people OR kids have EVER hiked the appalachian trail. Either has any one with zero experience. What was I thinking?
KING GATOR
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#60
What can I say…no one BUT a hiker that dedicates their entire worthless existence TO hiking can ever be tough. You guys are simply the tough guys on the planet. I dont know what I was thinking.
I thought the bullets, gangs, knifes, prisons, and ghettos were tough in the real world.
I was wrong…It was you tough guy BAD ASS hikers the entire time! I don’t see how anyone that hasnt been homeless often could ever do what you do…
Let alone anyone that has had a cheeseburger before.
Your one bad mutha f**ka…I can see that now.
Im getting scared now.
KING GATOR