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fats vs carbs for short trips AND weight loss


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Home Forums General Forums Food, Hydration, and Nutrition fats vs carbs for short trips AND weight loss

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  • #1297908
    Diane Pinkers
    BPL Member

    @dipink

    Locale: Western Washington

    So I read the discussion about fats and carbs for long-distance travel, and now I'm confused as to what might be my best choice for food on the trail. Right now, I'm essentially eating Paleo, but more adhering to Phase I for Atkins, because just eating Paleo alone was not helping with weight loss. I know that when we start backpacking again, I'll still be wanting to eat low-carb during my daily life to maximize weight loss. What about when I'm actively backpacking? Should I include more carbs then to prevent bonking, or should I just stick with my usual routine? I'd be backpacking mostly 2-3 days at a time, and we rarely go further than 10 miles a day. I hope to be doing the Wonderland Trail + Northern Loop this summer as a 12 day trip, and then we'll be having a few days of 11-12 miles, but still nothing like the 20+ miles generated in the above discussion.

    My breakfasts last summer leaned pretty heavily towards the carb side of things, and I can't say that I lost a lot of weight while backpacking. So, even though I'm not doing high mileage, I'm guessing I should cut out more carbs while backpacking?

    #1943022
    Hiking Malto
    BPL Member

    @gg-man

    First off, if something works and meets your goal for diet, keep doing it. The good news is that you are doing fairly low mileage and shouldn't have much issue with hitting the wall. (Unless you are doing those ten miles in three hours.) The good news is that you can always recover by eating some carbs and reducing activity. Learn, adjust and move on.

    #1953259
    Jim H
    BPL Member

    @jraiderguy

    Locale: Bay Area

    What do you usually eat for breakfasts on the trail? I often go with energy/protein bars for simplicity, trying to find something with a relatively high protein content since I'm usually eating eggs and turkey sausage at home for breakfast. Doesn't avoid the carbs, but keeps the protein in play.

    Recently I've taken a liking to these bars called NuGo that they have at Costco. 170 calories per bar, 11g of protein, 50grams of weight per bar. (http://store.nugonutrition.com/products/50103.html). Not as much protein as a PowerBar Protein Plus, but way tastier to me.

    I just started buying them a couple months ago, so I haven't done any math on how they stack up against other breakfast options on the trail. Just thought I'd share.

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