Calorie deficit for 5 day hike – least amount of food per day?

[Jesse Jakomait]

I’m a die-hard ultralight fan with extra motivation for an up coming trip.  I’ve got a shoulder injury that will benefit my pack to be as light as possible for a 5 day trip in the mountains with no opportunities for a resupply.  I’m starting with a sub 6 lb base weight and want to keep my pack under 10 lbs total for my upcoming 5 day trip.  My food density is at 140 cals / oz so I don’t have much more room to optimize the composition so I’m planning to just leave as much at home as I can.  I will be covering my normal rate of 20-25 miles per day at high altitude.  I’d typically bring 3000 cals/day for something like this but want to drop that way down.  I can manage being hungry but I don’t want to completely melt down and not be able to cover ground.

Anyone ever test out how little calories they can consume and still get in the miles?  I’m sure there are plenty of stories of bears eating your supply or a miscalculation that inadvertently lead into a ration situation?

[David Thomas]

The one factor you didn’t mention was your weight.  Depending on that, it sounds like you’re already 1000 calories a day shy (at your previous 3000 calories/day carried).

Manfred does long trips (Brooks Range, Alaska; across Iceland) planning to lose 1/2 pound of body weight a day.  It works for him to convert that 15 pounds of so of body weight (i.e. fat) he puts on when at home between long trips into 30 days of lower pack weights.  So he’s eating about 2,000 calories a day less than he is expending.  And he definitely cranks out the miles: 20-25-30/day sometimes over seriously rough ground.

So there’s a case study suggesting that burning 4,000+ calories/day but only eating 2,000 calories a day is doable.  Everything I read by BPL member who do serious miles like Craig Wisner and what I see Manfred do when I’ve hiked with him is towards continuous snacking of about 100 calories / hour versus than 3 large meals a day.

When I’ve gone light on my calories, I tend to graze more on natural foods along the way.  I’m reasonably knowledgable about them and usually find something to pick and nibble on as I hike.  When/where are you going?  20-25 miles / day doesn’t require all the daylight hours, so eating berries, rose hips, inner bark, etc occupies your mind and helps a bit with calories.  Or go full Bear Grylls and eat every bug you find.  If you find yourself out during peak berry season, you could eat more of your prepared food sooner for a lower pack weight and graze more later in the trip.

[Jesse Jakomait]

David,

Thanks for engaging the topic!  You’ve got some good comments in there.

I’m a grazer by nature with a big alpine rock climbing background so I’m used to not having anything resembling a meal until dinner but keeping a small calorie trickle to keep the blood sugar from dipping too low.  But climbing is less work than hiking so there are more unknowns comparing that activity.

I’ll be on the CDT in southern Colorado in one week so the opportunities to supplement from nature will be few and far between.  Plus I’m completely unskilled in that department and would probably be putting myself in more danger eating anything I didn’t pack other than a dropped granola bar on the trail!

My big takeaway is that is sounds like a 2000 calorie deficit is within the realm of reason.  I’m fairly lean to begin with and wouldn’t try this for a month long adventure but I figure with only 5 days on the trail I could get away with it.  I’m a good 5-10 lbs away from when I fully emaciate myself doing other stupid adventures so I should have a healthy buffer.

Tapering my intake is good trick I haven’t thought of.  I automatically eat my least calorie dense food first but I could play with metering down my intake as well.  It might end up a valuable experiment to find out where my breaking point is!

[Jerry Adams]

I have eaten many berries while hiking, but it takes time.  If you want to do lots of miles per day it’s harder to find time to find food to eat.  I sometimes like leisure hikes in Huckleberry season.

[Art …]

having done numerous ultras and multi day wilderness trips, I think this is a pretty individual thing. I know a woman who runs 200 milers and eats almost nothing. I would drop dead on the trail trying this. however, I think speed (pace) is a factor in calorie need. the faster you go the more calories you need to maintain that pace. 20-25 miles a day does not have to be a fast pace if you are willing to have long days. if you are as experienced as your original post implies you should be able to feel and sense what your body needs based on past experience.

[Greg Mihalik]

During the first two or three days of a long hike my body utilizes the “cushion” I came in with and my appetite is low.  I still stoke the fire every couple of hours, but I am not ravenous. Somewhere after day three there is a noticeable shift in appetite. So I plan accordingly.

Days 1,2,and 3 might be 2500 calorie days.  After that 3000 is the goal and fat reserves come into play for the remainder. (For casual 12 hour, 20 mile days, on say the JMT. YMMV)

[Nick Gatel]

On day one you are not going to eat 3 meals on the trail or whatever the calorie equivalent is. On day five the same is true. Even if you finish at night you can get a meal after you get to the trail head. Plan accordingly.

[David Thomas]

Here’s another data point for you:  my doctor ran his first Iditarod in 2000.  He pushed himself, I think believing he had a chance not to win but maybe finish top-20.  Because he was in shape, played a lot of soccer, and a smart guy.  Turns out, having a 200-300 dog breeding program, 5 handlers to mile-up your dogs and 10 Iditarods under your belt also all help a lot, none of which he had.

He had a very respectable run for a first-timer, finishing in 12+ days (which would have won First Place in 1973-1980, 1982, and 1985) and was going almost non-stop the whole time.  The dogs rest half the time, but the musher has to broth dogs, feed dogs, harness dogs, bootie dogs, tend the sled, make and break camp, etc.  He’d run the dogs 3000 miles that season already, running up all the hills (lots of mushers let the dogs pull them up the hills), played a lot of soccer, and you wouldn’t think he had any fat to lose.

He lost 3 belt notches.  He ate non-stop for more than a week when he got back.  He’d packed all the tastiest, highest-calorie stuff he could imagine: pizza, brownies, etc.  He just couldn’t eat enough to keep up with his level of exertion, going for 20 hours a day, every day.  So if he lost >15 pounds in 12 days, that was a calorie deficit of 5,000/day.  Pretty extreme, but he continued to function in that stressful environment, bounced back quickly (he was 36 at the time), and  ran several more Iditarods (now he only mushes recreationally).

[Nick Gatel]

On a 5 day trip I don’t need that much food, beyond 5 or 7 days then insatiable hunger sets in.

[John Vance]

For a five day trip covering largish miles for me- (25-30), I don’t need much, usually in the 1600-2000 kcal range.  My appetite doesn’t really kick in until day seven or eight.  Operating in a calorie deficiency works well for me as long as I keep a moderate pace with my heart rate at or below 60% of my threshold.  This is determined by subtracting your age from 220 and multiplying by 0.6.  Everyone is a bit different obviously, but at this rate you are able to efficiently convert stored fat to energy and not have blood sugar levels deplete leaving you “Bonked” or “hitting the wall”.  Obviously big climbs are going to take you over that and I will eat something before a significant climb, say a gain of 1,000 feet or so.  I am a big fan of bars both on the trail and at home, which makes it easy to eat and monitor calorie intake.

For my typical ten day trips I consume 1800 kcals/day and come home five to ten pounds lighter and don’t feel deprived, well except for ice cream and pizza, which I start thinking about by day six or seven.😄  Surprisingly, I don’t indulge very often and usually just pick up a POWERADE and finish off what is in the food bag on the ride home.

 

[John E]

Jesse,

I just got back from an 8 day high route in the Winds with an effort level equivalent to what you are describing.  For reference, I am 6′ 155lbs with a low body fat percentage and above average metabolism.  I was able to comfortably go all 8 days with 2400 calories per day.  My calorie density was 130 cals/oz.  There were times when I would occasionally have 200 calories leftover after a hard day’s hike.  I wouldn’t hesitate to drop it to 2200 calories per day for a 5 day hike based on my experience.

[Jesse Jakomait]

I did a test this weekend and took 3900 cals for a 50 hour peak bagging trip in the Gore range and did well.  I could have eaten more but knew I had to ration my intake to not run out of food before the end, or in my case, within an hour of the end ;) .  Hunger was only mild and energy stayed high the whole trip.  I doubt I could sustain that for more than a day or two longer though so I’m leaning towards packing 2200 cals per day for my 5 day trip.  I’m 5’10” 150 lbs with an athletic build so hearing John’s Wind River Range trip makes me sound like I’m on the right path since he’s a bit bigger than me.  But even with that, it will keep me at 1 lb of food per day.

[Jesse Jakomait]

Experiment complete!  I was out for 4.5 days with 2100 calories per day and 1400 for the final day that wrapped up at 1pm, covering 99 miles with 22K ft vert.  I started at 153 lbs and finished at 146 lbs after spending 20 bucks at a BBQ restaurant.  For the future I’ll be keeping close to that but bump up just a little to 2400 cals per day.

Overall it worked out well, hunger was never overwhelming and I was able to keep cruising at my partners pace who went the opposite strategy and was inhaling 4000 cals per day.  His food bag was enormous and I was actually amazed he could eat it all, especially since he’s the same size as me.  But we both made the journey and my body was happy to have such a light pack, especially when we started.

[James Marco]

Jesse, Yup. I just got back from a two week outing with 1.1pound of food per day. Lost about 1/2pound per day. Yup, I ate whatever I could get my mits on when I got back.

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