Having a serious food problem on the trail...

[SWriverstone]

I've found a breakfast higher in fat and protein will keep me full for hours (for example, 2 scrambled eggs and some kind of meat in a tortilla eaten on the way to the TH), whereas with something like oatmeal (even with added peanut butter or nuts), I need a snack an hour or two later.

Reading this makes me think that maybe I should aim to eat a huge breakfast closer to when I start hiking? I tend to tank up (with breakfast) a couple hours before I actually start hiking on dayhikes where I have to drive an hour or two to get to the trailhead. I've always assumed that even though I'm digesting breakfast for a couple hours, the energy will still be there...but maybe I should try tanking up, let out a big belch, and start hiking! LOL

Scott

[5th]

I do both. I eat breakfast before I leave, but it's 1.5 - 2 hrs to the trailhead from there. So I buy two egg mcmuffins with sausage on the way, eat one in the last half hour of the drive, then eat the other cold when I get hungry again. I call it third breakfast or elevensies.

[Schrauf]

Although some loss of appetite during exercise is common for some people, it seems extreme in your case. You might try meal replacement drinks such as Ensure, Soylent or Perpetua. Even if you don't like them, it's easier to drink than eat when there is no appetite, and at least you'll be able to finish the hike with some energy.

Not good for backpacking due to weight, except for the ones that come in powder form and you just add water.

[Webfoot]

I thought you were jesting with "Soylent" but apparently that's actually a thing now! A strange sense of humor.

[aiwetir]

If this is a recent issue, you could have your blood sugar looked at. All of my 13 aunts and uncles have Type 2. I get to look forward to that someday probably.

Before you take anyone's advice here I'd get that looked at.

I was once 70 lbs more than I weigh now and I believe I had a good amount of insulin resistance. I couldn't exercise without having to eat about every hour. Now I forget to eat for hours at a time both during regular sedentary life and during long hikes/bike rides.

Your muscles and liver should hold about 2000 calories of glycogen. You can wake up totally bonked if your intake isn't sufficient. You don't just burn glycogen when you exercise though, so you should likely be good for about 6 hours without "needing" food (not usually the case though, we usually get hungry). I definitely lose appetite during long sessions and for about 24 hours afterwards.

Bonking or hunger knock usually comes when you run out of glycogen and have to transition to burning more fat. For many people this can be a very rough transition which can lead to extreme loss of energy, motivation, and body warmth, a desire to cry or get inappropriately emotional, etc.

I believe you can train for this transition to be smoother by doing fasted exercise, but this is not something I've looked into as I think I kinda do it a couple times a week anyway without trying. Again I wouldn't try this without consulting your doctor.


As far as food. I learned long ago to forgo the healthy food for food that I'll eat (anything goes for me when hiking). If it's healthy great, but it's better in my belly than in the compost when I get home because it tasted like sawdust.

[retired jerry]

"I thought you were jesting with "Soylent" but apparently that's actually a thing now! A strange sense of humor."

It's people!!!!

Laughing Planet has a menu item that plays on this too, interesting that food people would name products playing on this

[SWriverstone]

If this is a recent issue, you could have your blood sugar looked at. All of my 13 aunts and uncles have Type 2. I get to look forward to that someday probably.

Before you take anyone's advice here I'd get that looked at.

This is good advice—I'm due for an annual physical and full blood workup.

I don't really suffer from bonking, and I don't even really get hungry. I'm definitely a "breakfast junkie" in that every day (no matter what I'm doing) I *must* eat something when I wakeup (like within 30 minutes of waking up) or get REALLY cranky. But coffee (no sugar) and a bagel or a cup of yogurt usually works fine.

Still, I certainly don't presume I'm immune to diabetes—I've definitely consumed a fair amount of processed foods and sugar in my life (not excessive amounts, but just the "normal" amount that people who aren't vegan and who didn't adopt an all-organic, whole foods/healthy diet until late in life might consume).

I guess mostly what I notice is that I want to be able to maintain HIGH energy levels from the beginning of a long, steep hike all the way to the end—so like staying hydrated, I just want to find something to eat that's reasonably healthy, high in calories, and that goes down super-fast 'n easy (so I can just keep the food intake going throughout a hike).

It's entirely possible though that any lagging energy levels I feel are more because I'm just not yet conditioned to doing longer hikes (10 miles or more). I tend to do lots of 3-4 mile hikes throughout the week and don't do longer ones more than once or twice a month. So I think when my body passes the 4-mile mark, it starts rebelling and saying "WTF? We're supposed to be stopping now!" LOL

Scott

[BigBear]

Big breakfast versus a light breakfast. Here's the challenge: Mount Defiance.

Test 1: Eat a stack of pancakes before you leave for your hike and see how far you can get before needing to recharge. Belching beforehand (as mentioned in the 1st post) is optional.

Test 2: After you have recovered (perhaps the next day for some OregonHiker animals), have a bowl of Captain Crunch and see how far you can get.

I think this challenge will answer the question on how much an individual requires before a big hike.

[kepPNW]

I don't really suffer from bonking, and I don't even really get hungry. I'm definitely a "breakfast junkie" in that every day (no matter what I'm doing) I *must* eat something when I wakeup (like within 30 minutes of waking up) or get REALLY cranky. But coffee (no sugar) and a bagel or a cup of yogurt usually works fine.

Coffee, granola and raisins kinda guy here, every morning. Except hiking days... Then I try to fit a banana or two in too, for the potassium, usually along with a "less healthy" chunky-chocolate granola.

I drink the Gatorade on the way to the hike now, rather than during or after. I tell ya, when I really started paying (admittedly, just a little) attention to pre-hike carbs and electrolytes, things changed a lot.

[aiwetir]

I guess mostly what I notice is that I want to be able to maintain HIGH energy levels from the beginning of a long, steep hike all the way to the end—so like staying hydrated, I just want to find something to eat that's reasonably healthy, high in calories, and that goes down super-fast 'n easy (so I can just keep the food intake going throughout a hike).

I don't bonk anymore either, I just get slower and slower and things get gradually harder. The bonk is just a harsh transition off glycogen and it doesn't happen much to me anymore (not in decades). The most I bonk now is that I get slow and very slightly dizzy/delirious. Food fixes this.

If you want to test it, get some gel packs and down 1 or 2 of those when you start to feel a little tired and if it helps, you know it's not all your fitness. Confidence goes a long way too. You can do long hikes at a fast pace, I'm sure of it.

Now to change the subject a bit. I have a few friends who have heart arrhythmias that they didn't know about, made them fatigued, one guy just thought it was his asthma, so don't forget that part of the checkup.