The Calorie Gambit

One of the perplexing little tid-bits, we have discovered on some of our other hikes, is that we usually burn more calories that either of us can carry or consume on the trail.  Bottom line, we lose weight. 

Those of you who know us, realize that this is a potentially hazardous scenario.  I weigh in at a whopping 135lbs soaking wet.  When I completed the John Muir Trail in 2000, I walked into the nearest diner in Lone Pine weighing 127lbs.

Walking burns calories.  Walking with a back pack...up and down hills, burns more.  Carrying the food to replace those calories...more still.  At some point the returns diminish, and, well, you get the picture.

I looked up a quick calculator on a web site called Nutrition Data

Walking our dog, Hobbs for 30 minutes, I would burn about 2600 calories

Jogging for that same 30 minutes, I would burn about 2800. 

Hiking the PCT, which adds up to about 500 minutes per day of hiking...about 7000. 

The formula  essentially comes down to how many calories & vitamins and how much protein can we carry with as little weight as possible.  I made a chart.  I wanted to be able to compare calorie and protein counts between many varying items, and then be able to attach a weight to them. The last two columns show Calories & Protein / ounce of weight for some common snack foods we plan on using to replace all those calories.