My Shake-Down Backpacking Trip Nutrition Plan
I’m getting ready for my shake-down overnighter this weekend.
I’m excited and ready to go. Along with new gear, I am interested in seeing how I can plan for my nutrition needs and how the planned nutrition works out.
For success, gear, nutrition, and fitness need to come together.
My backpacking Success Triangle. Only when all three work will the trip be successful. They don’t need to be completely dialed in just functioning.
Every successful backpacking trip relies on what I call the Success Triangle:
Gear
Fitness Nutrition
Getting enough nutrition and calories on the trail is key to a great hike. So here is how I planned my food for my shake-down hike; what nutrition I’m bringing on my first backpacking trip in over twenty years. Hey, this is mostly art vs. science, but it gets you close and gives you a base to continually dial in your nutrition needs.
Estimate how many calories I usually burn through the day
Get your BMR
Your daily calorie burn before any exercise is known as basal Metabolic rate (BMR). There are various calculators out there; I use the active.com calculator. https://www.active.com/fitness/calculators/bmr
Based on my age, gender, height, and weight, I get my BMR in calories. Mine is about 1,850. Okay, that’s my base.
How many calories am I going to burn on the trail?
I use the Garmin Forerunner 945 and log all my workouts on Trainingpeaks.com.
I went back and looked at my training hikes and saw what calories I burned. Using my training hikes with my loaded pack gave me a few data points. These are just data points to extrapolate but gave me a sense of how many calories I burn per mile. Elevation gains/ losses, length, etc., will impact the actual calories burned.
After adjusting for the assumed 8 – 10 miles a day on this 2-day one-night hike, I estimated I would burn about 1,400 calories hiking.
This gets me around 3,300 – 3,400 calories needed to maintain my current weight.
My goal is 3,000 to 3,20, given it is just a two-day – 1-night trip.
That is my goal – now on to the spreadsheet.
I am not too concerned about the total calorie or a deficit as it is only two days. However, this will be a good test to understand what I can eat on the trail and how I feel based on the length of the daily hike (probably 3 – 5 hours on trail).
First, I know I will have breakfast Saturday morning before I get on the trail and will finish before dinner on Sunday. So I’m looking at Saturday – Lunch, Dinner, and snacks and then Sunday – Breakfast, Lunch, and snacks.
I start with breakfast, lunch, and dinner and drop in each calorie and protein amount.
We will probably stop for a quick-service breakfast for breakfast, which should get me 500- 800 calories before I hit the trail. Also, I will have three coffees.
I am taking a Mountain House freeze-dried meal of 600 calories with 38 grams of protein for dinner. I am packing a sandwich with Peanut Butter and Jelly for lunch – about calories and 14 grams of protein. For Snacks, I’m taking homemade trail mix (mixed nuts, dried fruit, yogurt-covered raisins, and yogurt-covered pretzels 405 calories per serving. Payday bars – 1 will be a quick pick me up. Amanita bars - 200 calories and seven protein or 230 and 15g.
Breakfast is the backpacking standard – instant oatmeal – two servings with mixed nuts and dried fruit: 650 Calories and 20 grams of protein.
Snacks are the homemade trail mix and Payday bar.
For lunch, on Sunday, if we are still on the trail, I have some freeze-dried Granola that only requires cold water rehydration and gives me 560 calories and 13 grams of protein.
This gives me the plan. Like any plan, I will evaluate how I feel during the hike and adjust my calorie intake accordingly. Like I said the nutrition along with hydration is part of the Success Triangle.
Just as important as the plan are the actuals. After the hike each day, how did I feel? Did you feel hungry? Was I dehydrated and not hungry? Was it too much food? Did I have the energy to complete the hike feeling good? The elevation is more significant on the hike than my training hikes, so that will play a part. What were my actual calories burned? Feed that back into my next planned hike and iterate. Again, it is about progressing and improvement, not perfection.
The real benefit of this approach is to understand how my planning lined up with how I felt and performed. This will be much more important on next year’s multi-day hike.
Understanding my nutrition is one of the reasons I wanted to do a shake-down hike. Gear, nutrition, and endurance are the three keys that need to be dialed in.
Post Trip Note – I ended up burning 3,216 on Saturday and 2,918 on Sunday’s hike.
Getting enough nutrition and calories on the trail is key to a great hike.Here is how I decided on what nutrition to bring on my first backpacking trip on over twenty years