Francis Tapon the summit of Mount Aneto Photo by Francis Tapon

Guest post by: Francis Tapon
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Ultralight backpackers love to have endless and tedious discussions about how to shave off an ounce here and a gram there. They’ll blow an extra $50 just to get the pants that weigh a few feathers less than another pair of pants. These idiots are so obsessed with their pack-weight that they forget the whole point of backpacking: enjoying the wilderness.

I can describe ultralight backpackers accurately, because, sadly, I am one.

Indeed, I’m cursed with this ridiculous compulsion to chop every useless gram off my gear list. My talent for doing this made lightweight backpackers more interested in my Continental Divide Trail gear list than in the excitement of being the first person to yo-yo the CDT.

As a result, some backpackers ask me to examine their gear list and advise them on how to reduce their overall weight. However, before doing that, I ask them to send me a full body photo of themselves. Why?

Because there is one secret to lightweight backpacking that we avid lightweight backpackers never talk about: our own weight reduction!

Many books on backpacking allude to the importance of being in shape. However, given the amount of pages they devote on reducing pack weight, I wonder if it would be wiser to spend a few more pages talking about the importance of losing body fat.

There are three reasons why losing a kilo of body fat is not as effective (hiking-wise) as a kilo of pack weight:

1. Your body has become accustomed to carrying its weight around
2. The extra weight is held tight to the body (vs. hanging over on the side)
3. Our body fat is distributed throughout our body.

A backpack, on the other hand, is a foreign object that hangs off of us. The closer a weight is to our body, the easier it is to carry around. Since body fat is in our body, nothing could be easier to carry. Your one-kilo sneakers strapped on your backpack are more stressful to carry than one-kilo of body fat in your waist.

However, how often have you seen this: the hiker who is 30 pounds overweight obsessing about shaving off an ounce from his toothbrush or using titanium stakes?

I feel rude pointing out that he would do better shaving off 10 pounds from his tummy!

Obesity is common in my family, but I’ve always been active and thin. To make up for my lack of personal knowledge, I’ve asked many backpackers who have lost weight to describe how the weight loss impacted their backpacking experiences.

The vast majority said that backpacking was much easier once they lost weight. However, some thought that compared to other forms of exercise backpacking isn’t particularly conducive to losing weight. Still, we do it not just for physical reasons, but also for mental and spiritual reasons too.

I may be an expert on packing ridiculously light, but I’d love to hear from those of you who have experienced the difference between backpacking with a gut and without a gut.

In conclusion, if you must obsess with losing weight, focus on your body before your backpack. Your body will thank you and you’ll enjoy more years of trekking through the wilderness.

Francis Tapon is the author of Hike Your Own Hike: 7 Life Lessons from Backpacking Across America. He has walked across America four times and visited over 80 countries. He was the first guy to yo-yo the Continental Divide Trail. Francis also thru-hiked the Pacific Crest Trail and Appalachian Trail southbound.

Photo by: Darren Lone Fight

Guest post by Darren Lone Fight
Want to be a guest poster on HuskyHiker.com?  E-mail me

Day Hiking, Multi-Day Hiking, and Weight

Getting outside and enjoying the outdoors is a great way to maintain and increase fitness levels, burn calories, and has the potential to be a very enjoyable hobby. Nevertheless, the enjoyment can be quickly lost when you’re lugging a pack, pouring sweat, and trying to remember why it is you’re on a trail in the first place. Lowering pack weight, then, becomes a very important component to maximizing your enjoyment of the outdoors and create a positive, healthy experience that you’ll want to repeat in the future. Hiking with a backpack falls very generally into two categories: day hiking and multi-day hiking.

Day hikers don’t need to carry such items as a tent or a sleeping bag, but the pack itself and whatever other supplies that are brought along with the hiker might weigh anywhere from 2-10+ pounds. While this weight is not negligible, it is nevertheless a significantly lighter weight than the average multi-day pack. This article will focus primarily on reducing weight in the larger packs of a multi-day hiker, but most of the general points made here can apply to a lesser degree to the day hiker as well.

For a multi-day hike, one has to carry many supplies for daily use. I’ll be speaking here of a weekend trip, since this is the kind of backpacking trip most of us are able to fit into our schedule (not to exclude the bearded and smelly Appalachian Trail thru-hikers and other multi-week and multi-month hikers). This means a half-day Friday, Saturday, and half-day Sunday (or roughly two full days of supplies). A Base-pack weight for a multi-day hike of this nature includes the “Big Three” of backpacking: the pack itself, sleeping system (sleeping pad/bag), and shelter system (tent, tarp, etc.).

The (Other) Things We Carry

On top of this base-pack, a backpacker will often carry: a first-aid kit, food, water, a compass, whistle, GPS, knife, cooking system, map, clothes, water purification system, light (headlamp/flashlight/lanterns), camera/electronics, etc., etc. Obviously this list grows quite long very quickly, and it is not uncommon to see multi-day pack weigh 30 pounds or more, even for such a short trip. The “best” equipment in each of these categories is fiercely debated, but this post will take simplicity and utility as a guiding principle to organize and revise how we plan for a multi-day hike. In this scenario, we’re looking for our pack to be 20 pounds or less fully packed including food (excluding water). 20 pounds is the ceiling, but 10-15 pounds should be readily attainable. This process of winnowing pack and equipment weight in order to decrease overall weight and increase enjoyment is known as lightweight backpacking or ultra-light backpacking depending on how “ultra” you get about cutting weight: If you’re counting half-ounces when weighing your individual pieces of equipment and sawing the bottom half off of your toothbrush to save weight, it’s safe to say you’re “ultra.”

Perhaps the most common mistake made by hikers who are preparing for a short -weekend trip in the middle of summer is that they pack like they’re going on a two-week trek in the middle of winter. Bring only what you need and prepare for what you can reasonably expect! I’ve seen a fellow backpacker, bent at the waist and red-faced, hauling enough equipment, food, and water to feed and shelter himself and everyone in our crew for at least a week! He had an enormous tent, food for miles, and he was paying for it with every trembling, labored step he took on the trail.

The relationship between food and packing can actually make hiking even more useful for weight-loss; it’s good exercise, yes, but it can also teach us important lessons about portion sizing and the relationship between calories and exercise. Before a trip, you’ll need to determine the amount of miles that will be hiked and calculate the food necessary for the trip. If you’re going to cover five miles a day (10mi.), depending on weight, one would burn at least 4,000 calories a day in hiking alone (not including basal metabolism). This means the amount of food one would need to bring to replace every calorie would easily be close to 7,000! To calculate for weight loss, one would adjust the replacement calories down from these totals, and when you’ve got to pack each of those calories into a backpack and wear it on your back, you will begin to get a better sense of how much food that really is and make decisions on what and how much to bring accordingly! Even more, when you’ve got to be sure to portion your foods out correctly because you can’t run to the grocery store if you eat it too quickly, you’ll begin to necessarily harden your resolve about portioning.

While monitoring and portioning food may sound like a less-than-fun part of hiking, I’ve found that when out hiking trails, food becomes less of a central concern and more of a functional activity: we eat because we need fuel to keep walking and enjoying our hike. This doesn’t mean that good, warm, and healthy food shouldn’t be enjoyed on the trail, but that hiking holds entertaining or interesting wildlife, incredible vistas, and other beautiful flora and fauna that you’ll (hopefully) be too excited about what’s around the next bend to be too worried about food other than to refuel the tank!

Dropping Weight and the Lightweight Pack

So, aside from the more psychological components of food portioning and its relationship to physical activity, calorie burn, etc., there is the basic equipment list of a lightweight pack that will allow you to spend more time enjoying your hike and less time wishing your back and shoulders weren’t screaming at you. Examine the following suggestions as you take a look at your own pack and see where you might be able to make cuts. I have provided some links to places where you can buy ultralight or lightweight gear, but don’t feel as though this is an activity that you should “buy” your way into: paring down backpack weight in order to have a more enjoyable outdoor experience is about finding ways to do more with less. Sometimes this can best be attained by purchasing something, but very often what is needed is some DIY trimming, sewing, or construction or an honest appraisal of what is really needed in the backcountry.

The Big Three—This is the place to find the biggest/easiest weight savings. Right now, I’m using an old Swiss Gear backpack that I had for school. It had a waist strap, so I hand-stitched more straps to lash a sleeping bag, tent, etc. to the pack, and I use this for most of my weekend multi-day hikes. It weighs in fully packed with tent, pad, bag, food, etc. (minus water) at about 15 pounds. My wife uses a canvas, no-frame pack we found at a garage sale for $2 (it does have a waist/chest strap). Her whole pack weighs about 11 pounds, and the knee pain she used to suffer from lugging a 30+ pound pack around has gone away. Whatever you get, make it light and comfortable. Gossamer Gear (http://www.gossamergear.com/) makes a wide selection of very light gear, including packs, bags, and tents. Most major pack brands (Osprey, Gregory, etc.) all have ultra-light and lightweight models as well that you should look into for your next pack purchase. Ideally you’d like a pack that weighs in at under two pounds. Nevertheless, go with what you’re familiar with and what is most comfortable, just be sure you pay special attention to weight.

A sleeping bag can be replaced by a good, lightweight quilt (you really only use the insulation on the top part of the sleeping bag anyway when you sleep on a pad). I still use a bag, but I have cut out the stuffing on the bottom side of my sleeping bag and sewn back up the cells. This allows my sleeping bag to pack down to a very small and light size. Finally, I use an old, A-frame, single-wall tent which, with poles and stakes, weighs less than 3 pounds. This sleeps me and my wife (and very little else) and is basically a glorified bivy. Speaking of Bivy’s, they’re actually a good option for a tent as well. All-in-one hammocks, such as the Hennessy Hammock (http://hennessyhammock.com/), are a good third-way option (tent/bag/pad all in one!).

The Other Stuff— Look into getting an alcohol stove (http://zenstoves.net/Stoves.htm) and using it as your primary cooking system. Keep your food simple: lots of gorp/jerky/trail-food, couscous, freeze-dried foods, and other add-boiling-water foods. Be prepared to purify and treat water rather than attempt to haul 2-3 gallons (this will add 25 pounds to your weight alone). For purification I would suggest a combination of the AquaMira Frontier Pro (http://www.aquamira.com/) and a chemical treatment, either iodine or chlorine dioxide (I prefer the latter). Bring one LED headlamp for light. It will be more than enough (you should be sleeping at night anyway!). Lightweight multi-compass/ruler/etc.. Skip the non-essential electronics. Use only a closed-cell, ¾-length sleeping pad rather than an inflatable system. One small pot, one large mug-bowl, and one spoon. Buy a small, waterproof first-aid kit appropriate for your trips. Use light-weight and small containers (I like Platypus Bottles: http://www.cascadedesigns.com/platypus) to hold your water.

These suggestions certainly aren’t all-encompassing, but they should get you started towards a lighter weight pack and a better experience on the trails.

Finally, Philosophy.

Backpacking provides an enjoyable and healthy pastime for people who enjoy the outdoors, and is made all the more enjoyable the less weight we have to carry around. More than this, the process of stripping weight down is done most effectively by looking to get rid of extraneous or unnecessary items and by maximizing the utility of our equipment. In the first move, we must examine our own mental categories of “necessity” and “luxury.” It can be difficult to let go of the three-room tent and blow-up air mattress, but remember that the glory of the trail is found on the trail; when you’re attempting to be out in nature and enjoy a good long hike, it’s important to remember that we’re there to enjoy the raw natural beauty of the environment and not attempt to import the necessities of our daily lives (obviously in the “real world” my pillow-top bed is a necessity. It simply is.) into the great outdoors. Necessities have to shift when we’re on the trail. What is a necessity at home (refrigerator, toilet, infinite water, etc.) can be impossible in the backcountry. This shift will help you trim down and simplify your backpacking experience, but it will also heighten your appreciation of your daily-life luxuries when you get back from a hike. No hot shower and short nap in a comfy bed has ever felt better than after a multi-day hike.

The second philosophy of utility is about finding ways to get the most out of equipment. I know hikers that use only a tarp for a tent system, which also doubles as a poncho in a pinch. We don’t have to be quite as radical as that: using a spoon for most all utensil needs instead of bringing a full compliment is one example of this sort of utility; using a stuff-sack with your clothes in it as a pillow instead of bringing a separate pillow is another: these little tricks are simply ways of getting more out of less equipment by removing redundancy where you may not have realized it was present. Such small tweaks often help save significant space and/or weight by allowing for items to be used for multiple purposes. Small changes in how we perceive the functionality of our gear can lead to large savings in both weight and space, and the smartest cuts/utility uses/modifications of your gear will come from your own examination and reflection on the role your gear plays in your backpacking excursions. Look for redundancies in your gear that can be remedied with increasing the scope or role of another piece of similar (or modified) gear.

Finally, this is really all about locating an aesthetic which treasures non-excess, simplicity, and utility. This often flies in the face of how we live our daily lives, and yet there are important lessons to be learned from this outdoors paradigm. These reorientations run through the heart of the lightweight and ultra-lightweight backpacking philosophies, and they can also inform weight-loss strategy as well. As I’ve mentioned previously, the relationship such backpacking creates between a hiker, his body, his “fuel,” and his activity is invaluable in creating an awareness of the interdependence at the heart of any endeavor to lose weight, and is a necessary awareness to truly begin to manage calorie intake and exercise/physical activity in a meaningful manner. When you can translate a bag of chips into the several miles/hours of hiking it contains in energy in a meaningful sense, you’ll hopefully begin to have a better sense of the relationship between energy/calories and what, say, 1,000 calories translates to in real, physical terms.

Ultimately, weight loss works best when it comes while doing something you enjoy. I hope that some of these tips and ideas help make your next hiking trip more about enjoying your beautiful surroundings and less about enduring the physical pain of an unnecessarily large and/or heavy pack. Stripping your gear and pack down to the essentials and focusing on the enjoyment of the experience itself will help you not only enjoy your hike, but enjoy the pounds you’ve shed off your body because of the pounds you’ve shed off your pack!

Darren is a Youth Conservation Corps supervisor for the Trustees of Reservations (http://www.thetrustees.org/), a PhD student in the humanities at UMass, and a free-lance writer and reporter. He hikes primarily in Western Massachusetts and Southern Vermont and is preparing for a hike across the state of Massachusetts (north-south) at the end of the summer. He can be reached at: darrenlonefight@gmail.com Please put “Huskyhiker.com” in the subject line.

Goal Summery  for week 42:

I almost met all my goals, I didn’t get a chance to go for a hike…  I did track my Weight Watchers Points 4 days last week and rode my bike to work 3 days, and one day after work Miss HuskyHiker met me and we rode the bike trail about 12 or so miles.  So I think I did ok this week…

Goals for Week 43:

Ride my bike to work twice (I have a 4 day weekend)

Day 1
Day 2

Hike one time

Kayak one time

Go to the casino and come home with more money than I leave home with. wohoo!

Week 40
Start Weight: 298 lbs
Current Weight: 294.8 lbs
Weeks Change: +4.4 lbs
Last Weight: 290.4 lbs
Total Change: -3.2 lbs

Week 41
Start Weight: 298 lbs
Current Weight: 293.4 lbs
Weeks Change: -1.4 lbs
Last Weight: 294.8 lbs
Total Change: -4.6 lbs

Goals for week 42:

Track my points for at least 3 FULL days
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3

Hike one time this week

Ride my bike to work 2 days
Day 1
Day 2

A Merry Life – http://amerrylife.com/
Mary’s history sounded a lot like mine, she too last weight after high school only to gain it back later in life.  Her blog focuses on weight loss, nutrition, fitness, and other health related topics, usually with a positive spin…

Andrew is Getting Fit – http://www.andrewisgettingfit.com
Andrew is on a journey to get fit, he has lost 97lbs so far. He did the Couch 2-5K program and has ran a 5, 10K race and a half marathon. Andrew should be an inspiration to all of us…

Fat Girl To Fit Girl – http://fatgirltofitgirl.wordpress.com
When Diane turned 49 she wanted to trade in her sedentary lifestyle for an active one. She is on Weight Watchers and doing great having lost 61lbs. she also has completed a duathlon & triathlon.

Fat Lazy Guy – http://thefatlazyguyslog.blogspot.com
The Fat Lazy Guy is from New Zealand, He is making great progress to meeting all his goals. He has lost 216.7 lbs to date (that is not a typo!) All I can say is WOW!

The Token Fat Girl - http://www.myallnaturalweightloss.com
Lorrie was 320lbs at her highest weight, she is doing her own thing, combining things she liked from the diffrent programs she has tried… Will that work? Seems like it is, she is doing great!

Losing a Hundredweight – http://losingcwt.blogspot.com/
“When I was a teenager I used to fantasize about having my own pair of breasts to play with. Now, as an overweight, middle-aged man, I seem to have them – and it’s not as much fun as I thought it would be.” – Kim Ayres.  Kim has lost 81lbs after realizing in a “midlife crisis” what he had been doing for the last 25 years…

Week 39
Start Weight: 298 lbs
Current Weight: 290.4 lbs
Weeks Change: -1.5 lbs
Last Weight: 292 lbs
Total Change: -7.6 lbs

Week 38
Start Weight: 298 lbs
Current Weight: 292 lbs
Weeks Change: -.2 lbs
Last Weight: 292.2 lbs
Total Change: -6.0 lbs

Its easy to overindulge when camping. S’mores are just so delicious and hamburgers and hot dogs are so much fun to cook over the open fire. Here are some ideas for healthier camping food options…

The easiest thing to do is take a look and see if you can find lower calorie versions of the food you would normally take.  Replace fatty cuts of meat with leaner cuts, hamburgers with turkey burgers, find lower fat hot dogs, baked potato chips or pretzels rather than greasy chips. Beef jerky is a great healthy camping food most are 97% fat free.  Don’t forget your veggies too, many are very very tasty cooked over the open fire.

• Corn on the Cob – Peal back the husk and remove the hairs replace the husk and soak in cool water for 20-30 minutes, grill till tender over hot coals
• Zucchini and Summer Squash – Cut in half or quarters brush with olive oil lightly salt and pepper and grill over hot coals till tender
• Sweet Potatoes – Cook just like you would with white potatoes, wrap in foil and toss directly on hot coals.  (note: do not stab foil wrapped potatoes with a fork to check tenderness or to remove from fire. doing so embeds tiny bits of foil into the potato.)

Another great way to cook on the camp fire is “foil packet cooking”.  Almost anything you roast you can cook in a foil packet “beets and sweets” would make a great foil packet meal… All you have to do is lay out a large piece of foil and place the ingredients into the center of the foil. Fold into a packet of some sort (wrap it so you have a few layers of foil on each side). Place just over hot coals turning a few times for even cooking.  Time needed will depend of what you are cooking.

Just remember when you are camping you are more active than normal so it’s ok to enjoy a few s’mores!

Please share your favorite healthy recipes in the comments!!!

Start Weight: 298 lbs
Current Weight: 298.6 lbs
Weeks Change: +2 lbs
Last Weight: 296.6 lbs
Total Change: +1 lbs

Week 35

Start Weight: 298 lbs
Current Weight: 292.8 lbs
Weeks Change: -5.8 lbs
Last Weight: 298.6 lbs
Total Change: -5.2 lbs

This time around I am going to the meetings, I find them cheesy but Miss HuskyHiker enjoies them and we are on this adventure together so I am going for her…  I have lost 6.4lbs so far and Miss HuskyHiker is not far behind.

Weight Watchers is a way of calorie counting that gives food a “point” value based on calories, fat, and fiber.  You get les points as you loose weight and you can earn extra points if you exercise.  They keep saying at the meetings that it is not a diet, just a training program to get you eating right.  I guess that is true and a good way to look at it…   So Weigh-in Wednesdays will be back with a vengeance…

Week 32

Start Weight: 298 lbs
Current Weight: 297.4
Last Weight: 299.6
Total Change: -0.6

Start weight – 298lbs
Current weight – 291lbs
Last weight – 291.5lbs
Weight change – .5lbs
Total lost – 7lbs

Start weight – 298lbs
Current weight – 291.5lbs
Last weight – 291lbs
Weight change – +.5lbs
Total lost – 6.5lbs

I am setting some goals for 2009:

1. I want to be at or under 200lbs for 2010
2. I want to be able to run a 10k on new years day 2010

So 80 lbs in 52 weeks, I think that is doable.  If I follow the couch to 5k program I think a 10k is fairly doable… only time will tell.

Weigh In

Start weight – 298lbs
Current weight – 279.5lbs
Last weight – 271.5lbs
Lost this week – +8lbs
Total lost – 18.5lbs

Start weight – 298lbs
Current weight – 271.5lbs
Last weight – 271lbs
Lost this week – +.5lbs
Total lost – 26.5lbs

After Christmas vacation I am going to sign up at the gym and limit my work week to under 50 hours so I can have time to go. I would just go sign up now but with work being crazy till the end of the year and the Florida trip coming up I just would not go…

Start weight – 298lbs
Current weight – 271lbs
Last weight – 271lbs
Lost this week – 00lbs
Total lost – 27lbs

-Women: BMR = 655 + ( 4.35 x weight in pounds ) + ( 4.7 x height in inches ) – ( 4.7 x age)
-Men: BMR = 66 + ( 6.23 x weight in pounds ) + ( 12.7 x height in inches ) – ( 6.8 x age)

or you can take the easy way out and use www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/

that gives you an estimate of calories burned per day at rest.  Next multiply by your activity factor from the list below.

Activity Factor     -     Category     -     Definition

1.2                          Sedentary                  Little or no exercise and desk job
1.375                      Lightly Active           Light exercise or sports 1-3 days a week
1.55                        Moderately Active     Moderate exercise or sports 3-5 days a week
1.725                      Very Active               Hard exercise or sports 6-7 days a week4
1.9                          Extremely Active     Hard daily exercise or sports and physical job

This gives you a rough estimate of your caloric needs for a day.    Multiply this by 7 this gives you your caloric needs for a week.  If you want to lose 1 pound a week reduce this number by 3500 or increase exercise to burn 3500 calories a week or a combination of eating less exercising more (eat 1500 calories a week less needs and burn 2000 calories a week through exercise). The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends that calorie levels never drop below 1200 calories per day for women or 1800 calories per day for men.

So lets use me as an example…    I am 5’10″ tall, weight about 280lbs and I am 28 years old.

66 + ( 6.23 x 280 ) + ( 12.7 x 70 ) – ( 6.8 x 28 ) = 2509    – My BMR is 2509, I am lightly active so 2509 x 1.375 = 3450  calories a day

3450 x 7 = 24150 calories a week

At my weight I burn about 500 calories an hour hiking, so if I hike 4 hours a week and eat 3236 calories a day I will lose about a pound a week.   A 200 lb male burns 420 calories an hour hiking.   So get out and hike!