Long distance thru-hikers talk about hiker hunger – a state in which all you do is think about food and are constantly hungry. Hikers experiencing hiker hunger will eat large quantities of anything to satisfy the hunger.
An example: One of the SOBOs that I met, ate 2 Mountain House freeze-dried meals for dinner – one of the meals was 3 servings and the other was 2 servings.
However, in the early days of thru-hiking, appetite is blunted by the level of exercise. I haven’t seen any research about this topic. This period of anorexia lasts for different lengths of time for different people. Anecdotally, it appears that individuals with less body fat start to experience hiker hunger more quickly than those with more.
As someone with more adipose tissue at the start of this endeavour, Three weeks into this hike, I am still struggling with anorexia. I have to make an effort to eat and get my calories in to support the level of exercise. It is easier to consume more calories when I am in town. However, it is easier to control my BG on the trail. I have noticed that I tend to struggle with energy late in the day which is likely due to not consuming enough calories.
I haven’t been on a scale to check weight loss, but my clothes are certainly looser than when I started.
Welcome to My AT Adventure 
Ann, we have gone to remote teaching, and staff can also work from home. Keep sending me your lat-long positions though: I have an AT map at home and can log them (without nice arrows, alas) and photograph/post the map from time to time.
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