On a weekend trip of 2-4 days losing a few pounds might fine a goal even.
For a one month trip nutrition becomes a big issue. In order to maintain body weight and energy levels, it takes some serious calories. This is especially true in colder weather. You need calorie dense food.
Reading some canoe journals is really interesting. People that live in the bush can have 50 miles days or more on rivers. Verlen Kruger and Clint Waddell talked about some 75 mile and even 100 miles day on long summer days in the Arctic. Whenever they felt tired they stopped and made some pancakes with Canadian maple syrup. It perked them up and they got back on the river.
It takes about a week in the bush to really hone one’s appetite. It used to happen to me working on my Dad’s ranch. I would compliment the Cookie, and he always said the same thing. “I am not that great of a cook you just got your appetite back.”
Individual variation in physical efficiency is so wide that calorie counts from activity derived from smartwatches and machines should be treated as rough estimates. There is some value for supply planning for an extended trip, particularly for an activity one has not done multiple days in a row previously. Trying to use the numbers to fine tune a calorie deficit for weight loss, or neutral intake for weight maintenance, is unlikely to be successful.
A clever tool. Remember that a hot dog alone can be about 300 calories, so its probably better to count caloric intake than amount burned. When I bicycled and ran, I was shocked reading a chart that showed how few calories it burned. Of course, that could be good or bad, as it shows how effeciently we use stored energy. Just like heart rate, GPS, and how the we deliver and use oxygen.
Awareness is a good thing. Even if the measurement isn’t a true value, at least you have a baseline. Knowing the amount of calories that I used or retained in fat storage didn’t change how I engaged in my activity. It just put it in perspective.
I always wondered if activity did anything at all, since I seemed to gain at least a pound every year over a ten year period. Then I stopped, and I started adding several pounds per year. When I took up kayaking, the weigh gain just stabilized, rather than gaining. I’ve since learned that extra snacks added body weight and vigorous exercise only took a little bit off. How an individual manages it is a good thing, as long as it keeps the flab in check.
In the process of exploration, I learned that I can go out and push the aerobic zone a lot longer than if I go anerobic. I also found that if I stay aerobic for 7 1/2 hours, I can push anerobic for the last 30 minutes. I don’t know how much I burn on a trip, but I’m absolutely sure that I burn nothing sitting at home. At least the strategy is still going in the right direction. All the things that we feel we have to do will still be there when we get back from a kayak trip. I found out that it takes just about as long to cut the grass after three days as it does if I wait five or six days.
There is the old runners adage that you cannot outrun your diet and that usually holds true for most people. I prefer to moderate my caloric intake and especially limit carbs and alcohol and processed industrial food like items.
When I was doing 1000 mile bike rides over a 7 day period I ate no more than when I was at home and at the end of the trip my weight was the same as when I started.
I rode 15 centuries during the 8 weeks I was laid off during covid in 2020, and I lost about 14 lbs (172–>158). I’ve found that if I keep my speed moderate (14–16mph), I can bike off burned calories, so I rode most of those centuries without eating anything between breakfast and the end of the ride. When I got home I ate a tin of fish, took a shower, and ate a reasonable supper and I felt great.
When you look at the calorie burn, I was probably burning about 600 calories per hour during the 6 hours of pedal time. In whole numbers, 6 hours x 600 calories = 3,600 calories, so yes, about a pound per century.
Then again, I was sworn off alcohol during the first half of 2020, and that may have had something to do with it too.