Rucking/hiking nutrition

[trooper]

Good evening Echoes.

Im fairly new to hiking but I have already noticed that energy levels are hard to maintain on overnight hikes with a larger rucksack. This is quite logical, but how important is it to maintain calories in/calories out in regards to keeping all my newly found GAINS and overall stamina? Should one aim for maintaining proper protein, blood sugar levels etc. or is it fine to eat a sub 2000kcal/day diet on a 3 day hike for example? Anyone got tips on hiking on a keto diet? (beef jerky is fine, but 2 pounds is a little bit expensive/time consuming to make)

if anyone has got some insight or experience, please do share!

[mynewunit]

I have been into rucking for about a year. I have not done any overnight stuff. When I am rucking, I don't feel hungry. I carry a bunch of water, and usually start with tumbler of coffee. It is fine to run a caloric deficit for short periods, like a day or 2. You should be eating. I like to pack hard boiled eggs, bacon, pepperoni, salami, cheddar, nuts, seeds, cut carrots, anything that goes with peanut butter like celery or apple slices, something fun like a Quest bar, protein shake.

Obviously, some of these won't last "days". The trick for that is freezing some things and the can keep others cool as they thaw. Packing them tight will take a day or so to thaw. I have no standards for food, so I would easily freeze a cooked chicken breast and eat it mildly warm after a day in my pack. If you have higher standards, then try snack packs, or MRE's.

[trooper]

Thanks for the reply.
I live in a climate which doesnt really care about freezers, aka carry whatever it will be frozen at camp. the problem some hikers try to adress is weight to calories ratio, however if you are truly getting after it it does not matter. i usallly pack some pea soup canned which weighs a ton. i carry some of my local armys MRE's and they are the real deal. however, they are not KETO. I have not tried it, but eggs(hardboiled) seem to hard to bring out in sub-zero teperatures while rucking in variating elevations. I am to no extent rucking for longer than 2 days so days without freezers aint no problem. again, keep care and if anyone got some good keto hiking food keep me posted!
get after it!

[s2h]

you could look in to amino acids...specifically 3 of the 9 essential amino acids that convert to glycogen through Protein kinase A which is activated by adrenaline....which attachs the certain amino acids to enzymes which inturn attach to the cyclic AMP cycle which becomes ATP...

ATP is the bodies way of intracellular energy transfer...ATP in a nutshell carries energy to where it needs to be in the body...but it needs energy to transfer...by using 3 essential amino acids in certain amounts the body is able to convert those to fuel for the ATP..

Keep in mind the fastest source of fuel the body uses when in a deficit is muscle...imho if the OP is in deficit for 2 days of a ruck march then there will be muscular atrophy to some degree...this is were the amino acids come in to fill or exceed the gap and they have little to no caloric measures like whole foods....

Fyi..make sure you get quality amino acids that are GMP certified...there is a lot of crappy unregulated OTC supps on the market