alaska80
FNG
- Joined
- Dec 2, 2019
- Messages
- 32
I’ve been dealing with this trade-off for a while.
I love performing in the mountains, but I also like being eye candy for my wife on the beach. Both are real motivators for me.
I spend about eight weeks every summer/fall in the mountains, and as I’ve gotten bigger, my performance hasn’t really been the issue. Cardio is still good. I can still hike, climb, ruck, and move fine. I train 12–16 hours a week, with 8–10 of that being some kind of cardio.
The issue is food.
I’m 6 feet tall, 45 now, and since about 38 I’ve gone from around 185 pounds at 13–15% body fat to about 230 at 12–14%. That has been good in a lot of ways, but the calorie demand is insanely different.
At 185, I could go a day or two on very little food, still put on miles, and be okay. Now, if I miss a meal, my body lets me know fast. The glucose crash happens stupidly quick.
At 185, my daily burn was probably somewhere around 3,000 calories. Now it’s closer to 4,400. In the mountains, that difference gets magnified. A hard day that used to be 4,000–5,000 calories seems to turn into 7,000 pretty easily. That’s been the challenge: carrying enough food for a long hunt without feeling like I’m packing a grovery store.
So I am dropping from about 230 to 220 before sheep season, assess at 220 and may go down to 215. I’m trying to find the best balance between strength, body weight, food needs, energy stability, and my vanity. There’s definitely a point where extra size starts costing more than it gives back in the mountains. I’d like to carry less food and avoid the dramatic crashes if I can.
Curious if anyone else deals with this and what you found your ideal body mass to be.
I love performing in the mountains, but I also like being eye candy for my wife on the beach. Both are real motivators for me.
I spend about eight weeks every summer/fall in the mountains, and as I’ve gotten bigger, my performance hasn’t really been the issue. Cardio is still good. I can still hike, climb, ruck, and move fine. I train 12–16 hours a week, with 8–10 of that being some kind of cardio.
The issue is food.
I’m 6 feet tall, 45 now, and since about 38 I’ve gone from around 185 pounds at 13–15% body fat to about 230 at 12–14%. That has been good in a lot of ways, but the calorie demand is insanely different.
At 185, I could go a day or two on very little food, still put on miles, and be okay. Now, if I miss a meal, my body lets me know fast. The glucose crash happens stupidly quick.
At 185, my daily burn was probably somewhere around 3,000 calories. Now it’s closer to 4,400. In the mountains, that difference gets magnified. A hard day that used to be 4,000–5,000 calories seems to turn into 7,000 pretty easily. That’s been the challenge: carrying enough food for a long hunt without feeling like I’m packing a grovery store.
So I am dropping from about 230 to 220 before sheep season, assess at 220 and may go down to 215. I’m trying to find the best balance between strength, body weight, food needs, energy stability, and my vanity. There’s definitely a point where extra size starts costing more than it gives back in the mountains. I’d like to carry less food and avoid the dramatic crashes if I can.
Curious if anyone else deals with this and what you found your ideal body mass to be.
