Interesting article on body chenges before/after long hikes....

[colorado_rob]

I found this article interesting.... so much so that I'm going to do a before/after suite of blood work for our own upcoming AT hike, just for fun, maybe useful. Because of my poor on-trail eating habits, I expect to find all sorts of "after" blood chemistry issues, which might be interesting.

Anyway, here it is; this was a before/after for a CO trail hike, but should be applicable for any long hike:

https://www.outsideonline.com/212503...body-thru-hike

By the way, my wife and I recently "discovered" that in lieu of going through your Doc and paying out the nose, you can now order blood work online very easy and pretty cheap, and the work is done by the exact same labs that our Doc orders the work done. We recently checked out "directlabs.com", and the process works really well; both my wife and I have separate minor issues (mine is a mild hypo-thyroid thing) but for very little $$$ we can get intermediate (6-month) level checks. I'll probably do an AT hike before/after "Comprehensive Wellness Profile" which is $96, but we see 10-20% off coupons now and then.

[ScareBear]

I found this article interesting.... so much so that I'm going to do a before/after suite of blood work for our own upcoming AT hike, just for fun, maybe useful. Because of my poor on-trail eating habits, I expect to find all sorts of "after" blood chemistry issues, which might be interesting.

Anyway, here it is; this was a before/after for a CO trail hike, but should be applicable for any long hike:

https://www.outsideonline.com/212503...body-thru-hike

By the way, my wife and I recently "discovered" that in lieu of going through your Doc and paying out the nose, you can now order blood work online very easy and pretty cheap, and the work is done by the exact same labs that our Doc orders the work done. We recently checked out "directlabs.com", and the process works really well; both my wife and I have separate minor issues (mine is a mild hypo-thyroid thing) but for very little $$$ we can get intermediate (6-month) level checks. I'll probably do an AT hike before/after "Comprehensive Wellness Profile" which is $96, but we see 10-20% off coupons now and then.

The article gave me confirmation of what I have long suspected about my own body and LD hiking...the metabolic efficiency change...I have always noticed that the effects of a long hike on my metabolic system stays with me from 3 to even 6 months after the hike. I burn fat like crazy and not only keep weight off, but can keep losing fat pounds just by careful dieting and daily low-intensity exercise...of course, YMMV...

[colorado_rob]

The article gave me confirmation of what I have long suspected about my own body and LD hiking...the metabolic efficiency change...I have always noticed that the effects of a long hike on my metabolic system stays with me from 3 to even 6 months after the hike. I burn fat like crazy and not only keep weight off, but can keep losing fat pounds just by careful dieting and daily low-intensity exercise...of course, YMMV...

Yeah, that was a very interesting part of the result. The other was the doubling+ of testosterone levels... being 60, this is an important aspect of my own, er, "functions"....

[ScareBear]

So, instead of hike-yourself-fit....it's hike-yourself-?????

[CalebJ]

Colorado Rob - are you doing a full thru hike this year?

[colorado_rob]

Colorado Rob - are you doing a full thru hike this year?

Nope, not on the AT at least (we will be trying the SHR, a short thru), we hope to do ~950 miles or so on the AT this year, to Harpers (my wife already has 112 miles of the southern half).

[ScareBear]

Nope, not on the AT at least (we will be trying the SHR, a short thru), we hope to do ~950 miles or so on the AT this year, to Harpers (my wife already has 112 miles of the southern half).

When/where are you starting?

[colorado_rob]

When/where are you starting?

Springer, couple of weeks from now. I'm excited to do it again with my wife this time (she just retired).

[burger]

I found this article interesting.... so much so that I'm going to do a before/after suite of blood work for our own upcoming AT hike, just for fun, maybe useful. Because of my poor on-trail eating habits, I expect to find all sorts of "after" blood chemistry issues, which might be interesting.

Anyway, here it is; this was a before/after for a CO trail hike, but should be applicable for any long hike:

https://www.outsideonline.com/212503...body-thru-hike

By the way, my wife and I recently "discovered" that in lieu of going through your Doc and paying out the nose, you can now order blood work online very easy and pretty cheap, and the work is done by the exact same labs that our Doc orders the work done. We recently checked out "directlabs.com", and the process works really well; both my wife and I have separate minor issues (mine is a mild hypo-thyroid thing) but for very little $$$ we can get intermediate (6-month) level checks. I'll probably do an AT hike before/after "Comprehensive Wellness Profile" which is $96, but we see 10-20% off coupons now and then.

Interesting article. That guy was pretty fit and thin to start--I wonder what the changes would look like for an out-of-shape hiker after a much longer hike like the AT.

BTW, on getting blood work, if you have insurance that meets ACA standards (should be true for any employer-provided plan or anything bought on the exchanges), you get an annual physical for free with no co-pay. And if you use an in network lab, your copay should be reasonable, though insurance may not cover every test (we ended up arguing over a vitamin D test that the doctor requested once). Just check ahead of time and see what they cover and what the copay is. I suspect a CBC should be less than $96 for sure. Insurance may not pay for hormone tests unless the doctor orders them. FWIW, I can't imagine that any insurance will pay for the advanced fitness tests that the author of that article had done.

[colorado_rob]

Interesting article. That guy was pretty fit and thin to start--I wonder what the changes would look like for an out-of-shape hiker after a much longer hike like the AT.

BTW, on getting blood work, if you have insurance that meets ACA standards (should be true for any employer-provided plan or anything bought on the exchanges), you get an annual physical for free with no co-pay. And if you use an in network lab, your copay should be reasonable, though insurance may not cover every test (we ended up arguing over a vitamin D test that the doctor requested once). Just check ahead of time and see what they cover and what the copay is. I suspect a CBC should be less than $96 for sure. Insurance may not pay for hormone tests unless the doctor orders them. FWIW, I can't imagine that any insurance will pay for the advanced fitness tests that the author of that article had done.

YEah, agree on what an out-of-shape hiker would experience, especially for a longer hike.

And yeah, our insurance does pay for a complete physical once a year, including a good blood profile, but since we both have some minor issues, we do like the intermediate profile as well, and the online thing is super easy and significantly cheaper than going back to doc in between the yearly's. I seem to remember one intermediate blood workup at the doc was billed for something like $300 for the same blood testing that was $97 at direct labs.com. We paid most of that $300, because we now have a high deductible plan (retired, no more company insurance). Check it out, anyone that this might apply to and has a need/desire for extra blood work.

[johnspenn]

What I see happening to me: I'd thru-hike, lose all the weight I need and then some. However, I had "hiker hunger" before I was ever a hiker, and I would fully give in to that impulse while thru-ing. After, I wouldn't have the willpower to curb my appetite, and would blow up bigger than I ever was.

HYOH and YMMV and all that. I know me pretty good after almost 50 years with myself...

[Malto]

That article has a few interesting implications.
1) think about many of the fueling based discussions. There is a tremendous difference between the before and after. Advice given based on "after" performance wouldn't have a lot of relevance to "before" conditions hikers.
2) I would love to see a couple of data points at say weekly intervals. Did 80% of the change occur in the first week or was it consistent throughout the duration of the trip. I am assuming the rate of advancement would decline, it has to.
3) the cortisone level was interesting. While mental stress would be less I would think it could be offset by stress cause by the physical activity.
4) I am likely hiking the CT this summer so I get to become a lean mean hiking machine.

Too bad you are stopping at HF. You could have stayed at the exclusive Hershey Hiking Hostel in Chocolatetown USA. It is very exclusive and you have to know the owner. But I would have my own motivations..... your wife could talk mine into hiking with me.

[FreeGoldRush]

His results were impressive for only 27 days on the trail. Thanks for posting this. It seems to imply that one should allow themselves enough carbs when they start a thru hike and then slowly change their food balance in the first weeks to more fat and less carbs. Trying to start out with mostly fats might be tough.

[colorado_rob]

Yikes! I just noticed the "chenges" typo in the thread title.... just noticed I could edit that, done! But yeah, getting my blood drawn late this week for a "before" profile, this will be interesting.

We'll continue NOBO from Harpers (or wherever we stop this year) next year Malto, too much going on this summer/fall to get there in 2017.

[Land_Shark]

Pay attention to the food you take with you on the trail. Do not go into town and spend money on fast food and other empty calorie items. By the time you reach Damascus (trail days) you will have lost so much weight you can feel it physically and mentally. The internal spiritual flame will burn stong. The understanding and aprietation for nature and our more true base is so moving that many i know have changed their real world lifestyle. The Appalachian Trail has ment so much to so many.

Cheers and hope to see you

[burger]

That article has a few interesting implications.
1) think about many of the fueling based discussions. There is a tremendous difference between the before and after. Advice given based on "after" performance wouldn't have a lot of relevance to "before" conditions hikers.
2) I would love to see a couple of data points at say weekly intervals. Did 80% of the change occur in the first week or was it consistent throughout the duration of the trip. I am assuming the rate of advancement would decline, it has to.
3) the cortisone level was interesting. While mental stress would be less I would think it could be offset by stress cause by the physical activity.
4) I am likely hiking the CT this summer so I get to become a lean mean hiking machine.

Too bad you are stopping at HF. You could have stayed at the exclusive Hershey Hiking Hostel in Chocolatetown USA. It is very exclusive and you have to know the owner. But I would have my own motivations..... your wife could talk mine into hiking with me.

I would be really careful about drawing any conclusions from a sample size of 1. It's not a scientific paper--it's just one guy. Y*MV (* = anything you can measure about the human body). I would love to see this replicated for a good sample of ages, fitness levels, and both men and women. Anyone wanna give ma $100K grant to do it?

[colorado_rob]

I would be really careful about drawing any conclusions from a sample size of 1. It's not a scientific paper--it's just one guy. Y*MV (* = anything you can measure about the human body). I would love to see this replicated for a good sample of ages, fitness levels, and both men and women.

Agree, but just for fun, I'll share my changes for a similar length hike to double this paltry sample size, not that it would make it any more valid.

Malto: if you have a couple hundred to spare, you could do the same? Couple of blood clinics (I go to the Swedish med center on south Wadsworth) close to the Waterton t/h.... I'm guess there is one or two in Durango, results are online in 24-48 hours, easy-peasy process. I think I'm going to get the "comprehensive wellness profile", $97, though I don't see testosterone on the panel, so I might add that (the aging thing, ya know).

https://www.directlabs.com/OrderTest...S/Default.aspx

[Malto]

Agree, but just for fun, I'll share my changes for a similar length hike to double this paltry sample size, not that it would make it any more valid.

Malto: if you have a couple hundred to spare, you could do the same? Couple of blood clinics (I go to the Swedish med center on south Wadsworth) close to the Waterton t/h.... I'm guess there is one or two in Durango, results are online in 24-48 hours, easy-peasy process. I think I'm going to get the "comprehensive wellness profile", $97, though I don't see testosterone on the panel, so I might add that (the aging thing, ya know).

https://www.directlabs.com/OrderTest...S/Default.aspx

I did a pretty good series of tests as part of a research study last year. I may have to look into this. Then it could be a base size of two and we can draw all kinds of conclusions.

[burger]

Here's another n of 1. They didn't measure quite the same things, but the cholesterol results are pretty impressive: http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.158...2-020.004.0347

Pre-post differences showed decreases in body weight, from 85.3 kg to 73.9 kg (−11.4 [−13.4%]); percent body fat, hydrostatic weighing, from 25.18 to 14.31 (−10.87 [−43.2%]); percent body fat, skinfolds (7-site), from 23.79 to 11.61 (12.18 [−51.2%]); and BMI, from 29.37 to 25.46 (−3.91 [−13.3%]). Pre-post differences in blood lipid changes over the course of 118 days were as follows: triglycerides (mg·dL⁻¹) fell from 319 to 79 (−240 [−75%]); total cholesterol (mg·dL⁻¹) fell from 276 to 196 (−80 [−29%]); high-density lipoprotein (HDL) (mg·dL⁻¹) rose from 46 to 63 (+17 [+37%]); low-density lipoprotein (LDL) (mg·dL⁻¹) fell from 167 to 118 (−49 [−29%]); LDL/HDL ratio fell from 3.63 to 1.87 (−1.76 [−48%]); and total cholesterol/HDL ratio fell from 6.00 to 3.11 (−2.89 [−48%]).

A hiker I met in '07 said that she'd had a bunch of tests done pre-hike, with a plan to repeat the tests in Millinocket. I've never seen that study written up.

BTW, maybe the hiking community should be careful about promoting the amazing health benefits of thru hiking. The last thing the AT needs is even more hikers!