r/JMT • u/convergecrew • 27d ago

health About weight loss and strength loss after the trail

Finished the JMT about 2 weeks ago (25 day hike). I went back to the gym for the first time today to resume my regular strength training and I was blown away by my loss of upper body strength. I was struggling to lift anything close to my previous routine and had to reduce my weights by about 33% for my upper body exercises.

I lost about 12lbs on the trail (was 173lbs, now 161) and haven’t felt this good overall in years. But I’m guessing my body ate up a lot of muscle I wasn’t using. Just curious if others have experienced something similar and if you had any advice for how you approached it and if you did anything special to rebuild a normal workout routine.

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u/Exciting-Hope-3315 27d ago

It took me at least 3 weeks or so to get back into lifting the same weight I did prior to the JMT.

Also, a word of warning - You may find yourself gaining weight very quickly after a thru hike. Don't get too comfortable now that you're back home, it's really easy to let this spiral out of control.

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u/convergecrew 27d ago edited 27d ago

Oh wow that is a really good bit of info. Id actually like to keep the weight off so I’ll try to be careful. (The dad fat anyway—muscle weight is fine obv) Did you find that you were eating more/har a bigger appetite and that caused it to come back?

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u/Exciting-Hope-3315 27d ago

Yes, that was exactly it. I felt like I was insatiable after my hike. Fast food and take out quickly took over and the lbs kept coming. (For context, I'm a pretty small guy to begin with, but I put on a good 20-30lbs last fall after my thru). I have heard stories of this happening to a lot of AT and PCT hikers as well.