Weight Loss

[Northernlights]

Hello everyone! Just a general question:

How much weight did you gain or lose on the camino?

I will begin the camino in March. I have been trying to be more active to prepare, and I have lost 38 pounds (17kg) so far. In my recent research about the camino, I read a post that someone gained 15 pounds on the camino, and now I'm a little worried about it. xD

I would appreciate some feedback about this.

If you have weight to lose I would think you will continue to lose it. I had a croissant and cafe con leche I wry morning g a good lunch and a very healthy portion of a pilgrims meal every night and I lost 30 pounds. I wouldn’t worry too much about the pounds ficus on how strong you get each week

 

[dailycamino]

To lose, or not to lose...that is the question
(Apologies to William Shakespeare)

In youthful days with youthful ways
I burned the carbs away
What weight I gained...was muscle
But not so much today

I never drank when I was young
Not until turned twenty-one
Beer was soapy water
But whisky, that was fun

I never drank for courage
In fact, I’d fall asleep
And,once I called from jail
My dad telling me “bleep...bleep”

A solid one seventy pounds back then
Maintained till forty-three
Got bounced out of a chopper
A pitiful mess...that’s me

Retired from active duty
I spent months to convalesce
First twenty pounds...then forty
My gosh was I a mess

Determined to reclaim relevance
A first Camino was in store
My faith was never greater
It’s my fitness that was poor

From St Jean Pied de Port...I trod
More guts than common sense
My extra weight and wayward ways
I shed, in recompense

A mostly svelte two hundred pounds
And no further Way to go
I’d gained in faith...and lost in weight
On my Very first Camino

Dear Arn, I love it! Buen Camino!

 

[topazy]

13 pounds in 14 days. A lot of that was due to dehydration (I can sweat off two pounds of water in an hour from strenuous exercise, although under normal circumstances I'd put that back on the same day) but maybe half was actual weight loss.
I was eating way less than normal. I'd have some kind of fruit for breakfast, a sandwich around 10am, another sandwich around 1pm, and for dinner, I'd either cook pasta at the albergue or have the pilgrim's meal. For snacks, I'd buy those fruit and yogurt bars and candy bars

 

[Abuelo]

For some of us weight is a problem due to many factors. Some will loose weight on the Camino and others will gain. Some can eat what they want and not gain or loose anything.
Three years ago my wife and I started a low cab high fat diet. We completely removed sugar from our diet as well and we lost a lot of weight. I lost 35kg in six months.
Breakfast on the Camino is normally pure carbs and sugar. We would burn it all in an hour and experienced a lack of energy. We reverted to boiling eggs in the evening for breakfast. The protein in the egg kept us energised for longer and only had to eat at lunch time again.
Being on the diet for some time I determined the food items I should not eat. Number one is beer and secondly bread and anything with sugar.
We are now preparing for our Camino in March and are very strict on what we eat. It makes a big difference if you loose some weight before the time.
Try to eat fresh products only and skip the stuff in a packet or a box.

I am a Keto guy, too. Zero carbs, no sugar, no dairy, a little alcohol (well, kinda ... good wine & beer is sometimes too tempting). I thrive on eggs, bacon, sausage, seafood, fresh veggies & have lost 60 lbs in the last year. I worry about maintaining this regimen on the trail. The biggest weight loss were the bags of oversized clothes I took to Good Will! A big reason for my choosing the Portuguese Camino is the proximity to great seafood choices.

 

[Anamiri]

I am a Keto guy, too. Zero carbs, no sugar, no dairy, a little alcohol (well, kinda ... good wine & beer is sometimes too tempting). I thrive on eggs, bacon, sausage, seafood, fresh veggies & have lost 60 lbs in the last year. I worry about maintaining this regimen on the trail. The biggest weight loss were the bags of oversized clothes I took to Good Will! A big reason for my choosing the Portuguese Camino is the proximity to great seafood choices.

My husband is Coeliac, so although he's not Keto, it does mean that he eats those types of foods when in Spain. Its not easy, and you can't control cross contamination, so as a coeliac that makes some choices risky. We walked the Frances in 2019, and he was always able to get a meal and snacks. We often bought and cooked for ourselves where we could. It did mean a lot of eggs, meat and tomatoes. He does drink coffee occasionally (he isnt allergic but has a low threshold for dairy), but drank very little alcohol.
Compared to Caminos on my own (Im not coeliac) food was more expensive. But it was possible.

 

[Abuelo]

My husband is Coeliac, so although he's not Keto, it does mean that he eats those types of foods when in Spain. Its not easy, and you can't control cross contamination, so as a coeliac that makes some choices risky. We walked the Frances in 2019, and he was always able to get a meal and snacks. We often bought and cooked for ourselves where we could. It did mean a lot of eggs, meat and tomatoes. He does drink coffee occasionally (he isnt allergic but has a low threshold for dairy), but drank very little alcohol.
Compared to Caminos on my own (Im not coeliac) food was more expensive. But it was possible.

This is encouraging. I am familiar with coeliac diet from members of a support group I attended when starting out with Keto. Similar diet, gluten sensitivity being your critical issue here as I recall. Mine is cardiac-related & medically recommended, the result being reduction from 253 lbs to 190 lbs in 14 months, unquestionably the best thing I ever did for myself. Maintaining the Keto regimen is a primary consideration. My good friend permanently reversed his Type 2 diabetes diagnosis alongside me with Keto, something his Drs said was impossible. These successes had positive outcomes across the board for those who adapted the Keto program. Thanks again. Buen Camino !

 

[Thornley]

This is encouraging. I am familiar with coeliac diet from members of a support group I attended when starting out with Keto. Similar diet, gluten sensitivity being your critical issue here as I recall. Mine is cardiac-related & medically recommended, the result being reduction from 253 lbs to 190 lbs in 14 months, unquestionably the best thing I ever did for myself. Maintaining the Keto regimen is a primary consideration. My good friend permanently reversed his Type 2 diabetes diagnosis alongside me with Keto, something his Drs said was impossible. These successes had positive outcomes across the board for those who adapted the Keto program. Thanks again. Buen Camino !

Love you low carbo diet , it’s sensible
knowing that can you explain how I was terrific all day until last night when I decided whilst in front of the fire , stuck in lockdown , on a misty night I decided @ 6 pm to have not 1 but eventually 3 Eskimo Pie Ice Creams?
keep up the good work.

 

[Abuelo]

Love you low carbo diet , it’s sensible
knowing that can you explain how I was terrific all day until last night when I decided whilst in front of the fire , stuck in lockdown , on a misty night I decided @ 6 pm to have not 1 but eventually 3 Eskimo Pie Ice Creams?
keep up the good work.

How well I know that feeling. About a month into the Keto diet the taste of sweets actually became nauseating. They were (are) now easy to resist. Yet, the old saying that "I can resist everything except temptation" sometimes still applies.

My secret to bypass backsliding into carboland ... never have any of them in the house!

One concern about eating on a Camino is the amount of carbs that seem to be staples in the eating places.

 

[JabbaPapa]

I've only ever gained weight on the Rome Way / coastal Francigena --- well, because of the amazing Italian food. Though I guess if you were to start out thin, you could gain weight from muscle build-up.

Otherwise, it's hard for me to lose weight, and it really only starts happening once I pass the 1,000K mark -- though losing the first 5 kilos is always easy. But whenever I've walked 1,800 - 2,000 K, the weight loss has been significant. My guess is that it doesn't start before I've walked about 1,000K because up to that point I'm converting fat into muscle, which is heavier than the fat.

 

[Thornley]

How well I know that feeling. About a month into the Keto diet the taste of sweets actually became nauseating. They were (are) now easy to resist. Yet, the old saying that "I can resist everything except temptation" sometimes still applies.

My secret to bypass backsliding into carboland ... never have any of them in the house!

One concern about eating on a Camino is the amount of carbs that seem to be staples in the eating places.

My wife missed her veggies.
chicken and spuds for 44 days
But after a dozen paths , especially the GR65 (3 times) she found a way to smile her requests to the kitchen.........Maybe they just saw it as helping a 70 yr old grandma.

 

[LineDenmark]

Would be a shame to worry about weight while walking the Camino. Enjoying Spanish Cuisine is just such a big part of the whole experience if you ask me.

 

[Albertagirl]

I don't have a scale, so I don't lose weight, I lose inches while on camino. At the end of my first camino, I had to buy a belt at a chino in Santiago, so I could keep my skirt up. In addition to the exercise, I don't bother with treats while walking a camino, because I am perfectly happy and I just can't be bothered. Food is necessary fuel for the walk.