Two weeks!

[andywild]

So, it's nearly here!! Time for me to finish packing my bag and lace up my lovely trail-runners... I'll be in sjpdp on the 18th April as long as the train/plane gods are on my side.. but before I go I have one question..
As you possibly know I am old and unfit and have decided to turn my life around. After 44years of pizzas and chips I'm considering getting healthy for my walk.. do you think I will have to eat healthy for BOTH weeks before I go? Or just the last week?? I plan on cutting down to 4 pizzas a week and eating a banana EVERY day so think 2 weeks may be a bit too healthy? I don't want to waste away to skin and bone and 'fall down a grid' as my gran used to say.
Thanks for any advice.
X

 

[David]

Hahahaha - people who go on expeditions tend to bulk up before they go, knowing that they will lose weight out there - and if there is high wind thin people get blown away, so eat away!!

Just a note: French rail strikes - there are lots of them and will go on over the next few months unless the government cave in (they won't) - so check your train/s to make sure they are running!

 

[Dorpie]

Hey Andy,

To be a serious for a moment. If you're anything like me it's not the two weeks before you leave that you have to worry about, it's the two months after you get back. After a month of being able to eat and drink whatever you like and still lose weight because you're walking for hours every day it will come as a shock when you get home and that's no longer the case.

Seeing the amazing transformation you'll hopefully acheive on the Camino reversing itself is a bit soul destroying, I speak from two bouts of personal experience. So I'd say enjoy your final two weeks of junk food and instead start thinking about what you'll be eating when you get back.

Buen Camino,

Rob.

 

[Aidan21]

Hi Andy,
Can I suggest lots of fruit and vegetables as well as your pizzas and chips. You can eat all you want of those; never any need to go hungry. I suspect that you will love the Camino and want to go back when you are 54 and 64 and..... So, you know what to do.
Aidan

 

[andywild]

Hi Andy,
Can I suggest lots of fruit and vegetables as well as your pizzas and chips. You can eat all you want of those; never any need to go hungry. I suspect that you will love the Camino and want to go back when you are 54 and 64 and..... So, you know what to do.
Aidan

There's tomato on my pizza and I have lettuce and onion on kebabs so I think I've got the veg issue covered. Although to be fair I usually scoop the veg off (i see it more as a decoration than an ingredient) I might go crazy and have some trifle later, that's got strawberries at the bottom.

 

[Robo]

Hi Andy.

I think if you really want to prepare, have pizza for lunch and pizza for dinner, washing it down with a bottle of cheap (but good) red wine........ If you can, fit in a 2nd breakfast too

Buen Camino

 

[andywild]

Hi Andy.

I think if you really want to prepare, have pizza for lunch and pizza for dinner, washing it down with a bottle of cheap (but good) red wine........ If you can, fit in a 2nd breakfast too

Buen Camino

That sounds like excellent advice.. I wasn't looking forward to the Bananas anyway

 

[Robo]

That sounds like excellent advice.. I wasn't looking forward to the Bananas anyway

Consuming 4 or 5 meals a day with lots of alcohol, particularly in the evening, is often an area of training that is forgotten! You can't expect to just 'turn up' and start eating 2nd breakfasts, big lunches, later dinners, a litre of wine a day, tortilla snacks and more white bread than you can 'shake a stick at'

Preparation is the key Andy........ Take it from a Pilgrim who was able to maintain his ample starting body weight all the way to Santiago!

 

[andywild]

Consuming 4 or 5 meals a day with lots of alcohol, particularly in the evening, is often an area of training that is forgotten! You can't expect to just 'turn up' and start eating 2nd breakfasts, big lunches, later dinners, a litre of wine a day, tortilla snacks and more white bread than you can 'shake a stick at'

Preparation is the key Andy........ Take it from a Pilgrim who was able to maintain his ample starting body weight all the way to Santiago!

I can imagine this thread has got some people shaking with horror...

 

[VNwalking]

Well, you will be having pizza withdrawal symptoms.
But there is no shortage of chips on the Camino.
In fact, there is no shortage of all kinds of yummy not-optimally-nutritious food on the Camino. In fact, the coffee con leche, tosta, and OJ in the morning may be the healthiest thing you eat all day.
You might need to train for that... just saying.

The hard truth that I have to break to you is that you may return home with an addiction to olive oil on your toast, the freshest OJ on the planet, good coffee, tortillas, boccadillos, jamon curado, queso de cabra, tapas, cocolate con churros...and maybe even pulpo....
And I'm not even considering the various forms of alcohol one can consume....

 

[Bob from L.A. !]

Your current "diet" sounds good to me. I would add copious amounts of beer to it as well just to give it a good balance.