I'm a long distance hiker and a beginner runner. I crave spending time in the mountains, hiking, occasionally running on the flat and downhill sections of the trail and have even signed up for a beginner event of 16 km distance in the Polish mountains, a couple of months away.
I am going to hike the Tour Du Mont Blanc on the 14th, August which is a circuit trek, with some gorgeous mountains and picturesque views, amidst the jingle of cows and the nimble chamois around the Mont Blanc massif in the alps. This is about 174 kilometers with some 10,000 m of elevation gain.
I am 35, male of Asian origin. Waist = 94 cms, height = 167 cm, Neck = 38 cm, Weight = 73.5 kgs, so one of the online calculators approximates my body fat percentage = 24%. I have a larger midsection, so I'm probably skinny fat, due to years of inactivity, a sedentary lifestyle combined with eating processed foods here and there. I so want to get rid of the belly fat.
I've started eating clean and I've hiked more this year than all past years put together. I have a small city hill - where I do 12 x 100m sprints.
Generally speaking, I've read, that you always emerge stronger, fitter after a good intense hike. I've also read that a calorific deficit of 500-1000 calories/day is considered healthy. Let me cut to the chase. While on the TourDuMontBlanc hike, I'm considering having oatmeals with chai(tea) followed by a chicken meal at night. I think my total calorie intake would be ~1200-1400 food calories, against a total expenditure of 3500 calories+.
Can fasted hiking such as this cause extreme muscle loss without any fat burn? Does the calorific deficit rule still apply, when you're doing an intense activity such as hiking? Or is hiking with a decent backpack weight and some good ascents more like strength training that exercises one's core, quads, so it helps retain muscle while burning fat? Will cutting back on one meal, accelerate some fat burn?
Cheers, Quasar.