High on Calories

I lost a lot of weight on the PCT. A total of thirteen kilograms. Yet I ate, day after day, the maximum amount of calories I could stuff my face with. I even tried to take cannabis candy to help me eat more when I was in town. The number of Snickers I could eat in one day even became legendary and I invented the "Snickers Challenge", which consists of only eating Snickers for 24 hours.

But no matter how hard I tried to stuff myself, and even if I never lacked food on the trail, I was always in a calorie deficit.

A few months after starting my journey, I began to experience a curious phenomenon. When I arrived in town, and most often without going through the shower, I would go to the nearest bakery, diner, pizzeria, coffee shop and swallow everything that fell under my hand. Three slices of cake and three cappuccinos in a row were a classic for me. Those feast did not take too much time, at least lost as I was in the sudden abundance of food, internet and battery. Any food that was not just dehydrated and boiled became the most delicious treat.

Then my mind began to dissipate, and I felt drunk, far from any concern. This is what I called the "Calorie High", which lasted only a few hours but enveloped my whole body with a feeling of intense well-being. It was like after taking cannabis or half a bottle of champagne.

I did not feel hunger and lack, because my body had become used to monotonous, calorie-rich but insufficient food, but the return of abundance reminded me of the discreet but profound influence that the trail had taken on my whole being.