I hear you guys - you don't really know hunger until you are sitting around your stove trying not to cook all of the food that you packed for the week!  With the amount of calories that you burn during a day of backpacking combined with your raging metabolism it's almost impossible not to lose weight.  One thing that you can do is have your RMR tested.  This will show how many calories your body needs just to function.  You can then approximate your daily caloric expenditure based on miles, pace, etc.  The combination of those numbers will help you get an accurate amount of calories that you need to maintain your weight.  Of course carrying all of that food is another story!

For those of you that are in the SD area, I am participating in an Ultralight Kitchen  talk at the San Diego REI.  It's on 9/19 at 7pm. Should be pretty interesting.  Plus we'll be cooking up some good food to try!