Hiking calories

me0231
me0231 Posts: 218 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Does anyone have a good estimation on hiking? Mfp gave me 1407 for 166min. The time is off my fitbit zip but the calories seem insane. We did gain about 2500ft so it was a good effort, but I'm maintaining in 1600-1700 calories so I don't think I should eat that much more. Does anyone have any ballpark figures they use?

Replies

  • emtmissie1
    emtmissie1 Posts: 8 Member
    when I hike the Adirondacks, mfp gives me like.over 2,ooo usually....lol..so....idk
  • PokeyBug
    PokeyBug Posts: 482 Member
    I dunno. I use Endomondo when I hike, and it always gives me a number I know ain't right.
  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
    That's almost 3 hours of cardio. Depending on your size, that doesn't sound too wrong.
  • AndyPeed
    AndyPeed Posts: 8 Member
    I thought the MFP calorie estimate for hiking yesterday was a bit excessive (1038 for about 70 minutes); it was fairly strenuous, ranging from moderately difficult to what-the-hell-was-I-thinking-who-needs-a-trail-anyhow, but still.
  • Boudicae
    Boudicae Posts: 4 Member
    I use this one, it is easy to use, takes elevation gain into account, and seems fairly accurate. https://www.omnicalculator.com/fitness/hiking
  • nooshi713
    nooshi713 Posts: 4,877 Member
    I'm wondering this too. I have a fitbit. I know the fitbit zip will count my steps but it won't take into account the fact that I'm walking uphill will it? Should I log this as an exercise?
  • collectingblues
    collectingblues Posts: 2,541 Member
    How many miles did you cover? I usually estimate 100 calories per mile hiked.
  • me0231
    me0231 Posts: 218 Member
    Boudicae wrote: »
    I use this one, it is easy to use, takes elevation gain into account, and seems fairly accurate. https://www.omnicalculator.com/fitness/hiking

    Oh, this is really neat! That's the kind of thing I was looking for, though it still gives me about 1000 calories.
    nooshi713 wrote: »
    I'm wondering this too. I have a fitbit. I know the fitbit zip will count my steps but it won't take into account the fact that I'm walking uphill will it? Should I log this as an exercise?

    The zip will only count steps and active time with the app, so no, no elevation. I don't log regular walks but hiking up a small mountain definitely counts as exercise in my book.
    collectingblues wrote: »
    How many miles did you cover? I usually estimate 100 calories per mile hiked.

    About 7.5 miles. That seems much more reasonable for calories. Thanks!
    BusyRaeNOTBusty wrote: »
    That's almost 3 hours of cardio. Depending on your size, that doesn't sound too wrong.

    Yeah but it's not running for 3h or anything. It's really just walking. Sure some of it was uphill and I got out of breath but it's not constant.

  • HilTri
    HilTri Posts: 378 Member
    I always go w walking cals burned.
  • Silentpadna
    Silentpadna Posts: 1,306 Member
    me0231 wrote: »
    Does anyone have a good estimation on hiking? Mfp gave me 1407 for 166min. The time is off my fitbit zip but the calories seem insane. We did gain about 2500ft so it was a good effort, but I'm maintaining in 1600-1700 calories so I don't think I should eat that much more. Does anyone have any ballpark figures they use?

    If 1600-1700 calories is really maintenance, then 1407 might be a little high. The trouble with anyone trying to give you a good answer is that there is not quite enough context. What are your current stats? (Ht/Wt/Age/Gender). Those stats will give a better idea. For example the difference in burn with a 50 pound difference in weight is about 300 calories. But...if you are in an elevated heart rate condition for that long, it's not out of the question.

    I sometimes look at this site to see whether my fitbit estimates are reasonable: http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/activity-based-calorie-burn-calculator.aspx#change-activity-category. The link will take you to one type of calculator - there are many if you just noodle around.

    I found that my fitbit is in the same neighborhood for burns.
  • OHammykins
    OHammykins Posts: 97 Member
    I track with MapMyRide (or MapMyFitness) and select the walking. I got 556cal for 133mins of walking. Not sure how accurate that is either but it seemed ok for a 9km hike.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    It depends on your stats and how hard the hike is, honestly. For 7 miles with elevation, I wouldn't feel guilty eating 800 calories, but would probably put 700 to be on the safe side. That's for me though... 5'5", 40yo, 150 lbs.
  • sgt1372
    sgt1372 Posts: 3,997 Member
    edited May 2018
    I always use this hiking cals calculator for my hikes:

    https://caloriesburnedhq.com/calories-burned-hiking/

    It's the best IMO because it takes into accoint the most factors, including your BW, your pack weight, length, duration, slope and terrain. Far more factors that most other calculators.

    I also use and compare results w/MapMyHike, which tends to give much higher cal estimates that I condider less accurate.

  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    HilTri wrote: »
    I always go w walking cals burned.

    As hiking is a LOT harder than walking on flat, I'm curious as to why you would use an equivalent metric.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    collectingblues wrote: »
    How many miles did you cover? I usually estimate 100 calories per mile hiked.

    @me0231 before you go with this, you might want to compare stats with @collectingblues. If one of you is considerably taller or heavier, it won't be a useful figure.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    OHammykins wrote: »
    I track with MapMyRide (or MapMyFitness) and select the walking. I got 556cal for 133mins of walking. Not sure how accurate that is either but it seemed ok for a 9km hike.

    I still use MapMyHike but not for the calories, as it is way higher from the value I get from MFP, which people already consider inflated.

    For example, MapMyHike gave me 294 calories for something MFP's "Walking, 3.0 mph, mod. pace, walking dog" gave me 117 calories. (This was on flat terrain.)
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,463 Member
    Sounds like a great hike!
  • hroderick
    hroderick Posts: 756 Member
    added weight of pack increases calorie burn
  • Lillymoo01
    Lillymoo01 Posts: 2,865 Member
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    OHammykins wrote: »
    I track with MapMyRide (or MapMyFitness) and select the walking. I got 556cal for 133mins of walking. Not sure how accurate that is either but it seemed ok for a 9km hike.

    I still use MapMyHike but not for the calories, as it is way higher from the value I get from MFP, which people already consider inflated.

    For example, MapMyHike gave me 294 calories for something MFP's "Walking, 3.0 mph, mod. pace, walking dog" gave me 117 calories. (This was on flat terrain.)

    My guess is because you are using MapMyHike instead of MapMyWalk. Hiking will burn more calories than walking.
  • WickAndArtoo
    WickAndArtoo Posts: 773 Member
    I always use walking calorie estimations to be on the safe side!

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