Another hiking/calories burned question

purple4sure05
purple4sure05 Posts: 287 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi guys! Yesterday I went on a hike here in New Zealand. It was roughly a 1000m elevation gain, 8 or 9 miles round trip, and on the way up it was completely uphill. The whole hike was about 5 and a half hours including a 30 minute break at the top. The last 40 minutes was very steep and often involved scrambling up rocks. I'm trying to make sure I eat enough today to make up for the calorie burn but dont have even the slightest clue how much I burned. Every calculator recommended to me online gave me anywhere from 1600 to 3000 calories burned for the exercise. This sounds insane. Can anyone who maybe has more experience help me find a ballpark figure? I'm 5 ft 6 and weigh 147 pounds. Thanks so much! I think my partners iPhone gave him 17000 steps during the hike.

Replies

  • NSthingoldline
    NSthingoldline Posts: 101 Member
    I would hate to estimate. Perhaps investing in a smartwatch/fitbit? At least that would give you a pretty good ball park number.
  • collectingblues
    collectingblues Posts: 2,541 Member
    The 1600 part doesn’t sound too out of line. I’m two inches shorter, and 26 pounds lighter, and get 100 calories per mile, so the 1600 makes sense to me...
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,464 Member
    edited February 2019
    Walking calories are .3 x bodyweight x miles. Running calories are .6 x bodyweight x miles. This is much harder than regular walking, but probably not as hard as running 9 miles so I’d split the difference, probably towards running, so maybe use .5.
    I also suggest you listen to your body and see how you feel during and after the hike and adjust your estimates next time.
    Also remember your hydration and electrolytes when hiking. 🥾 🏔
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,464 Member
    I bumped another recent thread on this topic for your reference.
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,970 Member
    You should post some photos! :-)
  • purple4sure05
    purple4sure05 Posts: 287 Member
    NSthingoldline wrote: »
    I would hate to estimate. Perhaps investing in a smartwatch/fitbit? At least that would give you a pretty good ball park number.

    You're right but I didn't have the money to drop on it before this hike :)
  • purple4sure05
    purple4sure05 Posts: 287 Member
    lorrpb wrote: »
    Walking calories are .3 x bodyweight x miles. Running calories are .6 x bodyweight x miles. This is much harder than regular walking, but probably not as hard as running 9 miles so I’d split the difference, probably towards running, so maybe use .5.

    Yeah I thought about this too. I've been a runner for years though so I find running much more manageable than this hike Haha. I wasnt sure if the incline made a difference. With this formula I get around 600 calories. I suppose that could be right. It's just that running 3 miles gives me about 300 usually and that's a piece of cake for me. In any case 600 is much more reasonable than 3000! Lol.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,389 Member
    What makes calorie estimates for mountain hiking so difficult for me is that it consists of a tough uphill hike, but an easy downhill. My downhills tend to be nearly half the time of the uphill due to some low bloodpressure issues and always being a bit anaemic. But the downhill part tends to be a lot tougher on the legs, bum and core, right? So.. no idea. I usually also estimate somewhere midway between 0.3(walking) and 0.67 (running).

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