Weighing 150lbs vs weighing 100 and carrying 50lbs?

tacolover10231989

Hello I was thinking about this and was wondering...

If you are 100lbs and walk a mile and burn 35 calories but then walk the same mile carrying 50lbs, would you burn the same amount as someone of 150lbs walking the distance? I ask because physics would say yes but it seems like it would be so much harder to walk the distance carrying it than if you were simply 150lbs.

For those who have lost a lot of weight. If you carry around the amount of weight you lost does it feel exactly like it did when you were heavier? I am wondering if carrying around a weight would give me an idea of how it really would feel to be overweight. Or if it feels completely different l.

lynn_glenmont

If you weigh 150 lbs, your body will be used to moving 150 lbs around (assuming you haven't been limiting movement and are suddenly now getting up and walking a mile) -- that is, you should be in condition to move 150 lbs, particularly with respect to how that 150 lbs is distributed on your body and how much of 150 lbs various muscles must support.

If you just pick up a 50 lb weight, or pack a backpack or weight vest with 50 lbs of weight, and go for a 1 mile walk, and it's the first time you've done that, it's a pretty big incremental increase in what you're asking your body to do. You haven't built up the muscles to support that, so of course it's going to feel a lot harder.

If I build up gradually to running eight miles a day, it's going to feel a lot easier than if I try to jump from couch potato to an eight-mile run in one day. Same thing here.

In addition, depending on how the 100 lb person distributes that 50 lbs of weight, you could run the risk of injuries, and even mild strains are going to make it feel harder.

Last thought -- it's going to make a difference whether the 100 lb person and the 150 lb person are both at healthy weights and reasonably fit. A short person who is significantly overweight or obese at 150 lbs and not fit could very well find the one-mile walk harder than a short person who is at a healthy weight at 100 lbs and who is a well-conditioned athlete.

SuzySunshine99

I don’t know the answer to the calorie burn question.

But as far as how it feels...it is different because when you weight more, the weight is evenly distributed over your body. If you were carrying a weight, it would be concentrated in a certain area.

As a personal example...I lost 40 pounds. When I hike with my big backpack, packed with 40 pounds of gear, it is much more strenuous of a hike than when I was 40 pounds heavier and carrying no backpack.

Hodgy2357

I've lost 30 pounds so far and can confidently tell you carrying 30 pounds in say a rucksack and being 30 pounds heavier and walking are very different. Think a lot of it is in the distribution. In terms of calories body composition matters a lot, as well as age and fitness.

hipari

Assuming the extra 50lbs on the 150lbs are not purely fat/liquids, the heavier person likely also has more muscle, so they would have more muscle power to carry their 150lbs vs someone whose muscle power only supports 100lbs daily and then gets extra weight on a backpack.

heybales

Both carrying the same weight.

But 50 lbs on 1 person is metabolically active tissue - burning calories 24 hrs a day.

Therefore the calories to move the total mass a certain pace is the same - but the calories also being burned for being alive is different.

If fat was purely the 50 lb difference, that's only about 2 cal/lb day, so 100 cal, so in your 15 min mile walk - about 1 cal difference.

So negligible. Thought I'd throw that out there for accuracy.

Biggest effect, if walking can be your only workout, and you can generally only increase speed so much - you will lose fitness if you lose weight while doing it and don't compensate. Less workout for muscles, for heart, ect.
Hence advice to carry the lost weight in body vest spread out. But that is still extra on the shoulders where it likely was not before.

That will feel better than in a backpack for balance at least. But it's not the same balance as on-body weight. Extra weight on arms is usually minimal compared to other areas.
Though a hiking backpack with good hip belt taking weight off the shoulders/back felt about the same to me.
Much easier than just shoulder backpack.

Jthanmyfitnesspal

I think it's a very interesting question and @heybales makes a great point that your extra weight is always burning extra calories. Not as much if it's adipose tissue (fat) as when it's muscle or your brain, but still something.

I also point out that some people like walking and running with extra weight so much that they buy a weight vest so they can do it comfortably. Others like backpacking. Yes, both are much harder than walking without weight!

penguinmama87

tacolover10231989 wrote: »

Hello I was thinking about this and was wondering...

If you are 100lbs and walk a mile and burn 35 calories but then walk the same mile carrying 50lbs, would you burn the same amount as someone of 150lbs walking the distance? I ask because physics would say yes but it seems like it would be so much harder to walk the distance carrying it than if you were simply 150lbs.

For those who have lost a lot of weight. If you carry around the amount of weight you lost does it feel exactly like it did when you were heavier? I am wondering if carrying around a weight would give me an idea of how it really would feel to be overweight. Or if it feels completely different l.

There are some humorous videos around where they stick pretend baby bumps (so, a sudden increase of weight) on expecting dads so they can get an idea of what the moms are going through. It doesn't come anywhere close to experiencing it internally, and obviously just like gaining weight a baby grows slowly (though I have had the days where I reach up to open a cabinet and suddenly can't because my belly is in the way, when I'm sure I could the day before!) But the expectant dads usually do figure out that when pregnant women suffer little aches and pains and feel awkward moving in a way they aren't accustomed to, they aren't just making stuff up - it's definitely real!

I don't carry weighted packs but I do walk regularly with my 10 month old baby in a carrier. My weight right now + carrier + baby is a little bit under my highest pregnancy weight. It's higher up and supported differently (I can also carry on my front or on my back.) If baby's awake, she also helps hold herself up - a fast asleep baby feels much heavier, though also wiggles less! It does feel harder to use the carrier than to not be holding her, but it's also something I'm rather used to. It would probably be much harder if I wasn't used to it at all. This happens with my arms too - new parents might have tired arms and back from porting around a 7-8 pound newborn, but if I hold up a newborn right now it feels almost ludicrously easy. They don't fight you and they weigh only a third of what my baby does!

kshama2001

penguinmama87 wrote: »

tacolover10231989 wrote: »

Hello I was thinking about this and was wondering...

If you are 100lbs and walk a mile and burn 35 calories but then walk the same mile carrying 50lbs, would you burn the same amount as someone of 150lbs walking the distance? I ask because physics would say yes but it seems like it would be so much harder to walk the distance carrying it than if you were simply 150lbs.

For those who have lost a lot of weight. If you carry around the amount of weight you lost does it feel exactly like it did when you were heavier? I am wondering if carrying around a weight would give me an idea of how it really would feel to be overweight. Or if it feels completely different l.

There are some humorous videos around where they stick pretend baby bumps (so, a sudden increase of weight) on expecting dads so they can get an idea of what the moms are going through. It doesn't come anywhere close to experiencing it internally, and obviously just like gaining weight a baby grows slowly (though I have had the days where I reach up to open a cabinet and suddenly can't because my belly is in the way, when I'm sure I could the day before!) But the expectant dads usually do figure out that when pregnant women suffer little aches and pains and feel awkward moving in a way they aren't accustomed to, they aren't just making stuff up - it's definitely real!

I don't carry weighted packs but I do walk regularly with my 10 month old baby in a carrier. My weight right now + carrier + baby is a little bit under my highest pregnancy weight. It's higher up and supported differently (I can also carry on my front or on my back.) If baby's awake, she also helps hold herself up - a fast asleep baby feels much heavier, though also wiggles less! It does feel harder to use the carrier than to not be holding her, but it's also something I'm rather used to. It would probably be much harder if I wasn't used to it at all. This happens with my arms too - new parents might have tired arms and back from porting around a 7-8 pound newborn, but if I hold up a newborn right now it feels almost ludicrously easy. They don't fight you and they weigh only a third of what my baby does!

On a related note, my GYN doesn't understand how I can live with my very large fibroids, but they took 20 years to get this big and the only time they bother me is when they blow up a little more when I ovulate. (As I am 54, I should go into menopause ANY TIME NOW, which according to all my reading will help considerably.)

Theo166

The 150 lb person is just doing business as usual, even if they have 50 lbs of fat

The 100 lb person just put a huge strain on their joints and muscles, they are really going to feel it the next day.

They are not the same.

kshama2001

When I used to watch The Biggest Loser, a regular feature when they were down to around five contestants was for them to get all the weight they lost back in various sized weighted belts that went around different parts of their bodies that they had to wear while performing a physical challenge.

While it was more than 50 pounds, it was also distributed around their bodies.

I remember lots of complaints about how difficult carrying the weight this way was.

corinasue1143

Just for fun—
I was walking home one day carrying groceries. They were so heavy and I was so tired. I had to stop and rest several times. When I got home, I weighed them. 15 pounds. I had just lost about 20 pounds in the last 3 months.
No facts, no figures. Just a thing that makes you say “hmmm”.

spyro88

I think it's different.

I've lost just over 11kg (24lbs). I have an 8kg (17.6lbs) kettlebell, and if I were to pick that up and try to walk around with it all day, it would be a lot harder than simply walking around in my body when I weighed more.

wunderkindking

I did not typically lug all the fat weight around with my arms (or legs, or back). Evenly distributed across multiple muscle groups is radically different than one muscle group doing all the work.