How to log it?

ShrinkingDucky

I hike fairly often, and am happy logging this. However, how do I log, or even calculate on any other site, the extra calories I burn by carrying 13-15lbs of kit?

Lietchi

I like this calculator:
https://exrx.net/Calculators/WalkRunMETs
Select 'net calories', not gross, for the calories to enter in MFP.

I'm not sure how accurate it is, but I once read that you should enter your weight including backpack etc to calculate the calories burned while carrying a load.

cmriverside

Yeah, I used to go to great lengths to try to estimate the exact calories burned.

My pack doesn't weigh more than 20 pounds usually and that amounts to just a handful of calories (like 10-20) so I stopped worrying about that a loooooong time ago. I suppose if you're carrying 60 pounds for ten hours? I dunno - even that is just bonus calories, IMO.

westrich20940

If I were you I'd try to pick up an affordable HRM with a chest strap and use that to add a source of info for estimated avg. calories burned during that workout.

I used one while hiking/running in the beginning of my weight loss (I have misplaced the chest strap.....lol). They are not necessarily exactly accurate as far as calorie burn but I would use an app (like RunKeeper or Strava...) to log my runs/hikes/walks too and it also gives a calorie burn estimate and then I'd choose and log a calorie burn number somewhere in between those two and I lost weight at the expected rate so it was obviously close enough.

I don't know how else to take into account the load you are carrying...but MFP does have a 'hiking' option that says, "climbing hills, carrying >10lb" and "climbing hills, carrying 10-20lb"

cwolfman13

Given the nature of determining calorie expenditure for a given activity being very inexact and very much an estimate, I'd not bother and just chalk it up to gravy. It's not really going to be significant anyway.

BrianSharpe

When you're walking carrying an additional 20lbs would increase your expenditure by approx 6 cal for every mile walked (assuming reasonably level terrain - if it was very hilly the expenditure would increase). As a couple of others have mentioned consider them bonus calories.

heybales

Ditto to other advice for short daily hikes - just use that exrx site with real weight (it's assuming a basic metabolic burn rate based on the weight entered - backpack isn't metabolically active for burning calories, so that's a small inflated amount if you were to add weight of backpack).

Now - if you were doing thru-hike weeks on end and hiking all day long and already at reasonable weight - now a decent estimate of calories matters so you don't lose lean mass or stress body out.

I'll see if I can find this site useful for that where it looked at incline, decline, and estimated watts needed for weight entered to do a route given. Watts to calories and there ya go.