Calories burned walking with backpack?

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amyhollar
amyhollar Posts: 107 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Does anyone know approximately how many more calories walking with a 15 lb backpack burns then walking without one? I walk about 3.5 mph and I weigh 130 lbs. Even a rough estimate would be appreciated, thanks!

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  • UpEarly
    UpEarly Posts: 2,555 Member
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    Backpacking is an exercise already included in the MFP database. So is hiking with a pack. You should be able to use either of those to figure out your calorie burn. :-)

    (Personally, I burn more than MFP says... according to my HRM, at least)
  • lauramae81
    lauramae81 Posts: 22 Member
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    If you look up Walking, carrying infant or 15-lb load under cardio on here. Hope that helps :o)
  • Angela4Health
    Angela4Health Posts: 1,319 Member
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    You should really invest in an HRM, so you'll know how many calories you're burning. If it were me and I didn't have an HRM, I would probably just log it in MFP as walking 3.5mph and then add 1 extra calorie burned for every minute. So if you walked 30 minutes, add 30 calories burned to whatever MFP calculates.. I'm not saying that's the right thing to do, but that's what I would do. You don't want to overestimate how many calories you actually burned. I walk a lot as well and push my 21lbs son up and down hills, and that will definetely burn more calories than just walking but without an HRM it's just too hard to tell.
  • amyhollar
    amyhollar Posts: 107 Member
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    Backpacking is an exercise already included in the MFP database. So is hiking with a pack. You should be able to use either of those to figure out your calorie burn. :-)

    (Personally, I burn more than MFP says... according to my HRM, at least)

    Thanks, I know those are in there, but they do not take into account how fast you are going (which makes a HUGE difference) or how much you weigh (also makes a HUGE difference)
  • amyhollar
    amyhollar Posts: 107 Member
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    If you look up Walking, carrying infant or 15-lb load under cardio on here. Hope that helps :o)

    same to this one. But thanks!
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,119 Member
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    Just get the burn for the exercise you want, and add 15 lbs to your weight in your goals. It isn't that much difference unless you are climbing hills.
  • metigger9
    metigger9 Posts: 3
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    If you are looking to help calculate your burning with a back pack load go to this site and you can calculate for FREE

    http://www.fitwatch.com/phpscripts/searchexcategories.php?category_id=06


    I just did a lot of google searches to find it myself, good luck!!!!
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,119 Member
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    yeah, www.calorielab.com has a good calculator, too. I use it a lot.
  • metigger9
    metigger9 Posts: 3
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    Well my question then to you is why did you not give her the link to be helpful, instead you shared what you did??? Then you come behind me and say yeah you use it. I am not being rude, but I think the way in which you responded to her post was a bit crass, don't you think?
  • btaylor017
    btaylor017 Posts: 1
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    That link was really helpful. I walk 3.3 miles everyday with a 50lb pack and I burn alot of calories and it's really improved my upper body strength and thighs. I picked up a military external frame ruck sack which distributes the load really comfortably between my shoulders and hips. I've been doing this since March with diet and have lost 60lbs. I initially started with approx 20lbs and worked up to 50lbs, giving time for my supporting muscles to develop effectively.
  • msomorjai
    msomorjai Posts: 1 Member
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    I would strongly suggest investing in a decent HRM.
    Get to know your own personal maximal HR, resting HR, and V02 max.
    Once you have these figures, you can get a much firmer grasp on how many calories you are burning in any activity.
    I was shocked by how many calories I actually burned ruck marching (something like 1150 an hour...)
    I would watch out with alot of the estimates on this site, as I noticed they seem to be working off of GROSS not NET calories...
    A good link for alot of fitness calculators here: http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/
  • phjorg1
    phjorg1 Posts: 642 Member
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    o.O, this site sometimes.

    If you weight 130 and carry a 15lbs backpack, do the calculations for 145lbs...

    also, hrm will not work for that low intensity... or at least not be accurate.

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