How I log a walk with a backpack

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kayak4water
kayak4water Posts: 155 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I ask myself: walk vs hike when using the Mapmyfitness app? (it syncs with MFP) When I go, I'll often just accept either is in the app and go. A hike "burns" 20-25% more than a walk.

I did find a web page that gives the hourly expenditure for different types of self propelled motion on two feet. http://www.nutristrategy.com/caloriesburnedwalking.htm ,
Nothing in there about walking an urban route with a 12 lb backpack.

Should I get a Heart Rate (HR) monitor?
Well, HR and cal burn don't correlate well: https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2017/05/fitness-trackers-accurately-measure-heart-rate-but-not-calories-burned.html

I decided not to obsess and to do this:
1 if I walk my 5 mile urban route with a pack weight less than 5 lb, I would use "walk" and
2 if I carry a 12 lb pack, a few lb short of what I take backpacking I'd use "hike" and
3 monitor my weight.

Replies

  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,868 Member
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    You would use walk.

    A reasonable way to calculate net calories burned walking is .31xBWxDistance Just add the weight of the pack to your body weight.

    Hiking is typically over varied and more challenging terrain and often significant elevation gains. You may have to traverse boulders or fallen trees, etc.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,082 Member
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    yeah, I do it the way cwolfman13 says.
  • endermako
    endermako Posts: 785 Member
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    i just prefer my HRM instead. My HR changes when I walk without weight and with my Ruck
  • pondee629
    pondee629 Posts: 2,469 Member
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    "Backpacking, general", 11 calories a minute. In the MFP data base for exercises.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,145 Member
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    I log walks with a backpack the same as I log walks without a backpack ... as a walk.
  • RadishEater
    RadishEater Posts: 470 Member
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    I usually use the calories burned by approximating how fast I am walking i.e 2.5mph, 3 mph, 4mph, which has been working for me for almost a year. For wearing a backpack you could use sparkpeople (https://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/calories_burned.asp?exercise=315) to see how the extra 10 pounds affects your calories burned. An hour walk at 3mph would net me 16 more calories if I included the backpack weight.

    The .31xBWxDistance really underestimates calories for me by about 70-100.

    It would be best to pick a method to log your exercise and see if you are underfueling or over fueling your body, how the scale or other measurement tool reacts and adjust your logging as needed
  • kayak4water
    kayak4water Posts: 155 Member
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    What do you do if you logged an urban journey with a 12 lb backpack as a "Walk" and you feel hungry at the end of the day before going to bed? Do you eat a couple fried eggs?

    FWIW, MFP says a 99 minute walk is the same as a 99 minute hike, but a hike with 10-20 lb rates almost twice the calorie burn. Puzzled
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
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    I like this link. For a weighted backpack, you just add the weight of the pack to your weight when doing the calculation. If you're using the calories for eat-back purposes, make sure to switch energy to "net".

    https://www.exrx.net/Calculators/WalkRunMETs
  • kayak4water
    kayak4water Posts: 155 Member
    edited April 2018
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    amusedmonkey wrote: »
    I like this link. For a weighted backpack, you just add the weight of the pack to your weight when doing the calculation. If you're using the calories for eat-back purposes, make sure to switch energy to "net".

    https://www.exrx.net/Calculators/WalkRunMETs

    Looked at it. Mapmyfitness gives me total elevation gain 644' over 5.95 mi (route is a loop with two big climbs). I found this website to calculate the grade: http://veloroutes.org/tools/ 2 % grade. Without the webpage, the calculation is pretty simple, actually, elevation gain divided by miles walked divided again by 52.8. 644/5.95/52.8=2.05
    exrx.net says I burned 612 calories.

    Mapmyfitness said I burned 598 for a "walk." so close!

    Thanks!
  • sgt1372
    sgt1372 Posts: 3,989 Member
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    I use the following for hikes, but you could use it for walks too when wearing a backpack

    https://caloriesburnedhq.com/calories-burned-hiking/
  • bbell1985
    bbell1985 Posts: 4,572 Member
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    I always have a backpack on. I have never once thought about this or logged a walk. Not to say I don't overthink a lot of other diet/fitness things.
  • Cbean08
    Cbean08 Posts: 1,092 Member
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    It's a walk... stop overthinking it and log it as a walk, backpack or not. 12 lbs is not a lot.
  • iyobosaaiyanyo
    iyobosaaiyanyo Posts: 22 Member
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    Hello
    I go for weighted walks using a 20kg weighted vest.
    All I do is add 20kg to my body weight before I start and let the app do the rest.
    I tried this using 2 different apps running at the same time and the calories burn was more of less the same

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