Altitude calories burned

squidgybunny_276
squidgybunny_276 Posts: 25 Member
edited December 21 in Fitness and Exercise
Over the next month i'm in the Andes a fair amount of time at and above 3000m (approx 10,000ft for you Americans here!) I've been here for about a week and notice the calories burnt on my Garmin watch (with wrist HRM) are much greater for a given amount of running/walking than they are at sea level. Do i trust this? or is it just a feature of my heart beating faster but this not translating into calorie burn. I'm motivated to loose a fair amount of weight on this trip but dont want to risk underfueling.. Has anyone come across this situation, ive tried an internet seach on the problem and there wasnt much info..

Replies

  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,463 Member
    I've never heard of this. How much faster is your HR this week?
    I found this article that might help.
    https://www.outsideonline.com/1769306/do-you-burn-more-calories-high-altitudes
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
    If anything, when you are working out, you are exerting yourself less because you can’t work as hard at altitude. HRMs are passive devices—all they can do is interpret electronic impulses according to how they are programmed. They don’t know the context.
  • squidgybunny_276
    squidgybunny_276 Posts: 25 Member
    Ok thanks, thats what I thought, was just getting confused in reading about weight loss at altitude but apparently thats a result of decreases in appetite (which i dont seem to suffer from!) Thanks @lorrpb the outside article was very informative
  • cheriej2042
    cheriej2042 Posts: 241 Member
    At altitude your oxygen saturation rate declines causing your heart to work harder. When you sleep your heart rate declines naturally causing even more desaturation. I lose weight a lot more at altitude because my body is working harder to hike and climb. You may have a loss of appetite but not everyone does and most times they try to get everyone to eat more because of the calories needed for exertion. Just my experience but I find it is more pronounced above 14000 ft.
  • squidgybunny_276
    squidgybunny_276 Posts: 25 Member
    Just an update having returned, cheriej2042 is absolutely bang on with this. I lost an incredible of weight with 16 days above 4000m (14,000ft), much more than if i'd have done the equivalent walking at sea level (and was much more tired). Add this to a bout of giardia and I returned home in a much depleted state! Talking with mountaineers there seem to be undetermined processes going on at high altitudes (maybe add environmental stress, nights below 0 degrees etc), and weight loss is a very common phenomenon. Everyone is essentially doing masses of carb loading (and chocolate snack eating) each day and still coming back considerably thinner.

    I've also have lost a lot of muscle mass (there have been comments on this back home), feeling very week on what would normally be a routine training swim. Note to others who may come across this thread, listen to those with mountaineering experience, feed youself well. I'm now back and trying to deal with excessive post trip hunger, re-build muscle and not put all the weight that i've lost in muscle back on as fat!
  • ceiswyn
    ceiswyn Posts: 2,256 Member
    (Total hijack, but I keep reading the title of this thread as 'Attitude calories burned' and then being disappointed at the news that I'm not actually racking up a major burn by being grumpy on the internet...)
  • whmscll
    whmscll Posts: 2,255 Member
    :D
  • manderson27
    manderson27 Posts: 3,510 Member
    ceiswyn wrote: »
    (Total hijack, but I keep reading the title of this thread as 'Attitude calories burned' and then being disappointed at the news that I'm not actually racking up a major burn by being grumpy on the internet...)

    Have you tried adding a serving of sarcasm with your grumpy?

    Interesting thread OP. Thanks for posting.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    Azdak wrote: »
    If anything, when you are working out, you are exerting yourself less because you can’t work as hard at altitude. HRMs are passive devices—all they can do is interpret electronic impulses according to how they are programmed. They don’t know the context.

    I was going to say something along these lines. Your heart has to work harder, which is why your HR is higher, but keep in mind, HRs don't calculate cals burned, thy calculate heart rate. the calculation in the device makes assumptions based on HR, and in your case, at altitude, those assumptions become less accurate.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    cheriej2042 wrote: »
    At altitude your oxygen saturation rate declines causing your heart to work harder. When you sleep your heart rate declines naturally causing even more desaturation. I lose weight a lot more at altitude because my body is working harder to hike and climb. You may have a loss of appetite but not everyone does and most times they try to get everyone to eat more because of the calories needed for exertion. Just my experience but I find it is more pronounced above 14000 ft.

    But that doesn't mean the amount of work you did was anymore, just felt like more. so most likely didn't burn anymore, in many cases burn less because you cant go for as long or push as hard.
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
    squidgybunny_276 wrote: »
    Just an update having returned, cheriej2042 is absolutely bang on with this. I lost an incredible of weight with 16 days above 4000m (14,000ft), much more than if i'd have done the equivalent walking at sea level (and was much more tired). Add this to a bout of giardia and I returned home in a much depleted state! Talking with mountaineers there seem to be undetermined processes going on at high altitudes (maybe add environmental stress, nights below 0 degrees etc), and weight loss is a very common phenomenon. Everyone is essentially doing masses of carb loading (and chocolate snack eating) each day and still coming back considerably thinner.

    I've also have lost a lot of muscle mass (there have been comments on this back home), feeling very week on what would normally be a routine training swim. Note to others who may come across this thread, listen to those with mountaineering experience, feed youself well. I'm now back and trying to deal with excessive post trip hunger, re-build muscle and not put all the weight that i've lost in muscle back on as fat!

    I bet the weight loss had a lot more to do with giardia than altitude. And I'm pretty sure you didn't lose significant muscle in 16 days.

    -A mountaineer
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