Logging weighted backpack walking

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justKayRowan
justKayRowan Posts: 3 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I've had a look through the various walking options. Is this what is meant by backpacking - the activity I'm doing is brisk walking in a hilly town with weights in my backpack, often carrying more on my return due to stopping at the shops.

Strictly, I would have thought that the backpacking activity as intended for hill and countryside walkers? However, nothing else seems to come close to describing my activity. The only other thing was carrying an infant or stone whilst walking but this delivers very similar stats to general dog walking where I know that I am exerting much more effort than that.

I suppose I am just looking for a little reassurance, being new to logging, that you just have to pick the closest thing and go with it?

Replies

  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,248 Member
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    Generally speaking walking on relatively flat terrain can be calculated using the following formula .30 x weight (in lbs) x distance (in miles) so, for example, an extra 30 lbs would mean burning an additional 9 cals / mile. I'm not quite sure how you'd account for the "hiilly" part of it....maybe just consider that a bonus?
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,970 Member
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    Backpacking means hiking for multiple days with your home, clothing, and kitchen on your back, and camping at night. Pack weight tends to be very high, terrain is rough, steep, and unpaved.
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,464 Member
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    You might feel as though you're exerting more effort than you would walking a dog, but that doesn't mean you're burning a lot more calories. How much added weight are you carrying and for how far?
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,970 Member
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    Yeah, @justKayRowan


    Just pick something and go with it.

    I used to just add 25 calories when I carried my 15 pound pack for three miles. I don't know how close I was, but it was close enough...I mean, you're gonna make 100-200 calories per day in food logging errors anyway - no matter how careful you are.

    Close enough is good enough. Pick something, stick with it for a month and see how it goes. 25 calories is the amount in a medium carrot . . . so . . .
  • sgt1372
    sgt1372 Posts: 3,978 Member
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    Try this:

    https://caloriesburnedhq.com/calories-burned-hiking/
  • I2k4
    I2k4 Posts: 180 Member
    edited July 2021
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    Interesting to me, deciding not to bother with a wrist fitness tracker's step counter (though using other features) both for general inaccuracy and not reflecting activities like stairs or weighted carries. A quick web search turns up various sources, e.g.

    http://www.fitclick.com/calories_burned?srch=walking&page=3

    Can't vouch but looks like the ballpark.
  • autumnblade75
    autumnblade75 Posts: 1,660 Member
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    Here is a great calculator. https://exrx.net/Calculators/WalkRunMETs

    I would consider that you should be able to enter the weight of yourself plus a backpack to find a general estimate of the number of calories you'd burn per mile. I have found, through experimentation, that if your uphill and downhill rates are balanced, as in a looped course or out and back, where you end up at your starting point, the calories average back to the same as if you were walking a flat course. Of course, that would be different if you walk out with an empty pack downhill all the way and back laden uphill - or vice versa.

    Play around with some numbers and decide whether you are loading up enough (or traveling uphill or downhill enough) to worry about adjusting your estimate, or figure out how much adjustment would even be reasonable!

    Remember to click to "Net" calories though - that's what you'll want to enter as your exercise calories. "Gross" would include the calories you burn just by existing during the time you spend walking, and there's no good reason to double-dip.

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