Calories Burned Hiking Calculator

Hiking isn’t just a way to connect with nature and discover the beauty of the world, it is also an incredible way to connect with your body and senses.
When going on a hike, whether you are a seasoned hiker or a starting one, I’m sure the thought of ‘how many calories did I burn’ or ‘how many calories will I burn’ has crossed your mind.

Understanding how many calories you are burning is essential because it will help you plan your trips better, prepare for it, and also hit your fitness goals if you’re hiking to lose weight or get in shape.

In this article, we will talk about how hiking calorie calculators work, what kind of factors we took into consideration, the benefits of calculating calories, and how to use our calculator!

Hiking Calorie Calculator

Factors That Burn Your Calories!

Calculating calories burned isn’t a straightforward task, there are several factors that come into play when trying to calculate calories burned. The more intense the hike, the more calories you will burn, so what factors contribute to the intensity of your hike?

Pace

The faster your walking speed is, the more calories you burn, so if you’re planning on burning as many calories as possible, make it a habit to walk at faster speeds.

Terrain

When hiking more challenging terrain, you will struggle more, therefore, burning more calories. When you’re climbing, pulling yourself up, and jumping, your body will have to expend more calories to battle with the tasks you throw at it.

Weight

Your body weight is also an important factor when it comes to calorie burning, the more you weigh, the more you burn, since the heavier the individual, the more mass needs to be moved.

Backpack weight

The heavier your backpack is, the more calories you will burn. On some hikes, you won’t need a backpack at all, but if you do just know that it will contribute to further calorie burn. Some people may want to get a weighted backpack or pack weight into their backpack just so their body uses more energy and burns more calories.

Altitude

Hiking at higher altitudes will lower your oxygen levels, which will demand more energy and effort from your body, leading to extra calories burned.

Weather

This one is obvious but important to note, as this factor has a big impact on the calories burned.

When the weather is extreme, whether in cold or hot conditions, your body regulates its temperature leading to more calories burned.

Fitness Level

Your body becomes efficient at preserving energy, meaning a more seasoned hiker will burn fewer calories than someone who is less fit.

Rest

When you rest, your heart rate slows down and burns fewer calories, anytime you lower the intensity of the hike, you lower the amount of calories burned.

Gender & Age

Men generally burn more calories than women due to having a higher muscle mass.

Age can affect metabolism, with younger individuals having a higher metabolic rate.

How to use a hiking calories-burned calculator?

Using our calculator is rather straightforward, let’s lay out the steps and talk about some of the features that we have and factors we did not include.

Choosing a hiking calculator

There are plenty of hiking calculators available online, each uses a slightly different formula, but overall, most of them will give you a more or less accurate result.

Choosing the right hiking calculator for you is more about comfort rather than about the accuracy of the data.

We strive to create a very useful and comfortable calculator that can be used fast and with ease at any time!

Simply go online to any search, and type calories burned hiking calculator, this will display a lot of results that may be useful to you, or you can go to our website directly!

Measurement units

Firstly, at the top, we included 2 buttons that switch the measurement units, so our calculator is accessible to people who use the imperial units, or the metric units.

Enter the data

Next, we have the person’s body weight, for accurate results, you may want to weigh yourself with your clothes and boots on right before the hike.

After that, weigh your backpack and insert the value in the appropriate place.

Now, you’ll want to go online and check how long the trail is, usually a quick Google search can show you how many miles or kilometers you’ve walked. For most of us with smartphones and smartwatches, you can just go to your health app and check the distance covered.

Then, the time it took you to finish the trail will measure the speed of your hike, the faster it took, the more calories you burned.

Lastly, the type of hike measures the intensity of your hike, you can choose between 4 types: cross-country, uphill, downhill, and a mix of uphill and downhill.

Press the calculate button, and you should see how many calories you burned on your hike!

Benefits of using a calorie calculator

There are several benefits to using a calorie calculator.

Goal setting – If you have fitness goals like weight loss or weight gain, you need to be tracking your calories to know how much you need to eat. With a calorie calculator, you can adjust your hikes accordingly to fit your goals.

Planning – When using a calculator, you can plan your hydration and meals better, resulting in better hikes.

Motivation – It’s fun seeing how much you can push yourself to the edge, how many calories you can burn, and how many calories your favorite trails actually burn!

Comparison – It’s also fun to know the differences between your usual trails, many people might find it shocking how much energy they spend on one trail when comparing it to another.

Limitations of calories burned calculators

 

While a calories burned calculator is a valuable tool, it does have a few limitations that might display not very accurate information. So, what kind of limitations may cause this?

Individual variability

Individual various factors may affect the amount of calories you burn. Some people may have a higher or slower metabolic rate. Fitness level isn’t exact, that’s why different people may have different outcomes when it comes to calories burned.

Environmental Factors

The environment can be unexpected, so expecting an accurate result is not possible.

Backpack weight

While we do account for the weight of your backpack, something we can’t account for is the distribution of the weight. Although it is a minor limitation, it still holds a part in the amount of calories burned.

Terrain Specificity

The biggest limitation of calculating calories burned accurately is the terrain, since the complexity of it is not known exactly.

Elevation gain

When going uphill, the elevation gain has a direct effect on how many calories you burn, the steeper it is, the more calories you burn.

It’s not always possible to know what’s the elevation gain precisely and only an estimate can be given.

Conclusion

There are plenty of benefits to hiking, not only is it a good way to ease your mind and enjoy nature, it is also a great workout that burns calories and helps you stay active.

Counting the number of calories burned using a hiking calculator can have a positive effect on your fitness level and overall goals. It can help with planning your trip better, to know how much energy and calories you would need to pack in your food supplies.

There are plenty of factors that affect the energy consumption of your body and the amount of calories it burns, sometimes those factors are straightforward, while at other time, they are not accurate and only an estimate can be given. So, when you are calculating calories hiking, it is important to note that the result you get is just an estimate.