Calories Burned Hiking Calculator

Calculate the calories you burn hiking by entering your body weight, intensity, and duration below.

Activity:

light hiking cross country hiking hiking with a day pack climbing hills with no load climbing hills with 0-9 lb load climbing hills with 10-20 lb load climbing hills with 21-42 lb load climbing hills with 42+ lb load

Body Weight:

lb kg st

Duration:

seconds minutes hours days

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Calories Burned Hiking:

Total Calories

 

calories

Calories per Hour

 

calories/hour

Learn how we calculated this below

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On this page:

• Calculator
• How Many Calories Do You Burn Hiking?
• Metabolic Equivalent of Task
• MET Formula for Calculating Calories Burned
• References

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By

Joe Sexton

Joe is the creator of Inch Calculator and has over 20 years of experience in engineering and construction. He holds several degrees and certifications.

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Reviewed by

Joseph Kelly, DPT, CPT, CSCS

Joe is a physical therapist and strength and conditioning specialist with a doctorate in of physical therapy and a strong background in strength and conditioning.

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Cite As:

Sexton, J. (n.d.). Calories Burned Hiking Calculator. Inch Calculator. Retrieved April 30, 2024, from https://www.inchcalculator.com/calories-burned-hiking-calculator/

How Many Calories Do You Burn Hiking?

Hiking is not just a fantastic way to enjoy the great outdoors, but it’s also an effective way to burn calories, lose weight, improve overall fitness. Whether you’re wandering through gentle rolling hills or challenging yourself on steep mountain paths, each step you take burns calories. But how do you know exactly how many calories you’ve burned?

To calculate the calories you burn hiking, you can use a concept called Metabolic Equivalent of Task (MET).

Metabolic Equivalent of Task

The Metabolic Equivalent of Task (MET) represents the energy cost of an activity as a multiple of the resting metabolic rate.

Simply put, one MET is the amount of oxygen consumed by the body while at rest, which is equal to 3.5 milliliters of oxygen consumed per kilogram of body weight per minute.^[1] Different activities have different MET values, depending on their intensity. For instance, sitting and watching TV might have a MET value close to 1.0, while running at a fast pace could have a MET of 10 or more.

Hiking typically has a MET value ranging from 5.3 to 9.0, depending on the intensity, terrain, and the weight of the backpack you’re carrying. The Compendium of Physical Activities provides a comprehensive list of activities and their corresponding MET values.^[2] Some common activities and their MET values are provided in the table below.

These values help to standardize the amount of energy expended across various activities and make it easier to calculate the number of calories burned during those activities.

Once you know the MET value for the task, you can use the MET formula to calculate the calories burned performing it.

MET Formula for Calculating Calories Burned

To estimate the number of calories you burn during any activity, including hiking, you can use the following formula:

calories burned = time [minutes] × ((MET × 3.5) × weight [kg] ÷ 200)

You can use this same formula to calculate the calories you burn walking or running.