Calories Burned Hiking Calculator
Calculate the calories you burn hiking by entering your body weight, intensity, and duration below.
Calories Burned Hiking:
Total Calories
Calories per Hour
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Joe is the creator of Inch Calculator and has over 20 years of experience in engineering and construction. He holds several degrees and certifications.
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.
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.
For example, let’s say you weigh 70 kg, and you go for a 2-hour hike with an intensity that corresponds to a MET value of 5.3. Using the formula, the calculation to find the calories burned on this hike looks like this:
calories burned = 120 minutes × ((5.3 × 3.5) × 70 kg ÷ 200) = 779 kcal
So, for this hike, you would have burned approximately 779 calories. You can use our pounds to kilograms converter to get the correct weight value for this formula as needed.
References
- Jetté, M., Sidney, K., & Blümchen, G., Metabolic equivalents (METS) in exercise testing, exercise prescription, and evaluation of functional capacity, Clinical cardiology, 1990, 13(8), 555–565. https://doi.org/10.1002/clc.4960130809
- Ainsworth BE, Haskell WL, Herrmann SD, Meckes N, Bassett Jr DR, Tudor-Locke C, Greer JL, Vezina J, Whitt-Glover MC, Leon AS, The Compendium of Physical Activities Tracking Guide, Healthy Lifestyles Research Center, College of Nursing & Health Innovation, Arizona State University, https://pacompendium.com/