When you are hiking, you are burning a high amount of calories, more than many other fitness activities. This is because hiking is not just regular walking, but you are carrying weight, going at different speeds, and often going up and down various inclines. Take a look at how many calories you can potentially burn while you are hiking.
The Average Calories Burned
The first way to know how many calories you may have burned during a hike is to look at the average calories burned. This is usually based on an average man or woman and is calculated per hour of hiking. The average amount that an adult between 160 and 200 pounds will burn in an hour of hiking is between 450 and 550 calories per hour.
There is a lot that goes into these numbers, so this is nothing more than an approximate number. You should use more specific data to figure out how many calories you can burn during this type of workout.
Looking at Your Weight and Calories Burned
A better way to look at how many calories you can burn while hiking is to consider your weight and the speed of walking. For example, if you are going on more of a casual hike at about 3.0 mph and you weigh 180 pounds, you might burn 270 calories for that hour.
However, someone that is hiking uphill for an hour that is the same weight burns between 575 and 600 calories per hour. The number difference is huge, so even when using tables, it can vary quite a bit for each person.
Using an Activity Tracker
As you might have guessed, the most accurate way to tell how many calories you have burned while hiking is to use an activity tracker like a Fitbit. You will wear this tracker on your wrist and connect it to an app on your phone or mobile device. You let the tracker app know when you are about to start the hike and when you stop it.
It will look at the calories you have burned, which goes based on your movements, weight, and other statistics. Nothing is going to be exact to the number, but since this uses advanced tracking technology, it is going to be closest to the number of calories you actually burn for this type of exercise.
