How Many Calories Does Hiking Burn?

Hiking is a great way to lose weight and keep that weight off. It’s great fun, has a lower impact than running and can burn just as many calories under the right conditions. How many calories you burn depends on a number of factors.

The factors include: 

  • your weight; 
  • the weight of your backpack;
  • amount of climbing;
  • the type of terrain; 
  • the distance walked; and
  • the time taken to walk that distance. 

These are lot of factors to consider, so I’ve created the following fun calculator to give a general estimate of the amount of calories burnt while indulging in your favorite pursuit. 

The calculator gives the amount of net calories burnt.

Click here for the hiking calorie calculator.


I also use this calculator to plan the amount of food that I will need to carry for a multi-day hike. 

In a future article I will discuss my food choices for a multi-day hike to optimize the most amount of calories for the least amount of weight. 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.