Calories burned for a larger lady?

[Hot Flash]

I haven't had any issues with it, but we're talking a couple of drops just to make it look different. You can always put it in the olive oil instead...

[sdh59]

I'm guessing it would be fine! A lot of soaps are weird colors so it can't be too​ bad!

[rocketsocks]

sdh59, I know zilch about weight loss, never had to do it really (skinny guy with a little mid drift)...except for water weight, which came right off. But just wanted to also say to Whiteblaze.

[sdh59]

Thanks rocketsocks! I'm not really looking for weight loss (though I know it will happen). I just wanted to know how many calories to bring with me!

[Malto]

I'm not planning 20+ a day at all! I was planning 10-15, hoping for 12-13 on average over the whole trip. With the 4000-4500, though, now it seems like the flip-side and that seems too low. I tried to base it off of the calculators recommended on here and then a spreadsheet I found in the way back times of this site (can't find the link now, I'll keep looking).

There have been a multitude of threads on calories per mile/day. Take your pick

http://www.google.com/search?q=white...w=1024&bih=672

[sdh59]

There have been a multitude of threads on calories per mile/day. Take your pick

Yes, I know. And just like I initially wrote, I've use MANY of the calories/day/hour/mile/whatever calculators both on this site and off of it. My issue was the number from those calculators is that it seemed impossibly high, and then your number seemed impossibly low.

[Mr. Clean]

A trail bar recipe that I got from Gumball is this:
Trail Dots -
3 cups oatmeal (dry)
3.5 cups anything
mix together and add 3 T melted butter
add 1 can condensed milk
mix and bake at 325 for 15-20 minutes

I make mine in those muffin top pans, sometimes use fat free condensed milk, and will put dried fruit, nuts, m&ms, coconut, etc in them. They are a hardish consistensy.

[takethisbread]

Re supply is so frequent you can let your body tell you. It will fall into place quickly. You can re supply at the 30 mile mark, so no need to stress. Always carry two Extra meals is a rule I try to follow in case you get hung up by terrain or weather .

Thanks rocketsocks! I'm not really looking for weight loss (though I know it will happen). I just wanted to know how many calories to bring with me!

[MuddyWaters]

I am not being mean.
But if you weight 320, you should not claim that you are in "fairly good physical condition", you are not.
You just dont have serious health problems due to it apparently, which is good, but is far from the same thing.

I dont think you are realistic with yourself about the difficulties you will encounter at that weight.

[JAK]

Hey guys! This is my first post, but I did my research before posting! I see a lot on here that the "average" person burns 5000-7000 calories a day hiking. By average I'm going to assume ~165 lbs of whatever gender you please.

Now, I'm a larger lady and I've been looking at every online calculator posted at they pretty much all say that hiking 8 hours a day at whatever pace they set (not really sure why they go by time rather than miles at x miles an hour) would have me burning 8000-9000 calories on top of my ~2200 BMR. Is that accurate? I find it really hard to believe that I could burn 10000 calories a day, even at the beginning, but that's what pretty much all of the internet is throwing back at me. Are these calculators to be taken with a grain of salt? Is there something that I'm missing?

Thoughts?

First of all, even "scientific" generalizations tend to be over generalizations. When we talk about an average person burning 5000-7000 calories a day hiking it does not mean the average person in North American, or the World, or even the average hiker in North America or the World. So who then, does burn 5000-7000 calories a day hiking? Not as many people as most might think.

Secondly, it is not a function of body weight. A better indicator would be lean body mass. An even better indicator than that would be your cardiovascular capacity. It really comes down to how much work you legs can do in one day, and still repair themselves in order to do it again the next day. For that endurance athletes that use their legs alot tend to outperform strength athletes with more upper body muscle mass. So it's not really a function of body weight, or lean body weight, or even lung power, but lung power is probably a pretty good indicator.

Thirdly, even Basal Metabolic Rate should not be based on total body weight. While body fat does contribute to your basal metabolic rate, it doesn't as much as muscle. Brain contributes the most, pound for pound, but it is pretty much constant. I would calculate your BMR first, based on your age, gender, lean body mass, additional body fat, using several formulas available. I would then measure it by keeping track of food intake over a 10 day period without much activity or weight change, and subtract off whatever activity was performed.

Finally, determine for yourself how much you can outperform your BMR over a long period. It is easier if you spread the work over 8-12 hours rather than 1-2 hours a day of higher intensity exercise, but it is still hard to keep up. If you have a BMR of 2000 calories, which might be slightly above average but a good round number for younger men, then you might be able to do another 2 or 3 times that much in one day, but perhaps only 2 times that much day in and day out for an extended period. That would be where the 5000-7000 would come in, for the 'average' young male hiker, in my opinion.

I am 6' 210 pounds, 50 year old male. I am overweight but I still have good endurance. At 185 10 years ago I could run a 43min 10k and a 100min 20k and a mile under 6 minutes. More recently, close to that if I got my weight back down. So I would say I am above average, but I would also say 5000-7000 calories a day is a stretch for me. Perhaps with time, if my body held up, I could do better.

Once you figure out how many calories per day you can maintain, from their you should be able to figure out how many miles per day you can maintain. Mile per day is a function of your net energy capacity (Total Calories - Basal Calories ) divided by your total weight on feet including gear etc. You could also factor in net elevation gain where ever 500 feet gain is the equivalent of an extra mile. however you work it, if you reduce weight on feet by 10% you can cover 10% more distance.

How do some do 30 miles per day, or better?
1. They are fit enough to maintain 4-6 times their basal metabolism compared to 2 for most of us.
2. They don't have excess gear weight, body fat, or muscle bulk.

So fitness will get you about 2 to 3 times as far, and being lean can make that more like 3 to 5.
10 miles per day for an 'average' person, 30 to 50 miles per day for an 'elite' endurance hike.
If the 'average' person is 180-200 pounds including gear, that might be 5000 calories per day.
If the 'elite' endurance hiker is 160-180 pounds with gear, that might be 8000 to 12000.

[bonsai]

I'm curious, does anyone know of successful 300+ lb thru hikers? I'm sure it could be done; they'd have to be really tough. What's the heaviest you've ever seen a person complete a thru hike?

[Marta]

I ran into several people who had lost more than sixty pounds during their hikes. Since they were not exactly scrawny even then, they must have been around 300 when they started.

[atraildreamer]

First of all, even "scientific" generalizations tend to be over generalizations. When we talk about an average person burning 5000-7000 calories a day hiking it does not mean the average person in North American, or the World, or even the average hiker in North America or the World. So who then, does burn 5000-7000 calories a day hiking? Not as many people as most might think.

Secondly, it is not a function of body weight. A better indicator would be lean body mass. An even better indicator than that would be your cardiovascular capacity. It really comes down to how much work you legs can do in one day, and still repair themselves in order to do it again the next day. For that endurance athletes that use their legs alot tend to outperform strength athletes with more upper body muscle mass. So it's not really a function of body weight, or lean body weight, or even lung power, but lung power is probably a pretty good indicator.

Thirdly, even Basal Metabolic Rate should not be based on total body weight. While body fat does contribute to your basal metabolic rate, it doesn't as much as muscle. Brain contributes the most, pound for pound, but it is pretty much constant. I would calculate your BMR first, based on your age, gender, lean body mass, additional body fat, using several formulas available. I would then measure it by keeping track of food intake over a 10 day period without much activity or weight change, and subtract off whatever activity was performed.

Finally, determine for yourself how much you can outperform your BMR over a long period. It is easier if you spread the work over 8-12 hours rather than 1-2 hours a day of higher intensity exercise, but it is still hard to keep up. If you have a BMR of 2000 calories, which might be slightly above average but a good round number for younger men, then you might be able to do another 2 or 3 times that much in one day, but perhaps only 2 times that much day in and day out for an extended period. That would be where the 5000-7000 would come in, for the 'average' young male hiker, in my opinion.

I am 6' 210 pounds, 50 year old male. I am overweight but I still have good endurance. At 185 10 years ago I could run a 43min 10k and a 100min 20k and a mile under 6 minutes. More recently, close to that if I got my weight back down. So I would say I am above average, but I would also say 5000-7000 calories a day is a stretch for me. Perhaps with time, if my body held up, I could do better.

Once you figure out how many calories per day you can maintain, from their you should be able to figure out how many miles per day you can maintain. Mile per day is a function of your net energy capacity (Total Calories - Basal Calories ) divided by your total weight on feet including gear etc. You could also factor in net elevation gain where ever 500 feet gain is the equivalent of an extra mile. however you work it, if you reduce weight on feet by 10% you can cover 10% more distance.

How do some do 30 miles per day, or better?
1. They are fit enough to maintain 4-6 times their basal metabolism compared to 2 for most of us.
2. They don't have excess gear weight, body fat, or muscle bulk.

So fitness will get you about 2 to 3 times as far, and being lean can make that more like 3 to 5.
10 miles per day for an 'average' person, 30 to 50 miles per day for an 'elite' endurance hike.
If the 'average' person is 180-200 pounds including gear, that might be 5000 calories per day.
If the 'elite' endurance hiker is 160-180 pounds with gear, that might be 8000 to 12000.

What JAK is saying is right on target. I'd sum it up as saying that everyone is different. Find out what works for you. A few years ago, I posted the following article at WB. Download the Diet Log and the Expanded Nutribase Table. Plug in some numbers and the Diet Log will generate a lot of useful information to help you establish your own baseline. The Nutribase Table will give you an approximate idea of calories burned at various activity levels. Hope this helps.

http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/show...rol&highlight=

[prain4u]

First of all, even "scientific" generalizations tend to be over generalizations. When we talk about an average person burning 5000-7000 calories a day hiking it does not mean the average person in North American, or the World, or even the average hiker in North America or the World. So who then, does burn 5000-7000 calories a day hiking? Not as many people as most might think.

Secondly, it is not a function of body weight. A better indicator would be lean body mass. An even better indicator than that would be your cardiovascular capacity. It really comes down to how much work you legs can do in one day, and still repair themselves in order to do it again the next day. For that endurance athletes that use their legs alot tend to outperform strength athletes with more upper body muscle mass. So it's not really a function of body weight, or lean body weight, or even lung power, but lung power is probably a pretty good indicator.

Thirdly, even Basal Metabolic Rate should not be based on total body weight. While body fat does contribute to your basal metabolic rate, it doesn't as much as muscle. Brain contributes the most, pound for pound, but it is pretty much constant. I would calculate your BMR first, based on your age, gender, lean body mass, additional body fat, using several formulas available. I would then measure it by keeping track of food intake over a 10 day period without much activity or weight change, and subtract off whatever activity was performed.

Finally, determine for yourself how much you can outperform your BMR over a long period. It is easier if you spread the work over 8-12 hours rather than 1-2 hours a day of higher intensity exercise, but it is still hard to keep up. If you have a BMR of 2000 calories, which might be slightly above average but a good round number for younger men, then you might be able to do another 2 or 3 times that much in one day, but perhaps only 2 times that much day in and day out for an extended period. That would be where the 5000-7000 would come in, for the 'average' young male hiker, in my opinion.

I am 6' 210 pounds, 50 year old male. I am overweight but I still have good endurance. At 185 10 years ago I could run a 43min 10k and a 100min 20k and a mile under 6 minutes. More recently, close to that if I got my weight back down. So I would say I am above average, but I would also say 5000-7000 calories a day is a stretch for me. Perhaps with time, if my body held up, I could do better.

Once you figure out how many calories per day you can maintain, from their you should be able to figure out how many miles per day you can maintain. Mile per day is a function of your net energy capacity (Total Calories - Basal Calories ) divided by your total weight on feet including gear etc. You could also factor in net elevation gain where ever 500 feet gain is the equivalent of an extra mile. however you work it, if you reduce weight on feet by 10% you can cover 10% more distance.

How do some do 30 miles per day, or better?
1. They are fit enough to maintain 4-6 times their basal metabolism compared to 2 for most of us.
2. They don't have excess gear weight, body fat, or muscle bulk.

So fitness will get you about 2 to 3 times as far, and being lean can make that more like 3 to 5.
10 miles per day for an 'average' person, 30 to 50 miles per day for an 'elite' endurance hike.
If the 'average' person is 180-200 pounds including gear, that might be 5000 calories per day.
If the 'elite' endurance hiker is 160-180 pounds with gear, that might be 8000 to 12000.

To translate this into English---There are many variables which determine what your caloric needs will be---and no two people are alike. There are several ways to calculate and predict (a bit more closely and accurately) what your caloric needs may be. JAK then outlines those a method or two.

I am just a simple country boy--so my answer is this....

Bottom line: You are probably going to burn a great many calories when you hike. The calculators will give you a good GENERAL idea as a starting point. However, you will just have to just get out there, experiment and see what works for you. Without some testing, no one can tell you--with great accuracy--how many calories you will really need.

If you really are able to consistently hike 12-13 mile days at your current body weight--the calculators might not be too far off regarding the number of calories burned.

I applaud your desire to get out there and do this. I wish you luck and much success.

My own personal experience (and the experience of many people that I have talked to) would seem to indicate that (when backpacking) extra weight (either body weight or pack weight) often takes its toll on things like knees, ankles and feet. I think that factor will perhaps limit your miles per day and probably have you hiking closer to the 6-8 mile per day range-especially in the first month. That will perhaps mean you that burn less calories per day. However, it may also increase the number of days between food resupply and cause you to carry more days worth of food at a time. Either way, you probably need to resign yourself (like most hikers do) to carrying a lot more food than you initially envisioned. The amount of calories that we consume at home is rarely close to what we need on the trail. We often have to double or triple that "at home" caloric amount when we hike--if we want to hike in a healthy fashion.

[prain4u]

At 5'7" 180 lbs (yes, overweight)--I typically lose 5-7 lbs of weight in a week when backpacking 15 miles per day (over rough terrain) on a 5000-5500 calorie per day diet. Your Mileage May Vary.

[atraildreamer]

Also, for anyone interested, these are the direct download links for whichever thread I found that got me my excel documents.
This is the numbers spreadsheet for a woman. FemaleAdultDietLogVer10.xls
This is the "exercise" spreadsheet! ExpandedNutribaseTable.xls

Guess I should read ALL of the thread before posting!

Glad you found my article. I hope it helped.

[RockDoc]

A lot of hikers seem to loose about one pound/day, if they get out there and actually hike full (8hr+) days and only eat food they carry plus the odd obligatory town gorging.

It's one of the best ways to loose weight, although you do need decent fitness to begin with or you may get either discouraged or injured, or both. In particular, knee problems are rampant among the heaviest hikers and there's not much you can do about that besides loose the weight. Studies show one pound on the body is 4 lbs on the knees== no-win situation if you are too heavy and throw on a heavy pack.

[atraildreamer]

Deleted...double post! (I hate Windows 8!)

[Feral Bill]

At your weight, you are unlikely to run short on calories too soon. Perhaps focusing on protein and other nutrients in your diet would be more to the point? Take care and have a great hiking career.

[takethisbread]

There was a hiker who made it to Maine a couple years ago who started in February at around 500lbs he hiked slowly from what he said, like shelter to shelter the whole way. Don't think he finished, but came close he lost at least 250lbs. There was a woman a little ahead of him that lost 72lbs. I believe. She did very well. Finished

I'm curious, does anyone know of successful 300+ lb thru hikers? I'm sure it could be done; they'd have to be really tough. What's the heaviest you've ever seen a person complete a thru hike?