Calculator
What the Hiking Calorie Calculator does
Hiking Calorie Calculator: calculates Calories Burned, Burn Rate (kcal/hour) and MET Used from Your Weight, Duration and Intensity (MET). Example: your weight 70 kg, duration 30 minutes and intensity (MET) 6 gives calories burned 210.
With Your Weight, Duration and Intensity (MET) entered, the Hiking Calorie Calculator works out Calories Burned, Burn Rate (kcal/hour) and MET Used. There is no submit step; the numbers move as you adjust them.
It is mostly used by readers checking a number from a clinic. Knowing how a figure is derived makes it much easier to interpret sensibly.
Nothing leaves the tab. You can watch your browser network panel while you use it and see for yourself.
Field definitions, the method, and a worked example from the default values are all set out further down the page.
What do the Hiking Calorie Calculator fields mean?
The Hiking Calorie Calculator uses 3 inputs. Rather than an empty form you get a filled one, useful when you only want to test a single change.
| Field | What to enter | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Your Weight | measured in kg; accepts 30 to 200 | 70 |
| Duration | measured in minutes; accepts 1 to 480 | 30 |
| Intensity (MET) | accepts 1 to 20 | 6 |
How does the Hiking Calorie Calculator work?
Each output is derived from the inputs above in a single pass; there is no hidden state carried between runs, so the same inputs always give the same calculation.
Bad input produces a message, not a silently incorrect figure.
Worked example
These are the values the Hiking Calorie Calculator loads by default, and the result it produces from them. The defaults produce the result shown here; change any of them and the answer moves.
| Your Weight | 70 kg |
|---|---|
| Duration | 30 minutes |
| Intensity (MET) | 6 |
| Calories Burned | 210 |
|---|---|
| Burn Rate (kcal/hour) | 420 |
| MET Used | 6.0 |
| Summary | About 210 kcal burned in 30 min of Hiking. |
MET values for hiking
Hiking sits well above walking because of terrain and load. Uneven ground alone adds roughly 1-2 MET over pavement at the same pace, before any pack is involved.
| Hiking | MET | 30 min at 70 kg |
|---|---|---|
| Hiking, cross-country | 6.0 | 221 kcal |
| Hiking with 0-4 kg pack | 7.0 | 257 kcal |
| Hiking with 5-10 kg pack | 7.5 | 276 kcal |
| Hiking with 11-20 kg pack | 8.0 | 294 kcal |
| Climbing hills, 0-4 kg load | 6.3 | 232 kcal |
| Rock climbing, ascending | 8.0 | 294 kcal |
MET values are from the 2011 Compendium of Physical Activities (Ainsworth et al., Med Sci Sports Exerc 43(8):1575-81). One MET is the energy cost of sitting quietly, roughly 3.5 ml of oxygen per kilogram per minute.
What changes the number
- Ascent is the dominant variable. Vertical metres gained predict energy cost better than horizontal distance.
- Descending is not free. Eccentric muscle work costs roughly a third of the equivalent climb and causes most of the next-day soreness.
- Pack weight adds close to linearly: each 10 kg is worth roughly 1 MET on moderate terrain.
- Altitude above about 2,500 m raises the cost of the same work through increased breathing effort.
These figures are population averages. Individual variation of 10–20% is normal, and the compendium itself is drawn from studies with modest sample sizes. Use the result to compare activities against each other, which it does well, rather than as an exact measure of what you personally burned.
Read next: BMR and TDEE: Why Every Calculator Gives You a Different Number
How to use it
- Type Your Weight in kg (30 to 200).
- Enter Duration in minutes (1 to 480).
- Set Intensity (MET) (1 to 20).
- No submit step is needed; the output updates while you edit.
- Look at Calories Burned, Burn Rate (kcal/hour), MET Used and Summary in the output panel.
- If you need a record, Copy Link saves the inputs and Print produces a clean page.
What this tool does not do
- This is a screening estimate, not a diagnosis.
- Body composition, ethnicity and age all shift what a "normal" result means.
- Where a standard has revisions, the version used is the one named in the method section.
- Garbage in, garbage out: confirm each figure means what you think it does before trusting the result.
Frequently asked questions
Enter Your Weight in kg and Duration in minutes. Both the inputs and the result are explicitly labelled, so mixed units cannot slip through unnoticed.
Your Weight accepts 30 to 200 kg. Anything beyond those bounds is flagged rather than approximated.
With the values loaded when the page opens, calories burned comes out as 210. Edit any input and that figure moves with it.
No. The work runs in JavaScript inside this page, so your values never leave your device. You can confirm it in your browser network tab.
No cost and no account. Use it as often as you like.
It is a screening estimate, not a diagnosis. The formulas are standard, but they describe averages and you are not an average. Use it as a starting point for a conversation with a professional.