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Routes Recipes and Wild Experiences from the West Coast of Scotland

Hiking Calories Burned Calculator

When I’m planning multi-day hikes in the Scottish mountains and other upland environments, one of my biggest challenges is figuring out how much food to bring. Carrying too little means running out of energy on the trail; carrying too much means an unnecessarily heavy pack. To help myself (and hopefully others!), I built this Hiking Calories Burned Calculator.

Hiking Calories Calculator
Estimates daily calories burned while hiking, with pack & ascent
Note: This is an estimate for healthy adults under typical conditions. Weather, terrain, fitness, and pace can change your actual energy needs.

What this calculator does

This tool estimates how many calories you burn per day while hiking, taking into account:

  • Your height, weight, age, and gender (to calculate your Basal Metabolic Rate, or BMR).
  • The weight of your pack (because even a few kilos can add up over miles).
  • The distance you plan to hike and the total ascent (both matter in how long and how hard you’ll be walking).
  • The number of days your hike will last, so you can see calorie needs on a daily basis and for the trip as a whole.

The output gives you three useful numbers:

  • Daily calories (total): the total energy you’ll need on each hiking day, combining your base metabolism and the energy you’ll burn on the trail.
  • Hiking calories per day: just the calories from the hiking itself.
  • Trip total (all days): the grand total for your whole hike.

How it works

The calculator combines a few tried-and-tested models:

  • Mifflin–St Jeor Equation to estimate your BMR (the calories your body burns at rest).
  • Naismith’s Rule to estimate how long you’ll spend hiking each day, based on distance and ascent.
  • MET values (Metabolic Equivalent of Task) to convert hiking hours into calorie burn, with adjustments for pack weight and uphill grade.

The result is a realistic estimate of how much energy you’ll burn each day in the hills. Of course, it’s not perfect—factors like terrain, weather, pace, and fitness can all affect the actual numbers—but it’s a practical starting point for backpacking food planning.

How to use it

  1. Enter your personal details, pack weight, distance, ascent, and trip length.
  2. Hit “Calculate” to see your daily and total calorie needs.
  3. Use the results to plan how much food to pack—find inspiration in my guide to making homemade dehydrated meals and my top picks for wild camping food.