Hiking calories. help please :)

Hey all!

so today i went hiking for the first time and it was awesome!

So I went hiking, took the hard trail, wasn't carrying any backpack, had to walk up some intense hills and even at a couple points climb up some rock wall. ha.
Anyway, i'd say we were walking around somewhere inbetween 3 and 3.5mph and we were doing it for 4 hours.
i looked it up on many different sites and it said that for a 4 hour hike for someone inbetween 160-170lbs i'd burn around 1600 calories.

first of all:
does this sound right?

second of all:
that means i burned around 3100 calories for the whole day.  do i seriously get to eat 2100 calories to maintain my 1000 calorie deficit?? is it truuuuuuue? haha

thanks! :)

eat 2600 to create a 1000 calorie deficit, but don't eat the 2600, eat 1500 and melt half pound of pure fat in one day!!!

your belly will thank you!! ;)

i burned 3100 calories in the day though, so eating 2100 calories would create a 1000 calories deficit.
i was under the impression if i ate below a 1000 calorie deficit it would put my body in starvation mode.

cc says 1000 calorie max daily deficit, but I don't think one day throws you into starvation mode. You might consider snacking along the way. Yesterday I hiked 15 flat miles with a pack at 3.5-4 mph, and in the middle ate a small ice cream sundae. It's nice to be able to do that and still be at a 600 calorie deficit for the day. The shot of carbs in the middle of the hike was what I needed to finish the last mile at over 4 MPH. I knew a guy who used to carbo load the night before cross country running for similar reasons.

yah, i was thinking the same.  one day wont kill me. i'll just remember it for next time. i ended up having a 1200 deficit because it was already 20 past midnight when i posted and it was time for bed anyway and i didnt want to eat right before i went to sleep.

i've been doing some pretty intense hikes for a few years now in the NH white mountains- Washington, Franconia Ridge, and most recently, Monadnock this weekend. I love hiking-congrats on getting into it!

hiking burns a TON of calories-and for safety's sake, it's really important to eat along the way. listen to your body and eat when you feel hungry or tired. trail mix made from granola, nuts, and dried fruit is excellent. don't focus too hard on CCing when you're hiking because eating too few calories can lead to hypothermia (very possible at high altitudes even in the summer), contribute to dehydration (also drink tons of water!), lead to falls which are really dangerous on rock, etc. Chances are you'll wind up with a defecit if you listen to your body and eat something healthy when it wants it. Good luck! 

Sometimes on the way home I stop at this fabulous burger joint and eat up to my 2100 calories or whatever (yes, several hours of hiking really chews up the calories) and sometimes I just wind up with a huge deficit.  Since hiking isn't usually a daily occurance I don't sweat it if my deficit is large for the day.

Keep it up, hiking is great!  And depending on where you live, get a daypack. I live in the NW and the weather can turn on you, so I have all sorts of stuff I carry (also I've gotten lost before so I like to have light and fire available ;)  ).  If you get one with a camelback or similar you'll be able to carry a safe amount of water.

:)

I hike too!  It is the best!  I think CC registers the cals higher than they really are though.  It makes working out a real joy!

thanks everyone! :)

Glad you are enjoying hiking. That and running are my favorites. I believe you need to reevaluate the math on you calories burned. I don't see how you burned 3100 calories in 4 hours of hiking. Should be 1600 right? Typically a good general rule of thumb for walking at 3.0-3.5 mph would be around 100 calories/mile. Don't want to throw a damper on your enthusiasm, but just thought you might take a look at the burn. I also don't want you to do as I do and burn it just to replace that and more at times.

 

Gregg

no no. i burned 3100 for the whole DAY.  above where i said that i said i burned about 1600 just for the 4 hour hike.
but thanks for looking out! :)

Duh! Sorry

Gaging how much you burn while hiking is SO hard. Last summer I hiked 8 hr. one day in with a 40 lb. pack and poles. The next day I didn't bother counting the hrs. We hiked all day with just water and light day packs. The last day it was another 8 hr. with appx. 35 lb. packs. It was steep and hot during the day and freezing at night.  I could have eaten jelly donuts the whole time and I lost 6 lb that week days after making sure I was good an hydrated.

I REALLY REALLY look forward to hiking this spring!!! Once a month of hiking like that I would really be setting myself pretty on the scale.