High Sierra Topix

300 calories is one SMALL piece of apple pie. Or 2 glasses of wine. Or a bit more than one craft beer. Once I realized that I would have to hike hard for an hour to burn off one desert I started watching what I ate. I walk 4 mph when I go for walks at home. I think about that when I reach for that beer. Very sad. Problem is that we backpackers are just too darned efficient at walking!

As has been said already... regular exercise really revs up the metabolism, and you don't have to go out there and kill yourself doing it. Its's all about being consistent. What has worked for me is a conscious effort to avoid fast food, eating out at restaurants and shopping only the outer isles of supermarkets. that's where all the fresh unpackaged food usually is. Another way to burn calories is to be cold, maintaining body temperature burns calories too. I probably burn quite a few calories every night when I am backpacking, just trying to stay warm before I get into my sleeping bag!

Well I started this thread with a simple question about calculating how many calories it takes to move a given weight up a foot. Then I got a bunch of advice I already knew about general conditioning. So here is another simple question. It is snowing in Central Oregon as I write this. I just spent 40 minutes shoveling off the driveway. I'm weighing about 175 in my pacs and winter gear. How many calories did I burn. Whoa probably the wrong group to ask! Most of you live in California but a few in snow country who might have considered such trivia.

You'll get more accurate results if you factor in heart rate which will allow you to use the Journal of Sports Science formula. (Or just use an HRM to do the Calorie estimation.) See for instance http://fitnowtraining.com/2012/01/formu ... es-burned/ .

Mike, You could actually gain calories if you hand the shovel to your wife, and then sit on the porch drinking a nice beverage..

Dave, thanks

Russ, You know there is absolutely no difference in fat chance or slim chance!

You can exercise all you want, but if your diet is out of whack, you won't have too much to show for it, especially during the holidays.

Not an a fitness expert but as a physiology teacher I think this needs a repeat. And exercise doesn't mean you earned he right to eat a little extra, like many people do. If calories burned exceeds calories absorbed you'll lose weight, it's physics more than physiology. Obviously there are different ways to go about it but cutting calories in tends to be the most efficient (but less fun)

Get a dog. Our border collie has to walk 5 miles a day or she goes berserk. I have actually been urban exploring with her. My goal is to walk every street in my unincorporated town. It has been quite amazing. We have a flock of wild turkeys and a number of roaming deer. And once a week we go to the river; urban but pretty nice - could almost guess that I was walking in Henry Coe park. Hard to not go walking when all I have to do is go out the door.

Mike,

Regarding walking uphill, this paper:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4306638/

shows that walking up a 7.5% incline at 2.9 mph has about twice the metabolic cost as walking 2.9mph on the flat.

Dave