Hourly Calory Use -- [Was: Re: [at-l] Re: Weight Loss]

[daveh at psknet.com (David Hicks)]

Yep.

I can post a number of others site where similar numbers pop up when you plug
in your weights, time, and the activity "backpacking."  BTW -- one of these
site I was looking at had major discrepancy (about double) between a 240 pound 
man walking at three, or four, miles an hour and a 240 pound man backpacking. 
I didn't get to that point with the one you cited because my computer security 
is very restrictive about JavaScript.  I got a message from them including:

>>
NIS Ad Blocking affects any webpage created with JavaScript, the code we use 
to make our calculators run. It inserts Norton code into all of our pages, but 
most are simple enough that it doesn't bother them. The calculators are 
complex and the insertion of the Norton code causes them to fail.
<<

Just out of curiosity what does it show for the 240 pound man walking at 
three, or four, miles an hour?

BTW -- As you don't backpack for 24 hours you need to add your basal numbers 
and other activities -- ending up with even higher burn rate for the day.

BTW2 -- some of these calculators include your basal numbers in the burn rate. 
One showed 115 calories burned while talking on the phone for an hour, making 
the 24 hour use calculations confusing.  However, even double counting the 
basal does not get the traditional numbers to 900 an hour.

Let's look at it from the other direction.  Is the 9000+ cal burn rate 
consistent with what hikers eat day-in-and-day-out?  Go to food sites and 
figure what you would need to eat day-in-and-day-out to maintain your weight 
at a 9000+ cal burn rate.

Go figure the numbers, even in town.

Hit town around noon.  Hey, there is a DQ.  Give me a Homestyle Ultimate
Burger (700 cal.), Lg Fries (390), a Lg soda (480) & a Heath Blizzard (820).
Next stop check into the motel/hostel and then hit the store to resupply. Eat
a Snickers (340) & drink a Yoo Hoo (300) to hold me over to dinner.  Meet up
with some other hikers.  Go to the local pizza joint for dinner -- eight
slices of  a Lg Italian Sausage pizza (3600) and a pitcher of beer (840). 
Then before you hit the trail in the morning six pancakes w/ butter & syrup 
(440), two fried eggs (320),  & a Sausage patty (136).   OIOW 8366 cal. eaten 
in that in town.

OK we can eat that much in town while not active and camel up.

Hoz'bout on the trail?

Now let's assume the food in your pack is 70% carbohydrates/protein (1856 cal
per lb carbohydrates/protein), 20% fat (4176 cal per lb of  fat), and 10%
water, fiber, etc. You would need 4.2 pounds of food day-in-and-day-out, just
for the 10 hours of "backpacking."

Assuming most folk carry under two pounds of food a day, while actually 
backpacking,  you would need to pigout in town every other day to maintain the 
9000+ average

OK, burn some stored fat.

How much weight do you have to lose / will you lose?

Now you have about 4176 cal per lb of stored fat.

So, let's say you lose 10 pounds over six months. You have 41760 calories to
lose spread over 189 day, or 220 cal per day
covered.  Still need over four pounds of food a day.

Or, if you are our friend, Wandering Bull you lose 100 pounds over six months.
You have 417600 calories to lose spread over 189 day, or 2200 cal per day
which leave you needing 7000+ cal a day using these numbers from some of these 
the web sites.

So, my experience does not support that I eat enough to support the 900 per 
hour, or the 9000+ per day calculations.

OK, lets take another tack.

Now let's look at numbers from other sources.

At http://www.usariem.army.mil/nutri/nuadcold.htm we find:
>>
For example, in garrison an average male burns 3200 calories/day and an
average female burns about 2400 calories/day. The energy requirement may
increase to approximately 4500 calories/day for males and 3500 calories/day
for females when participating in cold weather field training.
<<

At
http://www.quartermaster.army.mil/oqmg/Professional_Bulletin/2001/Winter01/The_Alphabet_Soup_of_Combat_Rations.htm

>>
Each MRE meal bag provides an average of 1,250 calories (13 per cent proteins,
36 per cent fats and 51 per cent carbohydrates).
<<

To be sure there are problems with MRE, some have to do with more sedentary 
job holders getting too many calories, others with strenuous troops stripping 
what they don't like from the pack and getting too few.  However, the orders 
are to provide troops with their needs and that is calculated as three to four 
MREs a day in the field doing strenuous activity.

Hoz'bout _NOLS Wilderness Guide_, 0-671-61821-0, p. 168

>>
An individual performing the heavy exercise common to outdoor adventure
requires 3,200 to 4,500 calories per day.
<<

Hoz' bout the section in Fletcher's _The Complete Walker IV_, 0-375-70323-3.
See pages 188 to 229.

The list goes on.

The new web site calculators may be right.  However, they do not square up
with the material used elsewhere, or with my experience.

Therefore, I'd like to see where these site get their numbers.

Chainsaw



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jim Bullard" <jbullar1@twcny.rr.com>
To: "David Hicks" <daveh@psknet.com>; "~~ AT-L List" <at-l@backcountry.net>
Sent: Wednesday, August 24, 2005 9:54 PM
Subject: Re: Hourly Calory Use -- [Was: Re: [at-l] Re: Weight Loss]


>>
The link I listed calculates calorie burn based on your weight and the
activity. Using my weight (I'm not telling so don't bother askin') and
hiking up and down hills with a 21-42# pack I got a calorie burn of 907/hr.
If you hiked 10 hours/day you'd be over 9000 calories burnt.
<<