Are you a new hiker wondering if you can burn fat while hiking? Well, there are many great benefits to hiking and losing weight is just one that you’ll have if you take up hiking as a hobby.
Does hiking burn fat?
Hiking is a great form of exercise to burn fat for weight loss. Since hiking is a medium-intensity workout usually done for an hour or more, it results in a total-body workout that burns through calories.
Why Hiking Is Good For Weight Loss
According to this article by Livestrong, a 160-pound person would burn around 370 calories by hiking for one hour. As you can imagine, hiking once a week to lose weight is a very achievable and realistic goal for most people.
This number could end up being a lot higher too depending on the difficulty of the hike. The amount of weight you carry, how fast you are hiking, and the amount of incline on the hike are all factors towards the total weight you can lose hiking.
Hiking Takes Time
One great thing about hiking is that even a simple hike takes quite a while. If you compare it to running, going out for an hour-long run might sound horrible. On the other hand, an hour hike is a great starting time for any level of hiker.
Once you begin and find a nice place to hike I promise you’ll end up going for longer than you think. A lot of people enjoy hiking by themselves and relaxing while still getting a workout in.
Avoids Bad Habits At Home
I can have some pretty bad snacking habits that come up when I’m stuck sitting at home all day. If you’re looking into hiking as an option for exercise and weight loss then any time you spend outside moving is better than the alternative.
Even a 30-minute hike will do wonders with weight loss when you consider that it’s 30 minutes that you aren’t maintaining any bad habits.
Tons Of Hiking Options
Hiking is great because there are so many places you can go out and try. There are awesome locations built more for beginners and more extreme locations for those experts.
For me, it’s fun finding new locations that I can explore on the weekends! Ask around and I’m sure you’ll come away with 5-10 new places in the area to check out.
Tips To Lose Fat While Hiking
So by now you’re super excited about beginning your weight loss journey with hiking!
Congrats on taking those first steps.
I’d like to help by giving some guidelines that will help keep you going in the right direction.
Hike At Least Once A Week
As with most exercise and training, it’s important to find a schedule that you can stick with.
By sticking to at least one hike a week(around an hour of exercise) you’ll find yourself growing quickly and wanting to increase the distance you hike. This is great because the longer you make the hikes the more fat you can burn!
My recommendation is to increase the distance or time you hike by a comfortable amount every couple of weeks.
Even if you push yourself to hike for 5 more minutes each time, that’s progress and progress is what we’re looking for!
Keep A Steady Pace
If you’re new to hiking you should start at a slower low intensity pace. This would mean you could keep a conversation going with a friend during the hike.
While hiking if you start having difficulty breathing easily it means you are pushing yourself and not sticking to a pace.
So if you notice this happening you’ll have to tell yourself to slow down and stick to the pace that you want.
Eat Right
Exercise is a great resource when trying to lose weight, but the journey still starts in the kitchen. In order to burn that fat you have to burn more calories than you are consuming.
Depending on what time you normally hike make sure to have a nutritious meal beforehand. If you’re planning on a longer hike you should also pack some snacks for during the hike.
I’m sure you already know this as well but it’s important to drink enough water throughout the day and while hiking to prevent dehydration. This will help keep your body ready for that weekly hike!
Final Thoughts
Hiking is a fun hobby which also happens to be great exercise and great for burning fat! There are so many locations that offer hiking at every level, and it’s a great time to start the hobby.
If your goal is to burn fat while hiking, I hope you found some insightful tips that can keep you going and help you to lose weight.
Whether you head out with a few friends or like hiking alone, you’ll feel the impact it has on your body the next day!
