 Poster: A snowHead
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I seem to recall reading somewhere that downhill skiing burns 600 calories per hour. Not sure about boarding. I know many, many factors come into play on this but has anyone read anything a bit more scientific than some calculator that I found via Google?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| Quote: |
downhill skiing burns 600 calories per hour
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that can't make sense as a general proposition, can it? It's like saying that "housework burns X calories" (often read in women's magazines). Is that energetic housework, scrubbing floors, up and down ladders cleaning big windows or a wee flick round with a feather duster?
I am under no illusions that the sort of skiing I do burns anything like 600 calories an hour. But Bode Miller doing a slalom? No doubt more.
That's just to encourage people to have another almond croissant and hot chocolate whilst telling themselves they'll still be losing weight. 
someone recently posted a link to a fun way of working out how long you'd have to ski to burn up your lunch.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| Quote: |
downhill skiing burns 600 calories per hour.
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Oh how I wish... 
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Are we talking about skiing in France or Austria here ?
I'd say it's around 200 to 600 cals an hour depending on intensity and how long one is on the lift / in lift lines. It also depends on the size of the person and their fitness level. Recreational skiers probably don't burn much more than 250 cals an hour. I'll try and get my pulse watch to calculate the cals when I ski on Sunday.
Calorie calculator for light skiing ....
http://www.dietandfitnesstoday.com/caloriesBurnedInfo.php?id=563
...... although it's unclear if this relates to time actually skiing or total time including sat on lift etc.
Last edited by Then you can post your own questions or snow reports... on Thu 27-01-11 10:45; edited 1 time in total
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A lass I was skiing with last week used some sort of HRM which also made a rough calculation of calories burned. It showed about 3000 burned during the period of the day she was skiing (about five hours).
So, about 600 an hour during tough skiing with recovery breaks. Not that much really.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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DB, this has been posted elsewhere, but competence is also a determining factor: once you learn how to ski properly, you're going to expend less energy doing it - unless, of course, you then become a gnarly person and walk uphill for miles before skiing down.
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I'd think it enough that most people don't come back heavier, despite 1000 cals of beer a day!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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You know it makes sense.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Those calorie counters are getting more complex / smarter. Just tried two different ones to work out how many cals I burn while "hard at in the bedroom". I entered my weight along with a duration of 60 mins. The first counter said "I don't believe you" and the second came back with figures for 2 mins hard exercise and 58 mins sleeping.
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Poster: A snowHead
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DB, Love it - mine was at least 200g and had 2 fried eggs on top 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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All these comments are all the various incongruencies of how to calculate it that Ive considered. A further thought-
The average male consumes 2000-2500 per day. On a ski break you drink more, eat more and richer food, eat chocolate, drink hot chocolate etc so as a wild guess you are taking in say 4000 calories per day and either not putting on weight or losing it - would you agree with that? My ski day is usually 7-8 hours which is 6 hours skiing (actual skiing and lifts) and 1 or 2 hours eating, chilling etc. I never put weight on (and can be prone to putting weight on in normal life). That means I am negating those 4000 calories at a rate of 666 per hour (or less because one burns calories eating, sleeping, walking, living etc)
Fair logic?
If my calorie estimate was light on and is more like 5000, then I am burining circa 833????
Actually, I like my own logic and will go with it! 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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but how much of the hour do we actually spend in reasonable active skiing vs sitting on a lift / standing at the side of the piste/ coasting the easy bit?
not much me thinks...
Also the likely hood is that the better your technique is the less calories you would burn non an avaerage run.
Eaty sensibly in the morning, top up during the day, drink suffiecient to stay hydrated.
don't worry about the food, you're on hgoliday, enjoy the cuisine..
If to go up a size or two whist on holiday go to the gym when yo get back, or fast for lent...
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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sorry, just realised I posted this somewhere I shouldnt.
How do I shift it? Or would someone do it please?
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Get weighed before you go, ski hard drink and eat plenty, enjoy get weighed when you get back.Done this for a number of years,I have plenty to eat and drink, and still lose 2 or 3 pound. I am a first & last lift up person though.
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Oh and for what its worth on my Polar heart rate monitor (I only used this once out of interest), 5,600 calories for the day
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| Peter Leuzzi wrote: |
| I seem to recall reading somewhere that downhill skiing burns 600 calories per hour. |
The average skier probably burns more calories posting on snowheads.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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I normally lose 7 lbs during a week skiing
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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I usually lose 3-4lb over the Christmas/New Break without even trying, mind you it soon goes back on once back home!
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My cross trainer tells me that I use just over 300 calories after 30 minutes, after which I am wringing with sweat and absolutely knackered. My bike GPS trainer tells me that a 35 mile ride in under 3 hours uses just over 2000 calories. On the basis of those I can see no way that you use more than a couple of hundred an hour on average skiing.
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You know it makes sense.
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I never lose weight skiing, I blame the beer and too much blue run cruising. All I get is firm thighs..
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| Peter Leuzzi wrote: |
| I seem to recall reading somewhere that downhill skiing burns 600 calories per hour. Not sure about boarding. I know many, many factors come into play on this but has anyone read anything a bit more scientific than some calculator that I found via Google? |
The better you get, the less calories you burn.
For liftserved downhill skiing at -5c in the sun in midwinter, riding 90% onpiste and 10% offpiste:
Beginner = 200 - 400 calories per hour;
Intermediate = 150 - 300 CPH;
Expert = 100 - 250 CPH.
If you are skiing from 9am to 5pm, with 1 hr for food and 2 - 3 hrs on lifts, then you'll burn about 400 - 1600 calories over and above the basic 1500 - 2000 needed per day.
In short, if you're eating more than roughly 2500 - 3500 calories a day in total, then you're likely overeating.
If you're tired, you're usually thirsty. Drink more water.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| Colin B wrote: |
| My cross trainer tells me that I use just over 300 calories after 30 minutes, after which I am wringing with sweat and absolutely knackered. My bike GPS trainer tells me that a 35 mile ride in under 3 hours uses just over 2000 calories. On the basis of those I can see no way that you use more than a couple of hundred an hour on average skiing. |
Yup - an hour of intense circuit training gives me 600-700 calories. 600 calories an hour skiing, no way...
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I've never measured it, but I think 600 calories per hour is about right if you ski hard for your skill level.
I'm just as knackered after a day's skiing as I am after a few hours mountain biking. Proper biking can easily burn 1,000 calories per hour, so, allowing for uplift time, that's consistent with downhill skiing. Even hill walking can easily burn 600 calories per hour (2 mph at 200 calories per mile plus 500 vertical feet at 400 calories per 1000 foot), and that doesn't feel any harder than skiing. Running, I can easily hit a burn rate of 1,100 calories per hour for 15 minute bursts, which is again consistent if you allow for uplift time.
I easily eat an extra 3,000 calories per day on a skiing trip, and I always lose weight. I think the statistic is right unless you enjoy tootling down the groomers.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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There's not a hope in hell that an hour's skiing burns 600 calories. It's not even close to logical that you could burn 3600 cals in 6 hours skiing, no matter how overweight you start and unfit you are. I'd assume closer to the lower end of Whitegold's numbers.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| Picadilly wrote: |
| I never lose weight skiing, I blame the beer and too much blue run cruising. All I get is firm thighs.. |
You mean in the Apres Ski lap dancing clubs? 
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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hum3, agreed. If I really flog myself in the gym, I might manage 800kcal/hr (according to the machines). There is no way I could sustain that rate of energy expenditure for hour after hour of skiing. I strongly suspect that an "intense" day with stops only on lifts would have, at most, half that rate of burn
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| Freddie Paellahead wrote: |
| hum3, agreed. If I really flog myself in the gym, I might manage 800kcal/hr (according to the machines). There is no way I could sustain that rate of energy expenditure for hour after hour of skiing. |
You need to work harder. For an average weight bloke, running at 13-14km/h - definitely a sustainable pace if you're in shape - will burn about 1100 calories per hour.
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| Peter Leuzzi wrote: |
All these comments are all the various incongruencies of how to calculate it that Ive considered. A further thought-
The average male consumes 2000-2500 per day. On a ski break you drink more, eat more and richer food, eat chocolate, drink hot chocolate etc so as a wild guess you are taking in say 4000 calories per day and either not putting on weight or losing it - would you agree with that? My ski day is usually 7-8 hours which is 6 hours skiing (actual skiing and lifts) and 1 or 2 hours eating, chilling etc. I never put weight on (and can be prone to putting weight on in normal life). That means I am negating those 4000 calories at a rate of 666 per hour (or less because one burns calories eating, sleeping, walking, living etc)
Fair logic? |
From your calorie estimates, which sound reasonable to me, I'd estimate that skiing requires about 250 calories per hour, above what you would use anyway by breathing/walking/generally being alive. Calculation: you're not gaining weight, so you're burning at least 1500 calories more per day than you would otherwise use. Those calories essentially come from six hours of skiing. Therefore, 250 calories burnt per hour of skiing.
Maybe daily calorie intake is higher, say 5000 calories, in which case it's 2500/6 ~= 420 kcal/hour.
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| Two Ears Laybelle wrote: |
| From your calorie estimates, which sound reasonable to me, I'd estimate that skiing requires about 250 calories per hour, above what you would use anyway by breathing/walking/generally being alive.. |
And on the basis that in an hour of skiing, at least half of it may be spent standing around or sitting on a chairlift, we are getting back to the starting point of 600 calories per hour for the actual ski time.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| Quote: |
I normally lose 7 lbs during a week skiing
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I usually get home about £3,000 lighter after a weeks skiing 
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well I took my Garmin HRM with me and wore it for two days. I was surprised when I saw the results - a rather low average heart rate of 74 bpm with a max of 123bpm and 819 calories burnt. Now I realise that its not that accurate and I was not skiing that hard and it included sitting in the restaurant for an hour( total) and sitting on the lifts, my legs feel that a lot more calories were burnt up than that.
I will say that I am very fit with a resting HR of 44BPM.
A large breakfast, dinner and midday snack ( germknudel, Kaisersmarren or Strudel + chocolate) put in more calories than indicated yet there was no weight increase!!!!
So the HRM is fairly useless at counting calories on the slope.......
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FAQ
s, I can tell you that cruising down a few easy blues falls a long way short of burning off an enormous plate Tiroler Groestl and 2 pints of weissbeer.
