How Many Calories are Burned by Skiing?
For cross country skiing at a moderate speed and effort of 4.0-4.9 mph, which is a typical intensity activity under the general description of skiing activities, the average calories burned by a person weighing 190 pounds (86 Kg) in 30 minutes is 388 Calories. In one hour cross country skiing at a moderate speed and effort of 4.0-4.9 mph will burn 776 Calories.
Summary of Skiing Information and Charts
To help you find the information you need, we first focus on cross country skiing at a moderate speed and effort of 4.0-4.9 mph which is the most common skiing activity. This is followed by the activities with the highest burn rate which is cross country skiing on hard snow, uphill at maximum effort or snow mountaineering, and the lowest which is skiing, downhill, alpine or snowboarding, light effort, active time only, giving the average calories burned per minute and per hour, along with food calorie equivalents and our new proprietary calories burned score© and calories burned rank©The calorie score gives an indication of the relative burn rate of the skiing activities measured as a percentage score out of 100 for the different skiing activities, where 100% is the maximum calorie burn which we estimate from running at a pace of 4 minutes per mile which is a world class speed for running for 30 mins.
The calorie rank is the rank of the skiing activity compared with all other 800 activities in our database to give an indication of the percentage of activities which have a higher or lower calorie burn. A rank of 1 means it is the highest ranking activity in terms or calorie burn and a rank of 100 means it is the activity with the lowest carlorie burn compared with all other activities.
Effect of Intensity on the Calorie Calculator
Although the above is a typical example for skiing, the calculator we use to determine the calories burnt depends on the intensity, duration and your body weight. At the bottom of the article we have a variety of different intensities which can be personalized based on your weight and the duration of the activities, using our free calculator.
Calorie Score and Calorie Rank for Skiing
At dietandfitnesstoday we have a new proprietary concept of a Calories Burned Score© and Calories Burned Rank©.
Calories Burned in 30 Minutes for a Typical skiing Activity
As we have previously mentioned Cross country skiing at a moderate speed and effort of 4.0-4.9 mph is a moderate and typical level of intensity for skiing and can be used as a general representative approximate measure for calories burnt by skiing. For this activity in 30 minutes an average man weighing 190 pounds (86 kg) burns 388 Calories, while an average woman weighing 163 pounds (74 kg), in 30 minutes burns 333 Calories.
Calories Per Minute
The calories burned per minute for Cross country skiing at a moderate speed and effort of 4.0-4.9 mph is 13 Calories per minute, for a typical man and for a typical female is 11 Calories per minute.
Calories Per Hour
The calories lost in one hour is 776 calories for a typical man, and 665 calories in one hour for a typical woman.
How to Burn 100 Calories
To burn 100 calories for a typical male would require 8 minutes of the activity cross country skiing at a moderate speed and effort of 4.0-4.9 mph and to burn 100 calories with the same skiing activity for a typical female would take 9 minutes.
Score and Rank
Cross country skiing at a moderate speed and effort of 4.0-4.9 mph has a Calorie Burned Score© of 37.10 out of 100 which means it gives a calorie burn of 37.10 % of the highest realistic calorie burn possible. This activity has a Calorie Burned Rank© of 43.00 out of 100 ie it is in the top 43.00 % of activities in terms of calorie burn. There are in fact 85.00 activities that have a higher calorie burn than cross country skiing at a moderate speed and effort of 4.0-4.9 mph
Equivalent Activities
The following activities burn the same number of calories as Cross country skiing at a moderate speed and effort of 4.0-4.9 mph -
- bicycling, 12 mph, standing, hands on brake hoods, 60 rpm
- climbing hills with 42+ lb load
- fire fighter, hauling hoses on ground, carrying/hoisting equipment, breaking down walls etc., wearing full gear
- horseback riding, jumping
- medium intensity Zumba class
Comparison with Inactivity
30 mins of inactivity for example just sitting and watching television burns 43 calories for a typical man and 37 calories for a typical woman. Which means Cross country skiing at a moderate speed and effort of 4.0-4.9 mph burns 9.7 times more calories than the equivalent time of inactivity for an average man and 9.0 times more calories for an average female.
Food Calorie Equivalents
This level of 388 calories burnt by an average man cross country skiing at a moderate speed and effort of 4.0-4.9 mph is equivalent to 0.7 Big Macs, 1.4 snickers bar, 3.2 Starbucks Grande Skinny Lattes, 1.3 cheeseburgers, 1.4 slices of pizza or 1.0 large blueberry muffins.
For an average female burning 333 calories is equivalent to 0.6 Big Macs, 1.2 snickers bar, 2.8 Starbucks Grande Skinny Lattes, 1.1 cheeseburgers, 1.2 slices of pizza or 0.9 large blueberry muffins.
Weight Loss from Skiing
To answer the question how many pounds will I lose from the activity skiing? Taking this example of cross country skiing at a moderate speed and effort of 4.0-4.9 mph in 30 minutes, the weight loss for a typical man is a minimum of 0.06 pounds, and a typical woman would lose 0.05 pounds.
Based on 4 sessions per week of cross country skiing at a moderate speed and effort of 4.0-4.9 mph for a duration of 30 minutes per session, the approximate time taken to lose one pound is 4 weeks for a man and 5 weeks for a woman, assuming no other changes in lifestyle or eating habits.
The same 4 sessions per week of cross country skiing at a moderate speed and effort of 4.0-4.9 mph for a duration of 30 minutes per session, would lose 1kg in 2 weeks for a man and 2 weeks for a woman.
Skiing Activity with the Highest Calorie Burn
The highest number of calories burned for an average person is achieved by cross country skiing on hard snow, uphill at maximum effort or snow mountaineering. For this activity in 30 minutes an average man burns 668 Calories, while an average woman in 30 minutes burns 573 Calories.
This activity of cross country skiing on hard snow, uphill at maximum effort or snow mountaineering has a Calories Burned Score© of 66.30 out of 100 which means it gives a calorie burn of 66.30 % of the maximum realistic calorie burn possible. This activity has a Calories Burned Rank© of 11.00 out of 100 ie it is in the top 11.00 % of activities in terms of calorie burn. There are in fact 8.00 activities that have a higher calorie burn than cross country skiing on hard snow, uphill at maximum effort or snow mountaineering
Since this level of activity is in the top 15% of all activities it is not advised to attempt this level of activity if you are just starting out on a new fitness regime. In fact this level of intensity may be beyond all but the highest levels of fitness.
Skiing Activity with the Lowest Calorie Burn
The skiing activity with the lowest calories burnt is skiing, downhill, alpine or snowboarding, light effort, active time only, which for an average man in 30 minutes burns 185 Calories, and for an average woman burns 159 Calories.
This activity of skiing, downhill, alpine or snowboarding, light effort, active time only has a Calories Burned Score© of 16.00 out of 100 which means it gives a calorie burn of 16.00 % of the maximum realistic calorie burn possible. This activity has a Calories Burned Rank© of 75.00 out of 100 ie it is in the top 75.00 % of activities in terms of calorie burn. There are in fact 402.00 activities that have a higher calorie burn than skiing, downhill, alpine or snowboarding, light effort, active time only
Average Calories Burned by Skiing
Based on the the list of 14 skiing activities, shown below, the average calories burned for an average male, weighing 190 pounds (86 kg) is 418 Calories for 30 minutes of skiing. The average burnt for an average female, weighing 163 pounds (74 kg) is 358 Calories for 30 minutes of skiing.
You can browse other common activities from our database, from the links below or visit the compendium at https://sites.google.com/site/compendiumofphysicalactivities/home.