How Many Calories Does Walking With Weight Actually Burn?

A Realistic Look into Calories and Weighted Walking

No doubt if you’ve been following rucking or weighted walking, you’ve heard the claims that rucking burns 2–3× more calories than walking. I even think our own marketing and PR team may have even drunk the cool aid on this one when we first started out building the brand.

But after rucking consistently for over a year now, it's time for a big rucking / calorie burn reality check.

Despite all my best efforts (even doing multiple lactic threshold tests) I never come close to a 200% calorie burn increase even in the most heaviest and gnarliest rucks I have had the pleasure of completing.

The truth is… those figures come from military studies back in the day, which used super heavy loads (often carrying 30kg+ rucksacks) which is not super applicable to most of us carrying between 5–15% of body weight.

Before we break down what the science says though, let's take a look as to “How walking with weight burns more calories.

How Does Walking With Weight Increase Calorie Burn?

When you walk with added weight, your body and heart has to work harder to maintain posture, stabilise joints, and move in a forward direction.

To do all this, here’s what’s happening:

1. Increased Muscle Activation

• Your glutes, quads, calves, and hamstrings fire more intensely to propel you forward.

• Your core and lower back work harder to keep you upright.

• Your shoulders and traps (especially with a rucksack) stay engaged for stability.

All of this added load leads to greater muscular demand and ultimately more energy used.

2. Greater Oxygen Demand (VO₂)

Adding weight to your walk raises your body’s need for oxygen, even at the same normal walking speed. This bumps up your METs (Metabolic Equivalent of Task) which is a key measure used to estimate calorie burn.

Regular walking sees around ~3.5 METs, while walking with ~10% of your bodyweight sees an increase to ~6–8 METs. The higher the METs the higher the calorie output.

3. Increased Ground Reaction Force

Carrying weight while walking increases the force generated with each step, which means your body needs to absorb and respond to all that extra load with every stride you take. As a result your legs and joints are working harder, leading to greater overall effort and higher energy demands.

4. Postural Load & Core Stabilisation

When you’re carrying weight when you walk, your postural muscles (spinal erectors, obliques, abdominals) are constantly working to keep you balanced. This helps burn more calories, even though it may not feel as intense as a traditional strength or cardio session.

5. Increased Cardiovascular Effort

When you add weight to your walk, your muscles demand more oxygen, especially the large muscle groups like your glutes, quads, and back.

To meet this demand, your heart rate increases, your stroke volume (how much blood your heart pumps per beat) increases and your cardiac output (total blood pumped per minute) rises.

This forces your cardiovascular system to work harder, even at low walking speeds.

The result? Your body expends more energy (aka burns more calories) to keep up.

The best way to think of it is this… Walking with weight puts your body into a mild “workout mode”, even if the movement feels easy and gentle. It’s not just the muscles doing more, your heart, lungs, and circulatory system are stepping up too, with the net effect being more work for the same movement.

The Military Studies Behind the 2–3× Claim

The almost always quoted “burn 200–300% more calories” when some brand or fitness influencer discusses rucking and calorie burn originates from some old school military research, where subjects carried 65lb packs (30 kg+) at a very brisk march pace. 

While an impressive effort by the soldiers, that data isn’t super meaningful for everyday people walking with weight vests or rucksacks with only 5–10% of body weight, obviously the caloric burn increases are going to be far more modest.

What Real-World Research Shows

There have been a number of smaller studies around the effectiveness of walking with Weighted Vests on calorie burn while wearing between 5–15% of total Bodyweight.

Most land with a result of 10-20% calorie burn increase over walking alone, which is also inline with what calorie burn figures we have got when wearing a chest strap and monitoring the same walks weighted and unweighted.

This also sits inline with Metabolic Modelling (Looney et al.). The Load Carriage Decision Aid (LCDA) model incorporates variables like weight carried, walking speed, and terrain to estimate calorie expenditure. For a person carrying 10–20% bodyweight on flat terrain, burn increases are 10–20%, not 200–300%.

Let's back this up with some math.

Measured MET values for rucking are generally 7–9 METs vs ~3.5 METs for walking. Based on this a 75 kg person walking fast burns ~315 kcal/hr. 

With ~5–10% bodyweight added, that person will burn 350–380 kcal/hr which is a 10–20% increase. 

It's also realistic to expect 400–500 kcal/hr (this is what we find) if you hit the hills or a more challenging trails. Also when you up the weight you carry to be more like 15–20% of your bodyweight.

So again, yes you will burn more, but not the 2–3× more, unless you're carrying and walking like a soldier with heavy gear.

What Truly Matters: Consistency & Context

So now that we have debunked the massive calorie burn gains by walking with weight, does that mean that you should not bother walking with weight at all?

Heck No, is the short answer!!!

Even a 10–15% additional calorie burn compounds over time and lets use a real world example… walking the dog.

If you do a daily 30-45 minute dog stroll, and start wearing a weighted vest. This would lead to between 35,000 to 55,000 additional kcal burned each year, without having to do any “extra” exercise over and above what you are doing now.

Let alone the other benefits like bone strength, mental clarity, improved posture and functional strength. Over time, progressive overload (adding pace or weight gradually) will help sustain metabolic adaptation and also improve fat loss.

The Bottom Line

If you're walking for fitness and health, expect that wearing 5–10% of your bodyweight will burn around 10–20% more calories than walking unweighted. 

The real strength of rucking in regard to health, fitness and weight loss is that it is an easy option that integrates seamlessly into your weekly schedule.

The easier and frictionless an exercise routine is in general, the better chance you have of sticking with it and for it to be effective.

But remember to start light, be consistent and gradually build in weight and volume and let your daily ruck quietly build a stronger and healthier you.