Calculate Calories Burned from Climbing Stairs

[ls0803]

I climb 300 stairs to my office every morning - can anyone tell me if i weight 280 pounds how many calories i will burn off (approximately)

thanks

Tired in Liverpool

 

[dx]

How high is each stair?

 

[ls0803]

12 inches i'd say

 

[Andy Resnick]

I think you will be dissapointed.

I get 300 stairs = 225 vertical feet. The energy required to raise 280 pounds 225 feet is mgh = 280*225 (pounds = mg) =63000 lb*ft = 634 calories = 0.6 kcal (dietary calories). Say your body is 80% efficient, then you expend 0.75 kcal of food intake.

I'm suspicious of my answer- my calculator treats lb as a unit of mass (kg), so if I surreptiously add a factor of 32 to mgh, I get 20/25 kcal, which seems reasonable.

Bleah- it's too early in the morning to try and deal with pounds vs. kilograms...

 

[ls0803]

lift for me tomorrow!