Kilimanjaro & Weight Loss (All You Need to Know)

Hiking and Trekking are great ways of getting in shape. So if you are planning to climb Kilimanjaro, you may be asking yourself whether this will have any impact on your weight and to what extent. I am planning to do a climb up Kilimanjaro so I did some research on the topic.

You should not expect to lose any permanent weight loss when climbing Kilimanjaro. The longest trails take at most 10 days which is not long enough to make a permanent impact on your weight. You may lose a few pounds/kgs during the climb, but most will be as a result of dehydration and you will gain it back quickly when you get back from the climb. However, there are a few exceptions to this so let’s take a deeper dive into the topic.

Why You Shouldn’t Expect to Lose Weight When Climbing Kilimanjaro

Although climbing Kilimanjaro will be one of the most challenging physical challenges your body has ever faced, you are unlikely to experience any permanent weight loss during the climb. This is because the hike is too short and only very physically grueling on ONE day – summit day.

This amount of time is not enough to have a permanent impact on your weight. It’s actually the equivalent of doing only one week of going to the gym daily and expecting to lose a large amount of weight. It is a great start but you will need to keep it up for a lot longer than 8 days for you to experience any significant weight loss.

Temporary weight loss

You will experience temporary weight loss when you climb Kilimanjaro since your body will be working out and you will be out in the sun all day for 8 days. However, I found out that this weight loss will be a result of dehydration and will soon be regained when you are done with the climb.

How to lose weight when climbing Kilimanjaro

If you are thinking of climbing Kilimanjaro as a way of losing weight, you can still achieve weight loss through the training you will do when preparing for your climb to Kilimanjaro.

As I have indicated in my article on how physically fit you need to be to climb Kilimanjaro, anyone can climb most of Kilimanjaro but the last day – Summit Day, will be brutal if you are not physically fit. You will be hiking for close to 12 hours straight and this will put a strain on your already exhausted body.

To give you the best chances of climbing Kilimanjaro, you will need to start training several months before you embark on your climb. This training can be intense enough to allow you to lose a good amount of weight and achieve permanent physical transformation and weight loss.

I’m no weight loss expert but I did some research on what kind of training you need to do when climbing Kilimanjaro and I found that most of it included non-intense but long cardio training where you will spend about 1 or more hours doing cardio per training session.

People also recommend doing a lot of stairs to prepare for Kili and this is another great opportunity to lose some weight as you get fit to climb the mountain.

Does Climbing Kilimanjaro Increase My Physical Fitness

As I mentioned earlier, you don’t expect an 8-day climb to have a permanent impact on your fitness but the training you do in preparation for the climb should definitely do a lot to help you get into better physical shape.

Weight Loss and Mountain Sickness on Kilimanajaro

So the question you may have asked yourself is, does losing weight make me more prepared to deal with mountain sickness when climbing Kilimanjaro?

As I wrote in my article about whether you need supplemental oxygen when climbing Kilimanjaro, nearly 50% of climbers experience Acute Mountain Sickness during their climb to the summit of Kilimanjaro. As indicated by the research done in this study, physical fitness did not play a role in reducing a climber’s chances of suffering from Acute Mountain Sickness.

47% (89/189) of climbers from all itineraries were AMS positive at 4730 m

Source Incidence and predictors of acute mountain sickness among trekkers on Mount Kilimanjaro | High Altitude Medicine & Biology

Ironically, I found that people who are very physically fit and used to hiking a lot are in greater danger of getting mountain sickness due to the fact that they are used to walking faster for longer.

They would usually walk at a faster pace than most climbers and this extra exertion puts a strain on the body since you are not taking in as much oxygen as you are used to and you start developing symptoms of mountain sickness.

The guides constantly warn the climbers to walk slower than they they are used to when climbing Kilimanjaro to put as little strain on the body as possible to allow the body to get used to having less oxygen than normal. This ultimately helps them reduce their chances of developing mountain sickness.

Can I climb Kilimanjaro if I am overweight

You may be asking if you should even consider climbing Kilimanjaro if you are overweight and my answer is maybe.

During my research, I have read constantly that Kilimanjaro is not a difficult mountain to climb. You just need to put one foot in front of another and you will get there.

I also found that This is true for most of the hike up the mountain but summit day is a whole other story. As I mentioned earlier, you will be hiking for over 12 hours and this will be challenging for you if you overweight.

I read on a forum thread of a team that got to the summit at 3 pm. With most other climbers summit by 8-10 am, the reason they took so much more time is because of one member of the climbing team who was overweight and had a much harder time getting to the summit than the rest.

With that said, I have also read of other climbers who conquered this mountain even when overweight. I think the difference comes in the pre-climb training you do before going to Tanzania for the climb.

If you start preparing early and train hard for the climb, your body will already be used to the grueling conditions you will be exposed to on the Kilimanjaro climb and summit day.

Ultimately, being physically fit and able to endure continuous physical strain for hours will be the secret of a successful climb on Kilimanjaro.