🎒 Backpack Weight Calculator
Add up your base gear, days of food, and water to see what you'll actually shoulder on the trail — the loaded total in kg and lb, and how it stacks up against the 20%-of-body-weight comfort guideline and the ultralight base-weight mark.
🎒 Loaded pack
At 17.3% of your body weight, this is within the ~20% comfortable-load guideline.
Food and water are the levers you control day to day: plan resupply points so you never carry more water than the next source demands, and your pack gets lighter with every meal.
Where the grams really are
Most of your base weight lives in the "big three" — shelter, sleeping bag, and pack. Trimming those does far more than counting toothbrush grams, and a lighter base lets you carry a smaller, lighter pack, which saves weight again. It compounds in your favour.
Consumables are the other half of the equation. Food and water are heavy but temporary, so plan them around resupply points and water sources rather than carrying a worst-case load the whole way.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
What's the difference between base weight and total weight?
Base weight is everything in and on your pack that stays constant — tent, sleeping bag, pad, stove, spare clothes, and the pack itself — but excludes food, water, and fuel. Total (or 'skin-out') weight is base weight plus those consumables. Base weight is the number backpackers obsess over because it's the part you can permanently reduce; consumables shrink on their own as you hike.
How heavy should my pack be?
A widely used guideline is that a fully-loaded pack should stay under about 20% of your body weight for comfortable multi-day hiking. So a 70 kg hiker aims to keep the loaded pack under roughly 14 kg. Carrying more is doable but harder on your knees, feet, and pace, especially over long distances or big climbs.
What counts as ultralight?
Ultralight is usually defined by base weight: under about 4.5 kg (10 lb) is considered ultralight, and under about 9 kg (20 lb) is 'lightweight'. Because it only counts gear, hitting an ultralight base takes careful choices about the 'big three' — tent, bag, and pack — which together dominate your load.
How much do food and water weigh?
Backpacking food averages around 0.7 kg (about 1.5 lb) per person per day, more if you eat well and less if you dehydrate meals. Water is the heavyweight at almost exactly 1 kg per litre, so carrying 3 litres adds 3 kg. That's why planning around water sources — and never carrying more than you need to reach the next one — is one of the biggest weight savings available.
Does the percentage change during the trip?
Yes, and that's the point. Your pack is heaviest on day one, when you're carrying all your food and topped-up water, and gets lighter with every meal and every litre you drink. If your load is over the guideline at the start but drops under it within a day, that's normal; if it's still heavy mid-trip, look at your base weight.