Calories Burned Calculator

Every activity has a MET value, short for metabolic equivalent. It says how many times more energy the activity uses than sitting quietly. Sitting is 1 MET. Running at 6 mph is 9.3 MET, so it uses 9.3 times the energy of sitting.

One MET is set at 3.5 mL of oxygen per kilogram of body weight per minute, and each liter of oxygen releases about 5 kcal. That gives the formula used by the American College of Sports Medicine. With W for your weight in kilograms:

Multiply by the minutes for the total, called gross calories. The net figure takes away the 1 MET you would have burned anyway by sitting still. With t for the minutes:

The MET values come from the 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities, a research list of measured energy costs. Weight matters as much as the activity: moving a heavier body takes more energy, so a 100 kg person burns two thirds more than a 60 kg person doing the same thing.

Aisha: a 30-minute run

Aisha weighs 70 kg and runs at 6 mph (9.3 MET) for 30 minutes. That is 9.3 × 3.5 × 70 ÷ 200 = 11.39 kcal a minute, or 342 kcal in total. Of that, 305 kcal is extra over resting. To burn 300 kcal she needs 27 minutes.

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Tom: an hour of brisk walking

Tom weighs 180 lb (81.6 kg) and walks at 4 mph (5.5 MET) for an hour. He burns about 472 kcal, of which 386 is above resting. A brisk walk is moderate activity, so five of these a week meet the guideline of 150 minutes with time to spare.

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Leo: a weights session

Leo weighs 80 kg and does 45 minutes of moderate weight training (3.5 MET). He burns about 221 kcal, 158 of it net. The same 45 minutes of running at 6 mph would burn 586 kcal. Strength work burns less during the session, but it builds and keeps muscle, which cardio does not do as well.

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Here is what 30 minutes of common activities burns at three body weights, from the same engine as the tool:

The tool labels each activity by intensity, using the bands in the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans. Under 3 MET is light, 3 to 5.9 is moderate and 6 or more is vigorous. Adults are advised to get 150 to 300 minutes of moderate activity a week, or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous activity.

Treat the number as a good average, not a measurement. Fitness, technique, hills, wind and heat all change your real burn, often by 10 to 20%. The formula also assumes a standard resting rate, which is a little high for many people. Watches are not much better: a 2017 Stanford study found that the best of seven wrist devices was off by 27% on average for energy, and the worst by 93%.

• Eating back the gross figure. Use the net figure when you add exercise to a food budget. Your daily calorie target already includes the resting share, so adding the gross number counts it twice.
• Counting the breaks. A one-hour tennis session with 20 minutes of chat and water is 40 minutes of tennis. At 70 kg that is 333 kcal, not 500 kcal.
• Picking a faster pace than you hold. Choose the speed you keep for most of the session, not your best stretch. Running at 5 mph is 8.5 MET, against 9.3 MET at 6 mph.
• Using an old weight. Calories scale directly with weight. Someone who now weighs 70 kg but still enters 80 kg is told a 30-minute run at 6 mph burns 391 kcal instead of 342 kcal.
• Expecting exercise alone to drive weight loss. A 30-minute brisk walk at 70 kg burns about 165 kcal above resting. Activity helps most when it comes with changes to what you eat.