Calories burned calculator
Pick an activity, add your weight and the minutes, and see what it cost in calories, with the resting share that fitness trackers quietly leave in.
How we got your number
Compendium 2011MET values come from the 2011 Compendium of Physical Activities (Ainsworth et al.), the reference table behind almost every calorie burn figure you will see. One MET is the energy you use sitting quietly.
The same activity for 15 to 90 minutes
| Time | Burned | Net of resting |
|---|
Gross is the figure a watch would show you. Net is what the session added on top of doing nothing.
What else costs the same minutes
| Activity | MET | Burned |
|---|
Same weight, same duration, different activity. The spread between the easiest and hardest row is usually three to four times.
Why this number is an estimate
Every MET value is an average taken from a group of people in a laboratory, doing the activity at a set pace. You are not that average. Fitness changes it: a trained runner uses less oxygen at 6 mph than a beginner does, so the fitter person burns fewer calories covering the same ground. Technique changes it, most obviously in swimming, where an efficient stroke can halve the cost of a length. So do terrain, wind, altitude, cold water, a heavy backpack, and how much you rest between efforts.
The 3.5 in the formula is a convention too. It stands for 3.5 millilitres of oxygen per kilogram per minute as the resting rate, and for many adults, particularly heavier and older ones, real resting uptake is lower than that. When it is, every MET number calculated from it runs a little high.
Treat the result as a reasonable middle estimate with about 20 to 30 per cent of slack around it in either direction. It is precise enough to compare activities and to plan a week of training. It is not precise enough to eat back.
Every activity uses a MET value from the 2011 Compendium of Physical Activities, the reference list used in exercise science, multiplied by your weight and time. Nothing you enter is stored or sent anywhere. How we verify our data →
Calories burned FAQs
How many calories does walking burn?
At a normal 3 mph pace walking is 3.5 METs, about 260 calories an hour for a 70 kg adult and 330 for 90 kg. A brisk 3.5 mph pace gives roughly 315 and 405, and walking uphill is close to double flat walking at 6 METs.
How many calories does an hour at the gym burn?
Moderate weight training is 3.5 METs, about 260 calories for a 70 kg adult, the same as a walk. Hard training with short rests is 6 METs, about 440, and circuits or HIIT reach 8 METs, about 590. An hour at the gym is usually 35 to 40 minutes of actual work.
Are fitness tracker calorie numbers accurate?
Heart rate they measure well; calories they estimate, with errors of 20 to 30 percent, worse for lifting and cycling. They also report the gross figure, including the calories you would have burned on the sofa. The calculator above shows that resting share separately.
How many calories do I burn a day without exercise?
Most of your total. Resting metabolism is 1,300 to 1,800 calories a day for most adults, and ordinary movement adds a few hundred more, so a desk-based day lands between 1,600 and 2,200 calories before any workout.
How many calories should I burn to lose a pound?
The classic figure is 3,500 calories per pound, about 7,700 per kilo. It is a rough guide from a 1958 estimate: a lighter body burns less and appetite rises, so real losses over months come in under the arithmetic.
Should I eat back the calories I burned?
Usually not. The burn is an estimate that runs high, part of it is resting energy you would have spent anyway, and food logs run low for almost everyone. If your daily target already assumes you train, the workout is paid for.
