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Calories Burned Calculator

Estimate calories burned during workouts, sports, daily activities, walking, running, cycling, and more.

70+ activities · MET-based formulaLast updated 2026-05-15

Educational estimate only — individual calorie burn varies with fitness, terrain, and metabolism. Not medical advice.

MET (metabolic equivalent of task) for Walking (moderate, 3 mph): 3.5

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How this tool calculates

Calories burned = MET × weight (kg) × duration (h). MET values come from the Ainsworth Compendium of Physical Activities (2011) — the same reference used by clinical exercise physiologists.

Pick an activity, enter your weight, and we'll estimate calories burned.

How Calorie Burning Works

Every movement your body makes — from blinking to sprinting — requires energy, measured in kilocalories (kcal, often just "calories"). Your total daily energy expenditure is the sum of three things: your basal metabolic rate (BMR), the calories burned digesting food (the thermic effect), and the calories burned through physical activity.

This calculator estimates just the third bucket: the calories you burn doing a specific activity for a specific time. It uses your body weight and the intensity of the activity, because heavier bodies need more energy to move, and harder activities demand more oxygen per minute.

MET Values Explained

MET stands for metabolic equivalent of task. One MET equals the energy you burn sitting still — about 1 kcal per kilogram of body weight per hour. An activity rated 5 METs burns five times as much energy as resting, minute for minute.

Light · 1.6–3 MET

Slow walking, stretching, light housework, yoga. Great for recovery and longevity, modest fat burn per minute.

Moderate · 3–6 MET

Brisk walking, casual cycling, doubles tennis. The CDC's target zone for general health — 150 min/week is the guideline.

Vigorous · 6+ MET

Running, HIIT, soccer, fast cycling. Builds cardio fitness and drives strong calorie burn — 75 min/week meets WHO targets.

Reference: Ainsworth BE, et al. 2011 Compendium of Physical Activities — used by the American College of Sports Medicine and most clinical exercise tools.

Best Exercises for Fat Loss

The best exercise for fat loss is the one you'll actually do three or four times a week for the next six months. That said, certain modalities deliver more calorie burn per minute than others:

Running at a moderate pace

9–10 MET — top of the list for absolute calories burned per minute. Low equipment, scalable from jog to race pace.

HIIT and CrossFit

8 MET during work, but elevated post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) keeps your burn higher for hours after.

Cycling (moderate to vigorous)

8–12 MET. Low joint impact, sustainable for 60–90 minute sessions — ideal for higher-volume weekly burn.

Swimming

6–10 MET. Whole-body, joint-friendly, and uniquely effective for very overweight or injured trainees.

Heavy resistance training

5–6 MET during the session, but lean-mass gains raise your resting metabolism — a long-game fat-loss lever.

Brisk hill walking

6 MET. Easy to add to a normal day, low injury risk, and adds meaningful weekly calorie burn for almost anyone.

Walking vs Running: Calories Burned

For the same distance, running burns about 30–50% more calories than walking. A 70 kg (155 lb) adult walking one mile at 3 mph burns roughly 85 kcal; running the same mile at 6 mph burns around 115 kcal. The difference grows with body weight and intensity.

For the same time, running clearly wins — you simply cover more ground and demand more oxygen per minute. Walking still shines for sustainability, recovery and joint-friendly volume. Mixing both across a week tends to outperform an all-running plan for most amateur trainees.

Daily Calorie Deficit Strategies

One pound of body fat stores roughly 3,500 kcal of usable energy (one kilogram stores about 7,700 kcal). To lose half a kilo per week, you need a sustained daily deficit of around 500–550 kcal — achieved by some combination of eating less and moving more.

Research consistently shows that nutrition does most of the heavy lifting for fat loss, while exercise excels at preserving lean mass, improving insulin sensitivity and protecting cardiovascular health during a cut. A pragmatic split: roughly 70% deficit from food, 30% from activity. That keeps you full enough to comply and strong enough to keep training hard.

If you're combining this calculator with eating targets, look at our Calorie Calculator for daily intake, BMR Calculator for resting burn, and Lean Body Mass Calculator to track body composition over time.

Disclaimer: This calculator provides educational estimates of calorie expenditure and is not medical advice. Real-world calorie burn varies with age, fitness, terrain, weather, body composition and movement economy. Consult a registered dietitian, physician or qualified exercise professional before significantly changing your nutrition or training program.

Frequently Asked Questions

This calculator uses the standard MET formula: Calories burned = MET × body weight in kilograms × duration in hours. The MET (metabolic equivalent of task) for each activity is taken from the Ainsworth Compendium of Physical Activities (2011), the reference used across sports science and clinical exercise physiology.

Yes — body weight is one of the two biggest factors. Heavier bodies require more energy to move, so a 90 kg adult burns roughly 30% more calories than a 70 kg adult doing the exact same activity for the same duration. That's why this calculator asks for your weight before producing a number.

Running burns more calories per minute and per mile than walking. For the same distance, running burns about 30–50% more energy than walking; for the same duration, the gap is even larger because you cover more ground. Walking is still excellent for daily volume, recovery, and joint-friendly fat loss.

Cycling at a moderate to vigorous pace burns more calories per minute than walking and is gentler on the knees, hips and lower back. For people who can sustain longer sessions, cycling often produces a higher total weekly burn. Walking still wins on accessibility — no equipment, easy to add to a normal day, almost no injury risk.

It depends on the activity and your weight. As a rough guide for a 70 kg (155 lb) adult: 30 minutes of brisk walking burns ~120 kcal, moderate cycling ~280 kcal, jogging at 5 mph ~290 kcal, swimming laps ~245 kcal, HIIT ~280 kcal, and yoga ~85 kcal. Use the calculator above for a personalized number.

MET-based estimates are accurate within roughly ±10–20% for healthy adults at moderate intensities. They are less accurate at very high intensities, on hills, in heat, and for very fit or very unfit individuals whose movement economy differs from the population averages used to derive the MET values. Treat the number as a useful planning estimate, not a precise measurement.

No. The MET formula estimates the calories burned during the activity itself. Vigorous workouts — HIIT, heavy lifting, sprint intervals — produce excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) that can raise resting burn for several hours afterwards. Studies suggest EPOC typically adds 5–15% to the workout burn for vigorous sessions and very little for light or moderate sessions.

A MET (metabolic equivalent of task) is a standardized way to describe exercise intensity. One MET equals the energy you burn sitting still — about 1 kcal per kilogram of body weight per hour. An activity rated 5 METs burns five times as much energy as resting. The Ainsworth Compendium catalogues hundreds of activities with their published MET values.

For a 70 kg (155 lb) adult, 10,000 steps at a typical 3 mph pace covers about 5 miles and burns roughly 400–500 kcal. Heavier individuals burn more — a 100 kg adult will burn closer to 600 kcal over the same distance. Hills, weighted vests, and faster paces all push the number higher.

Yes — combine it with our Calorie Calculator and BMR Calculator. One kilogram of body fat stores about 7,700 kcal of usable energy, so a sustained daily deficit of 500–550 kcal between food eaten and energy expended drives roughly half a kilo of fat loss per week. Exercise is excellent for the activity side of that equation, but nutrition typically does most of the heavy lifting for fat loss.

Most consumer fitness trackers use heart-rate data, accelerometer data, and proprietary models that differ from the MET formula. Trackers can over- or under-estimate calorie burn by 15–30% in independent studies, particularly for resistance training and very-low-intensity activities. The MET method used here is the same standard used in published exercise-physiology research.

MET values were largely derived from healthy adult populations and may not accurately reflect calorie expenditure in children, adolescents, or pregnant individuals. Energy needs during pregnancy follow specific guidelines from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and your doctor. For children and pregnant women, please consult a paediatrician, obstetrician, or registered dietitian rather than relying on a general-purpose calculator.

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