Calories Burned Calculator
Estimate calories burned for 20+ common activities using MET values.
Calories Burned Calculator — your inputs
- Activity
- Running 6 mph (10 min/mi)
- Weight
- 70 kg
- Duration
- 30 min
- Unit system
- Metric
Key takeaways
- This uses MET values from the Compendium of Physical Activities — the standard reference behind almost every activity calculator.1
- One MET is defined as 3.5 ml of oxygen per kg per minute. That definition overestimates true resting rate by around 20% for many adults.2
- MET values are population averages for an activity, taking no account of your fitness, technique or effort on the day.
- Fitness trackers are not better. Wrist devices measure heart rate reasonably well and energy expenditure poorly — error rates above 20% are typical.3
- Do not eat back the number. Exercise adds less to your daily total than it appears to.4
How to use this calculator
Pick an activity from the list (MET values from the Compendium of Physical Activities).
Enter your weight and the duration of the activity.
Understanding your result
Calorie burn is estimated from METs (metabolic equivalents), body weight, and time. One MET ≈ your resting energy rate.
The formula is standardized, but real burn varies with fitness, effort, and efficiency.
What a MET is
A metabolic equivalent is a multiple of resting energy expenditure. Sitting quietly is 1 MET; an activity rated 8 METs costs eight times as much energy per minute. The convenience of the unit is that it lets one number describe an activity for people of any size — multiply by bodyweight and duration and you get calories.
The values come from the Compendium of Physical Activities, maintained by Ainsworth and colleagues, which catalogues over 800 activities with MET ratings drawn from published measurements.1 It is genuinely careful work, and it is the reason this calculator can offer twenty activities rather than making numbers up.
| Activity | METs | kcal/hour at 70 kg |
|---|---|---|
| Walking, 5 km/h | 3.5 | 245 |
| Cycling, leisurely | 4.0 | 280 |
| Swimming, moderate | 5.8 | 406 |
| Weight training, vigorous | 6.0 | 420 |
| Running, 8 km/h | 8.3 | 581 |
| Running, 11 km/h | 11.0 | 770 |
| Skipping rope, fast | 12.3 | 861 |
The definition itself carries an error
One MET is defined as 3.5 ml O₂/kg/min, a figure taken from a single 40-year-old 70 kg man. Byrne and colleagues measured resting rate in 642 adults and found the true average closer to 2.6 ml/kg/min — meaning the standard definition overestimates resting expenditure by around 20%, and every MET-based calculation inherits some of that.2
Why your number is probably wrong
- MET values describe an activity, not you. "Swimming, moderate" covers a competent swimmer gliding and a beginner thrashing. They are not burning the same energy, and the compendium has one number for both.
- Efficiency improves with practice. A trained cyclist burns less at a given speed than a novice, because they are better at it. Getting fitter lowers the cost of the same task.
- Body composition matters and is not captured. Two people at 80 kg with very different lean mass have different energy costs, and the calculation only sees the 80.
- Trackers are not the answer. The Stanford evaluation of seven wrist devices found heart rate measured within acceptable error but energy expenditure badly off — the best device tested had a median error over 20%, the worst near 90%.3
- It includes what you would have burned anyway. An hour of exercise replaces an hour of resting metabolism, which was already costing you roughly 70 kcal. The net is lower than the gross by that amount.
- Gross (what calculators report)581 kcal
- Resting rate for the same hour70 kcal
- Net additional burn511 kcal
| Method | Value (kcal) |
|---|---|
| Gross (what calculators report) | 581 |
| Resting rate for the same hour | 70 |
| Net additional burn | 511 |
Why not to eat it back
This is the practical point, and it is the one that quietly cancels most people's deficits. There are three compounding reasons the number should not be added to your intake.
- The estimate is high. Between the MET definition's 20% overestimate and gross-versus-net, the figure you are given is generously above what you actually added.
- Your activity multiplier may already include it. If you told the TDEE Calculator you were 'moderately active', your training is already priced in. Eating it back a second time is double counting.
- Your body compensates. Pontzer's constrained-expenditure work found that total daily energy expenditure does not rise in proportion to activity — some of the increase is offset by reductions elsewhere.4 Part of the burn you just earned quietly disappears into moving less for the rest of the day.
What to do instead
Set a calorie target from your TDEE with the activity level you actually live at, and leave it alone. Let the scale over two to three weeks tell you whether the estimate was right, and adjust the target rather than adding a variable daily correction on top of an estimate you cannot trust to 20%.
What exercise is actually for
None of the above is an argument against training — it is an argument against treating training as arithmetic. Exercise is comfortably the best-evidenced intervention in health, and almost none of that evidence is about calorie balance.
- Cardiovascular and metabolic health, largely independent of whether you lose weight.
- Muscle and bone, which determine what you can do in thirty years' time.
- Appetite regulation and sleep, both of which make a calorie target easier to hold.
- Mental health, with effect sizes that compare respectably with other interventions.
The federal guidelines ask for 150 minutes of moderate or 75 minutes of vigorous activity a week, plus muscle-strengthening on two days.5 That target is set on health outcomes, not on calories burned — which is the right way round.
Terms used on this page
- MET
- Metabolic equivalent of task. One MET is resting energy expenditure, defined as 3.5 ml of oxygen per kg per minute — a definition that is known to run about 20% high for the average adult.
- Gross vs net expenditure
- Gross is everything burned during an activity. Net subtracts the resting metabolism you would have spent anyway. Calculators almost always report gross.
- Exercise efficiency
- How much useful work you get from the energy spent. Improves with practice, which means a fitter person burns less doing the same task.
- EPOC
- Excess post-exercise oxygen consumption — the elevated burn after a session. Real, and much smaller than commonly claimed: typically 6–15% of the session's cost, not hundreds of calories.
The formula
- Running 6 mph (MET 9.8), 70 kg, 30 min
- kcal/min = (9.8 × 3.5 × 70) / 200 = 12.005
- total = 12.005 × 30
Source: MET energy expenditure. Published clinical/scientific formula.
Limitations
- MET values are population averages; individual burn varies.
- Doesn't account for intensity changes, terrain, or fitness efficiency gains.
References
- 1.2011 Compendium of Physical Activities: a second update of codes and MET values. Ainsworth et al., Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise 43(8):1575–1581, 2011.
- 2.Corrected relationship between the metabolic equivalent and resting metabolic rate. Byrne et al., Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise 37(9):1517–1521, 2005.
- 3.Accuracy of wrist-worn heart rate monitors and energy expenditure estimates. Shcherbina et al., Journal of Personalized Medicine 7(2):3, 2017.
- 4.Constrained total energy expenditure and metabolic adaptation to physical activity. Pontzer et al., Current Biology 26(3):410–417, 2016.
- 5.Physical activity guidelines for Americans, 2nd edition. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2018.
Frequently asked questions
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Read articleNot medical advice. This calculator is for general informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical guidance. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider before making decisions about your health. Read the full medical disclaimer.
Printed from mystatura.com — for general information only, not medical advice.