Calories Burned Calculator
Calculate calories burned walking, running, cycling, or from 20 other activities using MET values — with the net figure above resting burn.
Cómo usar esta calculadora
- 1Choose the activity that best matches what you did, including its intensity.
- 2Enter your body weight — heavier bodies burn more for the same activity.
- 3Enter how long you exercised for, in minutes.
- 4Add your weekly session count to see the cumulative effect.
Cómo funciona
MET calorie formula
kcal = MET × weight (kg) × time (hours) 1 MET = 1 kcal per kg per hour = resting metabolism net kcal = (MET − 1) × weight (kg) × time (hours)
A MET is a multiple of resting metabolic rate. An activity rated at 8 METs burns eight times as much energy as sitting still. Because resting burn is defined as roughly 1 kcal per kilogram per hour, the formula reduces to a single multiplication. Subtracting one MET gives the net figure — the calories the activity actually added over doing nothing, which is the honest number when planning a deficit.
Ejemplo resuelto
A 180 lb (81.6 kg) person walking briskly at 4 mph for 45 minutes: 5.0 METs × 81.6 kg × 0.75 h = 306 calories. Of that, 61 would have been burned at rest anyway, so the net cost of the walk is about 245 calories.
Calories Burned Calculator: la guía completa
What a MET actually measures
One MET is the energy cost of sitting quietly — about 3.5 millilitres of oxygen per kilogram of body weight per minute, which works out to roughly one calorie per kilogram per hour. Every activity in the Compendium of Physical Activities is rated as a multiple of that baseline.
The scale is intuitive once you have a few anchors. Walking at 3 mph is 3.5 METs. Running a 10-minute mile is 8.3. Competitive cycling can exceed 15. Anything above 6 METs counts as vigorous activity in public health guidelines, and 3–6 counts as moderate.
Gross versus net calories
Most calculators and most gym machines report gross calories — every calorie burned during the session. But you would have burned some of those anyway just being alive, so counting the full number against a deficit double-counts your basal metabolism.
For a 45-minute walk, the difference is around 60 calories: small on one session, but roughly 250 a week for someone training four times. If you are tracking intake against a TDEE that already includes an activity multiplier, use the net figure — or better, do not eat exercise calories back at all.
Why body weight matters so much
The formula is linear in weight, so a 220 lb person burns about 47% more than a 150 lb person doing exactly the same walk for the same time. Moving more mass costs more energy, and that is true for every weight-bearing activity.
This is also why calorie burn falls as you lose weight. A walk that burned 300 calories at the start of a diet burns closer to 260 twenty pounds later — one of several reasons weight loss decelerates even when behaviour does not change.
How accurate is any of this?
MET values are population averages measured in laboratory conditions. Individual variation in efficiency, terrain, temperature, and technique means real burn commonly differs by 10–20% in either direction. Treadmill and elliptical displays are typically optimistic, often by 20% or more, because they do not know your body composition.
Wrist-based heart rate trackers are not obviously better. They estimate burn from heart rate, which is affected by caffeine, stress, heat, and hydration as much as by workload, and they are least accurate during weight training and interval work.
For practical purposes, use the number for comparison rather than accounting: it reliably tells you that a brisk walk costs more than a slow one and less than a run. What it cannot do is balance a food diary to the calorie.
Preguntas frecuentes
How many calories does walking a mile burn?
Roughly 80–100 calories for most adults, scaling with body weight. A 150 lb person burns about 80 per mile at a moderate pace; a 200 lb person burns closer to 107. Pace matters much less than distance for walking, because covering the same ground faster simply gets it done sooner.
Should I use the gross or net calorie figure?
Net, if you are counting exercise against a calorie target that already includes your basal metabolism. Gross is the number gym equipment reports, which is why exercise appears to cancel more of a meal than it really does.
Do I burn more calories running or walking the same distance?
Running burns more per mile — roughly 25–35% more — because of the vertical work of the flight phase and the higher braking forces on landing. Per minute the gap is much larger, since running covers far more ground in the same time.
Does building muscle increase my calorie burn much?
Less than commonly claimed. A pound of muscle burns about 6 calories a day at rest versus 2 for a pound of fat, so ten pounds of new muscle adds only around 40 daily calories. The real benefit of resistance training is preserving lean mass during a deficit, not the resting burn.