Calories Burned Calculator
Estimate how many calories you burn during exercise or daily activities using MET (Metabolic Equivalent) values.
How Exercise Calories Are Estimated
This calculator uses METs (Metabolic Equivalents of Task) — the standard unit exercise science uses to express activity intensity. One MET is the energy you burn sitting quietly (about 1 kcal per kg of body weight per hour). An activity rated 8 METs burns eight times that. The formula:
Calories = MET value × body weight (kg) × duration (hours)
MET values come from the Compendium of Physical Activities, a research database that has catalogued the measured energy cost of hundreds of activities since 1993.
MET Values for Common Activities
| Activity | METs | kcal/hour (70 kg person) |
|---|---|---|
| Walking, casual (4 km/h) | 3.0 | 210 |
| Walking, brisk (5.6 km/h) | 4.3 | 301 |
| Yoga (hatha) | 2.5 | 175 |
| Weight training, general | 5.0 | 350 |
| Cycling, moderate (19–22 km/h) | 8.0 | 560 |
| Swimming laps, moderate | 8.3 | 581 |
| Running, 9.7 km/h (6 min/km) | 9.8 | 686 |
| Running, 12 km/h (5 min/km) | 11.5 | 805 |
| Jump rope, moderate | 11.8 | 826 |
Worked Example
An 80 kg person cycling at a moderate pace for 45 minutes: 8.0 METs × 80 kg × 0.75 h = 480 kcal. The same ride costs a 60 kg rider only 360 kcal — body weight is the biggest single factor in absolute burn, which is why heavier people lose weight faster at the same activity level.
What Moves the Real Number
- Fitness level: trained athletes are more economical, burning slightly less at a given pace.
- Terrain and conditions: hills, wind, sand and cold water all raise cost above the table value.
- Technique: an inefficient swimmer can burn far more (and go slower) than the MET table assumes.
- EPOC ("afterburn"): hard interval sessions add roughly 6–15% extra burn in the hours afterwards — real, but smaller than marketing suggests.
The Most Common Mistake
Remember that MET calculations include your resting burn. Of the 480 kcal in the example above, about 60 would have been burned sitting on the couch anyway — the extra cost of the ride is ~420 kcal. Fitness trackers and cardio machines frequently report gross figures (and treadmills often add 15–20% on top). If you eat back every displayed calorie, you'll quietly erase your deficit. The safer habit: treat exercise calories as a bonus, set your intake from TDEE with our calorie calculator (your activity level already includes training), and verify with the scale trend over 2–3 weeks. Pair hard sessions with zone targets from the heart rate zones calculator to keep intensity honest.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does the treadmill show more calories than this calculator?
Cardio machines commonly overestimate by 15–20% or more — they assume average economy, sometimes ignore whether you hold the rails, and display gross rather than additional calories. Research-based MET values are the more conservative, more reliable figure.
Does muscle soreness mean I burned more calories?
No. Soreness reflects unaccustomed movement and muscle damage, not energy cost. A sore 20-minute novelty workout usually burns far less than a routine 60-minute run that leaves you feeling fine.
How many calories does strength training really burn?
A typical hour of lifting burns 250–400 kcal depending on body weight and rest periods — less than steady cardio. Its value for body composition comes from building muscle, which raises resting burn and directs surplus calories toward lean mass, not from the session burn itself.
Should I eat back exercise calories?
If your calorie target already uses an activity multiplier that includes training, no — they're already counted. Only add calories for genuinely unplanned, large extra sessions, and even then add only ~50–75% of the estimate to stay safe against overestimation.