Calories Burned Calculator

The formula behind every row in the table is the same: calories = MET × weight (kg) × time (hours). A MET (metabolic equivalent) describes how many times more energy an activity costs compared with sitting still, which counts as 1 MET. Running at 7.5 mph sits around 11.5 MET, so a 70 kg person running for 30 minutes burns about 11.5 × 70 × 0.5 ≈ 403 kcal. Enter pounds if that's how you track weight — the toggle only changes the display, and the arithmetic still runs in kilograms underneath.

MET values come from measuring average oxygen consumption across groups of people doing a given activity, then published as a reference compendium researchers and clinicians both use. They let you compare activities on a common scale — running at 11.5 MET burns roughly three times faster than walking at 3.5 MET, for the same person and time — but each number is a midpoint, not a measurement of you. Pace, incline, technique and even how the activity is performed all move the true energy cost around that midpoint.

Two people at the same weight, doing the same activity for the same time, do not burn identical calories. Fitness level changes efficiency — a trained runner uses less energy at a given pace than a beginner. Terrain, wind, heat and humidity all add cost that a flat MET value does not capture. Body composition matters too: MET tables are built around average bodies and do not separately account for muscle versus fat. A chest-strap heart-rate monitor tied to a personal calibration gets closer to your real burn; the gold-standard measurement, indirect calorimetry, is a lab test few people ever need.

Calories burned in a workout are one slice of total daily energy expenditure, not a separate budget to spend on food afterward. It's easy to overestimate a session and then eat back more than was burned, which is one reason exercise alone is an unreliable lever for weight change — what and how much you eat over the whole day generally moves the number on the scale more than any single workout. That does not make training pointless: it changes body composition, fitness and health in ways a calorie count alone does not show, which is worth remembering when the number on this page looks smaller than expected.

Anyone starting a new exercise program with a heart, lung or metabolic condition, or returning to activity after a long break or an injury, should get clearance from a physician before using intensity as a target. People training for a specific performance goal, or who need real precision rather than an estimate, are better served by a lab-based test or a certified exercise physiologist who can measure rather than approximate. This page is a starting estimate for a general audience — it does not replace that kind of individual assessment.