Calories Burned Calculator

Pick an activity, enter your weight and how long you did it, and get an estimate of the calories you burned. Values come from the 2024 Compendium of Physical Activities.

Your details

kg
min

Count only the time you were moving, not rests between sets or stops.

Your results

Pick an activity and enter your weight and duration.

How to use it

  1. Choose your units and pick the activity closest to what you did. For running, walking and cycling, match the speed.
  2. Enter your body weight and the minutes you were actually moving.
  3. Read the calories burned. The table compares other activities in the same group for the same time.

How it's calculated

The formula. Each activity in the Compendium has a MET value: its energy cost as a multiple of resting. One MET is 3.5 mL of oxygen per kg per minute, which works out to about 1 kcal per kg per hour. So:

calories = MET × weight (kg) × hours

Example: running at 6 mph (9.7 km/h) is 9.3 MET. A 70 kg person running for 30 minutes burns about 9.3 × 70 × 0.5 = 326 kcal. The calculator rounds estimates of 10 kcal or more to the nearest 10 and shows smaller estimates with finer detail. These MET values come from the Adult Compendium for ages 19–59.

Above resting. About 1 MET of that is what you’d burn sitting still, so the extra cost of the activity is:

calories above resting = (MET − 1) × weight (kg) × hours

Where the values come from. The 2024 Adult Compendium lists MET values for 1,114 activities for adults aged 19 to 59, mostly from studies that measured oxygen use. This calculator includes a selection of common exercise activities.

Limits. MET values are averages. Your real burn depends on fitness, technique, terrain and how hard you actually worked. The 1 MET standard also assumes an average resting rate; if yours is lower, the estimate runs high. Values here are from the adult Compendium for ages 19 to 59; adults 60 and over have a separate Compendium because their energy costs differ.

Sources

  1. Herrmann, S. D., Willis, E. A., Ainsworth, B. E., Barreira, T. V., et al. (2024). 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities: a third update of the energy costs of human activities. Journal of Sport and Health Science, 13(1), 6–12.
  2. 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities. MET values by activity.

Questions

What is a MET?

A MET (metabolic equivalent) compares an activity's energy use with sitting at rest. Running at 10 km/h is about 9.3 MET, so it uses about 9.3 times as much energy as resting.

What does "above resting" mean?

The main number includes the calories you'd have burned anyway in that time just by being alive. Above resting subtracts that, so it's the extra the activity cost you. Use it if you add exercise calories to a daily target.

Why is my fitness tracker's number different?

Trackers use your heart rate and their own formulas, and they're often off by a fair margin. Both are estimates. Pick one method and use it consistently.

Do heavier people burn more calories?

Yes, for weight-bearing activities like running and walking, moving more weight takes more energy. That's why the calculation scales with body weight.

Updated November 9, 2026.