Estimate calories burned for one exercise session, by activity and weight.
Estimate only, not medical advice.
Every option in the dropdown above carries a MET, short for Metabolic Equivalent of Task, drawn from the Compendium of Physical Activities, the standard reference exercise scientists use to compare the energy cost of different activities. A MET of 1 is roughly your resting energy use; a MET of 8 means the activity burns about eight times that.
| Activity | MET | Cal/min | Cal/hr |
|---|---|---|---|
| Walking (3.5 mph) | 3.5 | 4.4 | 267 |
| Running (6 mph) | 9.8 | 12.4 | 747 |
| Running (8 mph) | 11.8 | 15.0 | 899 |
| Cycling, moderate | 7.5 | 9.5 | 572 |
| Swimming laps | 8.0 | 10.2 | 610 |
| Hiking | 6.0 | 7.6 | 457 |
| Jump rope | 11.0 | 14.0 | 838 |
| Elliptical | 5.0 | 6.4 | 381 |
| Yoga | 2.5 | 3.2 | 191 |
Compendium of Physical Activities MET values, run through the formula below for a 160 lb person; the calculator above scales this to your own weight and duration.
The formula is cal/min = MET × 3.5 × body weight in kg ÷ 200. A 160 lb runner (about 72.6 kg) at 6 mph, MET 9.8, works out to roughly 12.4 calories a minute; over a 30-minute run that's about 373 calories, the same number this calculator returns for those inputs.
From the Compendium of Physical Activities, a reference list of energy costs for hundreds of activities used throughout exercise science. The dropdown above uses a representative MET for each activity category, not a lab measurement of you specifically.
Because the formula scales with body weight. A 200 lb person and a 130 lb person doing the same activity at the same intensity burn different totals because moving more mass costs more energy.
Generally yes. MET is a multiple of resting energy use, so a MET of 8 means an activity uses roughly eight times the energy you'd burn sitting still. It's a rough intensity ranking, not a precise effort score.
Close, but not identical. Trackers blend MET tables with your heart rate and movement data, which usually narrows the estimate. A MET calculation like this one is a reasonable starting point without a device.