Calories Burned Calculator

What this calculator does

This tool estimates how many calories a given activity burns based on your body weight and how long you did it, using published MET (metabolic equivalent) values for more than 40 common activities — from sleeping and sitting to running, cycling, swimming, weight training and yoga. Pick an activity, enter your weight and duration, and get an estimated calorie total plus a per-hour rate for comparison.

What a MET value is

A metabolic equivalent, or MET, expresses an activity's energy cost as a multiple of your resting metabolic rate. One MET is roughly the energy you use sitting quietly; an activity rated at 8 METs burns roughly eight times that resting rate per minute. The MET values used here come from the 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities — an open academic reference (an update to Ainsworth et al.'s original Compendium) that catalogs measured or estimated energy costs for hundreds of activities and intensities. It's the same public dataset most credible calorie-burn calculators cite, rather than an unsourced or invented number.

The calculation

Calories burned per minute = MET × 3.5 × body weight in kilograms ÷ 200. This standard formula is calibrated on oxygen cost per kilogram of body weight, which is why it only needs your weight (not height or age) to produce an estimate — though real individual metabolic efficiency varies somewhat beyond what any population-average formula can capture. Multiplying by your duration gives the total for your session; the tool also shows an hourly rate so you can compare activities at a glance regardless of how long you actually did each one.

Choosing the right activity entry

Several entries here distinguish between intensities of the same activity — walking at 3 km/h versus a brisk 6.5 km/h, or moderate versus vigorous cycling — because MET values change substantially with pace and effort, not just the activity's name. Pick the entry that best matches your actual pace or perceived effort rather than defaulting to a generic "walking" or "running" option; a 20-minute mile walk and an 11-minute mile walk burn meaningfully different amounts per minute.

How accurate is this compared to a fitness tracker?

MET tables give a population-average estimate for a named activity performed at a specified intensity. A wrist-worn heart rate tracker uses your real-time physiological response and some degree of personal calibration, which can be more individually accurate — but trackers also have their own error sources (sensor placement, skin contact, algorithm assumptions) and aren't perfectly precise either. Use this calculator for planning purposes — estimating a workout's rough energy cost before you do it, or comparing activities — rather than as a precise metabolic measurement.

Limits

Individual factors like fitness level, muscle mass, terrain, and how efficiently your body performs a given movement all cause real calorie burn to vary around the MET-table estimate. This tool gives a general estimate from a published dataset, not medical or nutrition advice — if you're managing a medical condition tied to energy balance, work with a qualified professional rather than relying on this number alone.