Calories Burned Calculator
Estimate calories burned during an activity based on your weight and how long you were active.
How this calculator works
This uses standard MET (Metabolic Equivalent of Task) values, a widely used method in exercise science for estimating energy expenditure across different activities.
MET values represent how many times more energy an activity uses compared to resting.
Why MET-based estimates are approximate
MET values represent an average across many people doing an activity at a typical intensity — your actual calorie burn depends on factors like fitness level, exact intensity, terrain, and individual metabolic differences that a single MET value can't capture.
Wearable fitness trackers that use heart rate data often provide more personalized estimates than MET-based calculations, since they account for your actual physiological response during exercise rather than population averages.
A worked example
A 75kg person running at 6mph (MET 8) for 30 minutes: calories burned equals 8 times 75 times 0.5, or 300 calories.
The same person doing 30 minutes of yoga (MET 3) instead would burn roughly 112 calories — illustrating how dramatically calorie burn varies by activity type even over the identical duration.
Understanding MET values
A MET (Metabolic Equivalent of Task) of 1 represents resting energy use. An activity with a MET of 8, like running at 6 mph, uses roughly 8 times more energy than sitting still — which is the basis for how this calculator estimates calorie burn across different activities.
Actual calorie burn varies with intensity, terrain, fitness level, and individual metabolism, so MET-based estimates are a useful general guide rather than a precise measurement — fitness trackers using heart rate data can offer a more personalized (though still imperfect) estimate.
Frequently asked questions
How accurate are MET-based calorie estimates?
They're a reasonable estimate for population averages but don't account for individual fitness level, intensity variation, or metabolism — actual burn can vary meaningfully from person to person.
Are calories burned estimates from fitness trackers more accurate?
Heart-rate-based tracker estimates are often more personalized than generic MET calculations, though both remain estimates — actual calorie burn is difficult to measure with complete precision outside a lab setting.
Does muscle mass affect calories burned during exercise?
Yes — people with more muscle mass generally burn more calories during the same activity, since muscle tissue is more metabolically active than fat tissue even during exercise.
How accurate are MET-based calorie burn estimates?
They're reasonable population-level estimates, but actual burn varies with individual fitness, intensity, and metabolism — treat the number as a useful guide rather than an exact figure.