Calories Burned Calculator

Activity

Weight, kg

Duration, minutes

Times a week

Result

Burned, kcal295
Per minute, kcal6.56
Per week, kcal886
MET of the activity5
That is kg of fat a month0.5
Activitybrisk walking 6.5 km/h

This result is informational only and is not professional advice.

MET — how many times harder than sitting still

Works out the calories a session burns using metabolic equivalents, adjusted for body weight and duration.

A metabolic equivalent says how much more energy an activity costs than sitting quietly. One MET is rest, brisk walking is five, running at ten kilometres an hour is close to ten. From there it is arithmetic: kilocalories a minute equal MET times 3.5 times weight, divided by 200.

The conclusion usually disappoints. Forty-five minutes of brisk walking is under three hundred kilocalories — one croissant. Exercise is worth doing on its own merits, but weight loss mostly lives on the food side of the ledger.

What this calculator shows

Calories burned in the session and per minute
The weekly total at your chosen frequency
What that comes to in kilograms of fat a month, with food unchanged

What to keep in mind

The formula gives gross expenditure, including the calories you would have burned anyway: the net gain is roughly ten percent lower.
MET values are population averages; a trained person burns less at the same pace than a beginner does.

FAQs

How many calories does an hour of running burn?

At 75 kg and 10 km/h, roughly 770 kilocalories an hour. At 60 kg the same hour gives about 615.

What is a MET?

A metabolic equivalent: the ratio of energy used during an activity to energy used at rest. Rest is 1, walking 3 to 5, running 8 to 12.

Why does my fitness tracker say something else?

Trackers work from heart rate and proprietary algorithms, and typically overstate expenditure by 20 to 30 percent. The MET calculation is the more conservative estimate.

Can I lose weight through exercise alone?

It is hard: a kilogram of fat is about 7,700 kilocalories, which is roughly 26 hours of brisk walking. Food moves the balance far faster.

Worked example

Brisk walking three times a week

Input: Brisk walking 6.5 km/h, 75 kg, 45 minutes, 3 times a week

Output: 295 kcal a session, 886 a week

Note: About 0.5 kg of fat a month with food unchanged, counting 7,700 kilocalories to the kilogram. Modest — but it adds up to six kilograms over a year.

Useful links

All tools in Health calculators for weight, lab values and training

Calories Burned Calculator

Result

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