Calories Burned Calculator
Estimate how many calories you burn during a workout — by how long you moved, or by the distance you covered.
Looking to find out how many calories you burned after your last walk, run or bike ride?
Use our Calories Burned Calculator for quick and easy estimation of calories burned, based on activity, distance, and body weight.
If you are recording an exercise to track weight loss (pair this with our Calorie Calculator to find your daily calorie needs, or our Ideal Weight Calculator to find your target weight range), weight training or a specific event, you can choose to record the duration of the exercise (how long you were active) or distance covered (how far you ran, jumped or lifted).
How We Calculate Calories Burned
Calorie burn is estimated using the MET formula, a method used by exercise scientists and fitness trackers alike:
Calories burned = MET × body weight (kg) × duration (hours)
MET is an acronym for “Metabolic Equivalent of Task. It is a measure of the amount of energy expended in an activity versus sitting, which has a MET value of 1.
Walking at a moderate pace is about 3.5 METs and running at a fast pace is 12 or greater.
The more calories you burn, the greater your body weight, and the longer and harder the activity is, so our calculator will ask you for activity type, duration (or distance/speed) and body weight.
If calculating by distance rather than duration, then we estimate your speed from the distance and speed you enter then apply the same MET-based formula.
MET Values by Activity
Activity | Pace / Intensity | Approx. MET Value |
Walking | Leisurely (2 mph) | 2.8 |
Walking | Brisk (3.5 mph) | 4.3 |
Walking | Very brisk (4.5 mph) | 6.3 |
Running | Jogging (5 mph) | 8.3 |
Running | Moderate (6 mph) | 9.8 |
Running | Fast (8 mph) | 11.8 |
Cycling | Leisurely (<10 mph) | 4.0 |
Cycling | Moderate (12–14 mph) | 8.0 |
Cycling | Vigorous (16–19 mph) | 12.0 |
These are general averages. Actual calorie burn varies with fitness level, terrain, incline, and individual metabolism.
What Does That Number Actually Mean?
A 300 calorie burn is equivalent to a banana and slice of toast or about 30-40 minutes of brisk walking for most adults.
Consider your result a handy approximation, not an exact clinical measurement; your actual calorie burn may vary by 10-20% due to factors such as muscle mass, age, sex, and even weather. If you want a fuller picture of how your body composition affects these numbers, check your BMI Calculator result or estimate your Body Fat Calculator percentage alongside this one.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1: Is this calculator accurate?
Provides a reliable approximated value, based on the same method as adopted by most fitness software and wearables.
A lab-based VO2 max test is the most accurate, but this is sufficient for normal tracking.
Q2: Does it account for age or sex?
Not directly. Unlike the personalized MET values, these activity based ones are the same for two individuals with equal weight, who both perform the same activity for the same duration.
Body composition and fitness level can cause real burn to vary.
Q3: How many more calories does running burn than walking?
Running burns approximately twice the number of calories as brisk walking for any given duration of exercise, with a MET of about double that of brisk walking.
Q4: Should I use duration or distance mode?
If you have a length of time for which you were active (such as a 45-minute exercise class), use the duration mode.
If you used a GPS or a treadmill readout to track mileage, use distance mode.