Estimate the calories burned during any physical activity or exercise based on your body weight, activity type, and duration using MET values.
| Duration | Calories Burned |
|---|---|
| 15 min | 123 kcal |
| 30 min | 245 kcal |
| 45 min | 368 kcal |
| 1 hr | 490 kcal |
| 1.5 hrs | 735 kcal |
| 2 hrs | 980 kcal |
Formula: Calories = MET × weight (kg) × duration (hours). MET values are from the Compendium of Physical Activities. Results are estimates — actual burn depends on fitness level, age, and individual metabolism.
A 60 kg runner and a 95 kg runner finish the same 45 minutes at 6 mph, and the heavier one has burned 698 kcal against 441 for the lighter one, even though the clock and the route were identical. Body weight, the type of activity and the time spent are the three inputs this calculator uses, with MET values taken from the Compendium of Physical Activities. It cannot see your heart rate, fitness or running economy, so treat the answer as a grounded estimate, not a measurement.
Typical case: the page default of a 70 kg person jogging (general, MET 7.0) for 30 minutes. Duration in hours = 0 + 30 ÷ 60 = 0.5. Calories = MET × weight (kg) × hours = 7.0 × 70 × 0.5 = 245 kcal. The per-minute figure is 7.0 × 70 ÷ 60 = 8.17, shown as 8.2 kcal/min. The side table scales the same product to 15, 30, 45, 60, 90 and 120 minutes: 123, 245, 368, 490, 735 and 980 kcal. In US mode a 154 lb entry is converted with × 0.453592 to 69.85 kg first, which returns 244 rather than 245.
Edge cases. A MET is a multiple of resting energy use, roughly 1 kcal per kilogram per hour, so this formula returns gross calories with your resting burn included. Subtract one MET for the exercise-only part: (7.0 − 1) × 70 × 0.5 = 210 kcal for the same jog. Unit mismatch is the big risk: typing 154 into the kilogram box while units are set to metric gives 7.0 × 154 × 0.5 = 539 kcal, 2.2 times too high. Zero hours and zero minutes show a dash instead of 0. The duration limits are not enforced, so 90 in the minutes box is read as 1.5 hours and gives 735 kcal, but a negative entry slips through and produces a negative result, so keep both boxes at zero or above.
The MET values are fixed in the page: 2.5 for slow walking at 2 mph, 4.3 for brisk walking at 3.5 mph, 7.0 for jogging, 9.8 for running at 6 mph, 11.8 for jump rope and 0.95 for sleeping. Cycling steps from 4.0 under 10 mph to 15.8 above 20 mph, so choosing the right row matters more than anything else you type.
Machines use their own formulas and often your speed and incline. The default row is general jogging at MET 7.0, and the same 70 kg person for 30 minutes at the Running, 6 mph row (MET 9.8) gets 343 kcal. Matching the row to your real pace closes most of the gap.
Be cautious. The figure is an estimate and includes your resting burn, and if you also use a TDEE number with an activity level, the exercise is already counted there. Anyone with a medical condition should ask their doctor or dietitian before adjusting intake.
Not in this formula. Only weight, the MET value and time matter, so two people of equal weight get the same answer even though fitness and body composition can make their real burn differ.
The Compendium lists sleeping at about 0.95 MET, slightly under quiet rest at 1.0. For a 70 kg person, eight hours is 0.95 × 70 × 8 = 532 kcal, against 560 at a flat 1.0.
Enter the total session time, rests included. MET values for lifting are averaged over a whole session, so counting only the minutes under the bar understates it. Even so, general lifting at 3.5 or vigorous at 6.0 is a rough fit for any single workout.
The formula is linear in body mass because moving more weight takes more energy. That is a good approximation for walking and running, but it will be less exact for activities where technique or buoyancy matters, such as swimming.