Calories Burned Calculator
Energy burned in a session, from MET values for more than forty activities.
This uses MET values — multiples of resting metabolic rate — from the Compendium of Physical Activities. A MET of 8 means the activity costs eight times what sitting still costs, so heavier people burn more for the same session.
How this is worked out
The calculation is MET × 3.5 × weight in kg ÷ 200, which gives kilocalories per minute. The result shown is gross energy expenditure — it includes the calories you would have burned anyway sitting on the sofa, which is how fitness trackers and gym machines report it too.
MET values are population averages measured in laboratories. Real burn varies with fitness, technique, terrain, temperature and how hard you are actually working, so treat any single figure as being within perhaps 20 per cent rather than exact. Machines that do not know your weight are usually worse.
This calculator runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you enter is transmitted to us, saved on our servers, or shared with anyone.
Common questions
Why does my treadmill give a different number?
Most cardio machines use their own equations and many do not ask for your weight, so they tend to overestimate. A MET-based estimate that knows your weight is usually closer.
Should I eat back the calories I burn?
Partly, at most. Estimates on both sides of the equation carry error, and eating back a full estimated burn is one of the most common reasons a deficit quietly disappears.