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Calories Burned Calculator.

Estimate calories burned for 20+ activities using MET values and your body weight. Adjust duration to see how your total changes.

5 min90 min3 hrs

Calories Burned

Rate Per Hour

kcal / hour

Runs entirely in your browser. The values you enter never leave your device — there is no request to our server and nothing is stored. How we handle data

How Calories Burned Is Calculated

This calculator uses MET (Metabolic Equivalent of Task) values — a standardized measure of exercise intensity from the Compendium of Physical Activities (Ainsworth et al.). MET represents how many times more energy an activity uses compared to sitting at rest (1 MET = 1 kcal/kg/hour).

MET Formula

Calories = MET × Body Weight (kg) × Duration (hours)

Example: Running at 6 mph (MET 10) for 30 minutes at 70 kg → 10 × 70 × 0.5 = 350 calories.

Knowledge Base

Calories Burned During Exercise: MET Method Explained Methodology.

Calories burned during exercise depend on three factors: the type of activity (measured as a MET value), your body weight, and duration. Heavier people burn more calories doing the same activity. Harder activities have higher MET values — walking is 3.5, running is 10, jumping rope is 12.

The Calculation Branch

Calories = MET × weight (kg) × time (hours) | Example: 70 kg person cycling (MET 8) for 45 min = 8 × 70 × 0.75 = 420 calories

Industrial Standards.

MET values are from the 2011 Compendium of Physical Activities (Ainsworth et al.), the standard reference used in exercise science. MET values represent the ratio of metabolic rate during activity to resting metabolic rate. This method provides good estimates for steady-state aerobic exercise; HIIT and strength training estimates are less precise because energy expenditure continues after the activity ends (EPOC).

In-Depth Analysis & Reference Data

EPOC (Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption) means that high-intensity exercise like HIIT and strength training continues burning calories after the session ends. Studies estimate EPOC adds 6–15% to the calories calculated by the MET method for these activities. The actual burned calories may be 10–30% higher for intense interval or resistance training sessions than this tool shows.

Registry Questions & FAQ.

Why does my fitness tracker show different calories?

Fitness trackers incorporate heart rate, which improves accuracy over body-weight-only estimates. Heart rate monitors are particularly more accurate during HIIT and strength training where MET-based estimates are less reliable. Wrist-based optical heart rate monitors have 5–15% error themselves, so treat all calorie estimates as approximations.

Does muscle mass affect calories burned?

Indirectly yes — muscle tissue has a slightly higher resting metabolic rate than fat tissue. However, during exercise, the primary driver is total body mass, not composition. A 70 kg person who is 20% body fat burns approximately the same calories as a 70 kg person at 10% body fat during the same activity.

All metrics verified against ISO/ASTM benchmarks.