Calories Burned Calculator
The headline figure includes the calories you would have spent existing anyway. The "above resting" number removes them, and it is the honest one if you are counting exercise against a daily target.
Calories burned
523calories
- Calories burned
- 523
- Above resting
- 460
- METs
- 8.3
- Per minute
- 11.6
- Per hour
- 697
- One MET is the energy you spend sitting still. An activity at 8 METs costs eight times that, which is what the whole calculation rests on.
- The headline figure is gross — it includes the calories you would have spent existing anyway. The "above resting" figure removes them, and it is the honest number if you are counting exercise against a daily target. The gap is largest for gentle activity: a third of an easy hour is just being alive.
- MET values are population averages. Fitness, efficiency, terrain and temperature all move the real figure, and fitter people burn less doing the same work rather than more.
- Wearables tend to overstate this, sometimes by a lot. Treat any of it as an estimate to compare against itself over time rather than a figure to eat back.
About the calories burned calculator
One MET is the rate of energy you use sitting still. An activity at eight METs costs eight times that, which is the whole basis of the calculation. The values come from the Compendium of Physical Activities, a published research reference rather than anything that shifts.
Body weight matters because moving a heavier body costs more. Jogging for 45 minutes burns about 523 calories at 80 kilograms and proportionally less at 60. Duration scales it linearly, which is why an hour of walking can beat twenty minutes of running.
The distinction the page leads on is gross against net. The 523 figure includes the roughly 63 calories you would have burned in those 45 minutes doing nothing at all, so only 460 is genuinely attributable to the jog. The gap is proportionally largest for gentle activity — about a third of an easy hour is just being alive — which is exactly where the flattery does most damage to a calorie count.
MET values are population averages and reality varies. Fitness, efficiency, terrain, temperature and technique all move the real figure, and a fitter person burns less doing the same work rather than more. Wearables tend to overstate all of this, sometimes substantially.
The practical conclusion is that this is a number to compare against itself over time rather than one to eat back. Eating back an overstated exercise figure is a reliable way to wipe out a deficit.
What it works out
- Calories burned for sixteen common activities
- The figure above resting, shown separately
- Per minute and per hour rates
- Metric or imperial weight
The formula
Calories = METs × 3.5 × Weight in kg ÷ 200 × Minutes
The 3.5 is millilitres of oxygen per kilogram per minute at rest — one MET, expressed physiologically. The 200 converts oxygen consumed into calories. Together they turn a MET value into a burn rate per kilogram per minute.
Jogging is 8.3 METs. At 80 kilograms: 8.3 × 3.5 × 80 ÷ 200 gives 11.6 calories a minute, and 45 minutes of it is 523 calories.
Subtract one MET and you get the net figure — what the activity cost above simply existing. At 7.3 METs the same session is 460 calories, and the 63-calorie difference is what you would have burned sitting down.
That gap matters most where you would least expect. Gentle activity has a small MET value, so removing the resting one takes a large proportion of it: a 3-MET hour drops by a third, while an 11-MET hour drops by less than a tenth. Light exercise is flattered by gross figures far more than hard exercise is.
- METs
- The activity's energy cost as a multiple of resting. From the published compendium.
- Weight
- Body weight. Moving more mass costs more.
- 3.5
- Millilitres of oxygen per kilogram per minute at rest — one MET.
- 200
- Converts oxygen consumption into calories.
A worked example
An 80 kilogram person jogging for 45 minutes.
That works out to 523 calories.
- Calories burned
- 523
- Above resting
- 460
- METs
- 8.3
- Per minute
- 11.6
- Per hour
- 697
Questions
How many calories does jogging burn?
About 523 for an 80 kilogram person jogging 45 minutes, of which roughly 460 is above what you would have burned resting. Lighter people burn proportionally less.
What is a MET?
A multiple of your resting energy use. Sitting still is 1 MET; brisk walking is about 4.3 and running at 11 km/h is about 11. The values come from the Compendium of Physical Activities.
Why show a figure above resting?
Because the gross figure includes calories you would have burned anyway, and counting them twice inflates a daily total. The difference is largest for gentle activity — about a third of an easy hour is simply being alive.
Are fitness tracker calorie counts accurate?
They tend to overstate, sometimes by a lot, and they vary between devices for the same session. Useful for tracking your own trend, unreliable as an absolute figure to eat back.
Should I eat back exercise calories?
Cautiously if at all. The estimates are generous, the gross figure double-counts resting energy, and appetite tends to rise with training anyway. Eating back a full overstated figure is a common way to wipe out a deficit.
Does being fitter mean burning more?
The opposite, for the same work. A fitter person is more efficient and burns slightly less doing an identical session. What fitness buys is the ability to do harder sessions, which burn more.
Does weight training burn many calories?
Less than most cardio during the session — around 5 METs. Its case is what it does outside the session: preserving muscle, which keeps resting metabolic rate up, particularly while losing weight.