Pick an activity, enter your body weight and how long you did it, and see a MET-based estimate of calories burned.
One MET is the energy your body uses sitting still — defined as 3.5 millilitres of oxygen per kilogram of body weight per minute. Every activity is then expressed as a multiple of that resting rate. Running at 6 mph is 9.8 METs, meaning it burns roughly ten times the energy of sitting on the sofa.
This calculator uses the short form: calories = MET × weight in kg × hours. Thirty minutes of moderate swimming (7.0 METs) at 75 kg gives 7.0 × 75 × 0.5 = 263 kcal.
Worth stating plainly, since the longer expression appears elsewhere: the full ACSM form is MET × 3.5 × kg ÷ 200 × minutes, which returns 276 kcal for the same session — about 5% higher. Both are in circulation. The gap is real but it is far smaller than the uncertainty in the MET value itself, which is the next section.
Published rather than hidden, so you can see what each option assumes:
| Activity | MET | Activity | MET |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yoga | 2.5 | Weight lifting (vigorous) | 6.0 |
| Walking (3.5 mph) | 3.8 | Swimming (moderate) | 7.0 |
| Dancing | 4.8 | Cycling (moderate) | 7.5 |
| Hiking | 6.0 | HIIT | 8.0 |
| Running (6 mph) | 9.8 | Running (8 mph) | 11.8 |
Weight matters because the whole formula is proportional to it: moving a heavier body the same distance costs more energy. A 90 kg person burns 20% more than a 75 kg person doing the identical session, which is why any figure quoted without a body weight attached is close to meaningless.
MET values are population averages measured in labs, and individual energy cost varies substantially with fitness, efficiency, terrain, temperature and technique. Treat the output as carrying an error bar of roughly 20 to 30% in either direction. A trained cyclist and a beginner at the same nominal effort do not burn the same energy, and neither matches the table.
Two further caveats that push the same way. The figure includes the calories you would have burned anyway just being alive during that half hour — perhaps 40 of the 263 above — so the additional burn is lower than the headline. And chest-strap or watch estimates are not a tiebreaker; they use their own models with comparable error.
The practical consequence is that exercise is a weaker weight-loss lever than most people assume. That 263 kcal is roughly one large muffin, earned over half an hour of swimming, and it is easily eaten back without noticing. Use this to compare sessions against each other, where the relative ranking is reliable, rather than to balance a food ledger — the TDEE calculator puts exercise in the context of total daily expenditure, which is the more useful frame.
These are general fitness estimates, not medical or nutritional advice.
MET stands for Metabolic Equivalent of Task — one MET is roughly the energy you burn sitting quietly. An activity with a MET of 8 burns about 8 times that resting rate per unit of time. Researchers have measured standardized MET values for hundreds of activities across intensity levels, which is what powers estimates like the ones in the dropdown above.
Yes — the formula is calories = MET × weight(kg) × duration(hours), so a heavier person burns more calories doing the identical activity for the identical time than a lighter person, simply because moving more body mass takes more energy. This is why the calculator asks for your weight rather than giving one fixed number per activity.
MET values are population averages measured in controlled lab conditions, so they're a solid ballpark but won't precisely match your individual metabolism, fitness level, effort intensity, or terrain on a given day — two people doing the "same" activity can genuinely burn different amounts. Treat the result as a reasonable estimate for tracking trends over time, not a precise individual measurement.
This estimates calories burned from a single activity session, on top of the calories your body burns just existing (basal metabolic rate) plus other daily movement. See the Calorie Calculator for your estimated total daily calorie needs, then add sessions like this one on top for days you're more active than your baseline.
Worked example: a 75 kg person running at 6 mph (9.8 MET) for 30 minutes: calories = 9.8 × 75 × (30 ÷ 60) = 9.8 × 75 × 0.5 = 367.5 kcal burned for that session.
See the Calorie Calculator for your total daily calorie needs, or the TDEE Calculator to combine activity level with basal metabolic rate. MET values are multiplied by weight in kilograms, so use the pounds to kilograms converter before entering a figure from a pound-based scale.