Choose an activity, enter how long you did it and your weight, and see the calories burned. Or switch to distance and enter how far you walked, ran or cycled. A table below compares more than thirty activities at your own weight.
Choose whether to work from time or from distance.
Pick the activity, or the speed and distance.
Enter your body weight in kilograms.
Read the calories burned and compare activities in the table.
Calories: MET × 3.5 × weight(kg) ÷ 200 × minutes
The calories burned calculator estimates how much energy your body uses during an activity. Pick the activity from the list, enter how long you did it and your body weight, and it gives the kilocalories burned. The list covers walking, running, cycling, yoga, gym work, popular sports such as badminton and cricket, and even household work like sweeping and cooking.
If you know the distance instead of the time, switch to the distance option. Enter how far you walked, ran or cycled and at what speed, and the calculator works out the time and the calories for you. Every activity is rated by a number called MET, which says how many times harder it is than sitting quietly. The answer is an estimate for an average person, good for comparing activities and planning a routine.
1. Find the MET value of the activity. Sitting quietly is 1, a normal walk is about 3.5 and a jog is about 8.
2. Note your body weight in kilograms.
3. Note how many minutes you did the activity.
4. Calories per minute = MET × 3.5 × weight ÷ 200.
5. Multiply by the number of minutes to get the total.
6. If you know distance and speed instead, first find the time: distance ÷ speed.
MET stands for metabolic equivalent of task. One MET is the energy an average person uses while sitting quietly, which is close to one kilocalorie for each kilogram of body weight every hour. An activity rated at 5 MET uses five times that. Scientists have measured oxygen use during hundreds of activities to arrive at these ratings, and the same tables are used by doctors and fitness trainers around the world.
Moving a heavier body takes more energy, so a person of 90 kg burns more than a person of 60 kg in the same activity done for the same time. Time works in the simplest way: twice as long means twice the calories. Intensity matters most of all. Thirty minutes of running can burn as much as an hour and a half of slow walking, which is why short but harder sessions can fit a busy day.
The MET tables describe an average adult. Your own figure changes with age, fitness, muscle, the slope of the ground and even the weather. A fit person does the same work with less effort and so burns a little less. Fitness bands and machines in the gym use similar formulas and have the same limits. Treat the answer as a fair guide that may be 10 to 20 per cent away from your true value.
Anjali, who weighs 58 kg, plays badminton with her colony friends for 45 minutes every evening and wants to know how much energy it uses.
MET value of the activity: MET = 5.5 (5.5 times the energy used while sitting still)
Calories per minute = MET × 3.5 × weight ÷ 200: 5.5 × 3.5 × 58 ÷ 200 = 5.58 kcal per minute
Multiply by the minutes: 5.58 × 45 = 251 kcal
Answer: Calories burned 251 kcal; Per hour at this effort 335 kcal; Roughly equal to 2.5 plain chapatis
Counting the whole session time when part of it was rest between sets or games.
Entering weight in pounds instead of kilograms.
Picking a harder activity level than was really done, such as fast running for an easy jog.
Eating back all the calories shown, forgetting that the body would have used some of them at rest anyway.
Comparing with a fitness band and expecting the two numbers to match exactly.
Choosing between activities when you have limited time.
Planning weekly exercise for weight loss along with diet.
Seeing how much energy daily household work uses.
Estimating the effect of walking or cycling to work.
Checking the figures shown by a treadmill or fitness band.
What is a MET value?
MET compares how much energy an activity uses, compared to resting. A MET of 1 means resting. Walking is about 3.5, jogging is about 7, and hard cycling is about 8-10.