Free Fitness Calculator

Exercise Calories Burned Calculator

Find out how many calories you burn during any workout. Supports 20+ activities including running, cycling, swimming, and more.

Calculate Calories Burned ↓

Enter your workout details

Based on MET (Metabolic Equivalent of Task) values from the Compendium of Physical Activities.

calories burned
kcal per minute
kcal per hour
grams of fat

That's equivalent to burning off:

🍫
chocolate bars
🍕
pizza slices
🍎
apples

Calories & Macros

Calories burned

kcal this workout

Per hour

Fat burned

calories-macros.com

The science behind the calculation

1

MET value

Each activity has a MET (Metabolic Equivalent of Task) value — a measure of how intense it is relative to sitting quietly, which is defined as 1 MET. Running at a moderate pace, for instance, is around 10 METs, meaning it burns roughly 10 times the energy of resting. These values come from the Compendium of Physical Activities, a research database maintained and updated by exercise scientists.

2

Your weight

Heavier people burn more calories doing the same activity, because moving a larger body mass against gravity or through water/air resistance requires more energy. This is why calorie burn calculators always need body weight as an input — a MET value alone can't tell you calories without it.

3

Duration

The longer you exercise, the more calories you burn, in a roughly linear relationship for steady-state activities. The formula is: Calories = MET × weight (kg) × duration (hours) × 1.05 (a standard correction constant). This is why a 60-minute run burns close to double what a 30-minute run at the same pace burns.

4

Individual variation

MET-based estimates are population averages and don't account for individual fitness level, muscle mass, age, or exercise efficiency. A trained athlete may burn somewhat fewer calories than this estimate for the same activity because their body has become more efficient at it, while a beginner working at the same relative intensity may burn slightly more.

Frequently asked questions about calories burned

MET values are population averages derived from lab studies, so individual results can vary by 10-20% depending on fitness level, technique efficiency, and even ambient temperature. They're a solid planning tool but shouldn't be treated as a precise measurement — a fitness tracker with a heart rate monitor will generally give a more personalised (though still imperfect) estimate.
It depends on your goal. If you're maintaining weight or trying to gain muscle, yes — factor exercise calories into your total intake. If you're in a calorie deficit for weight loss, most people build a buffer into their deficit calculation already, so eating back 100% of estimated exercise calories on top of that can undermine progress, especially since these estimates run somewhat high for many people.
Fitness watches use heart rate data plus your personal profile (age, resting heart rate, sometimes VO2 max estimates) to individualise the estimate, while this calculator uses a fixed MET value for the activity type. Neither is perfectly accurate, but the watch's estimate is somewhat more personalised, while this calculator is useful for quick, equipment-free planning.
Not necessarily — delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) reflects microscopic muscle damage and adaptation, not calorie burn directly. A short, very intense strength session might leave you sore for days while burning fewer total calories than a longer, steady-state cardio session that leaves you feeling fine the next day.

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