Quick Answer
Calories burned during exercise is commonly estimated using the MET formula: Calories = MET value × body weight (kg) × duration (hours), where MET represents the metabolic intensity of the specific activity.
What Is Calories Burned?
MET (Metabolic Equivalent of Task) is a standardized way of expressing the energy cost of physical activities, where 1 MET represents the energy used at rest, and higher MET values represent more intense activities, walking at a casual pace is around 3 METs, while running at a fast pace can be 10+ METs. This standardization allows consistent calorie-burn estimation across hundreds of different activities.
Calorie burn from exercise depends heavily on body weight, since moving a heavier body requires more energy for the same activity, this is why calorie-burn calculators always require weight as an input, and why the same workout burns different amounts of calories for different people.
These MET-based estimates provide a reasonable approximation for general fitness tracking, but they don't account for individual differences in fitness level, muscle mass, or exact movement efficiency, actual calorie burn can vary by a meaningful margin from person to person even for the identical activity and duration.
How to Use
- 1Select the type of physical activity (walking, running, cycling, swimming, etc.).
- 2Enter your body weight.
- 3Enter the duration of the activity.
- 4The calculator applies the activity's MET value to estimate calories burned.
Formula
Calories = MET × Weight (kg) × Duration (hours)Example: 70 kg person jogging (7 METs) for 45 minutes
- MET = 7, Weight = 70 kg, Duration = 45 minutes = 0.75 hours
- Calories = 7 × 70 × 0.75
Tips & Things to Know
- Heavier individuals burn more calories for the same activity and duration, since MET-based formulas scale directly with body weight, this is a normal, expected part of the calculation, not an inaccuracy.
- MET values represent average intensity for a general activity category, the same activity performed more intensely (faster pace, higher resistance) burns more calories than the baseline MET value suggests.
- These calculations estimate calories burned during the activity itself; they don't include the modest additional calorie burn from increased metabolism for a period after exercise (sometimes called the 'afterburn effect' or EPOC).
- For consistent weight management tracking, use the same calculation method over time rather than switching between different calculators or formulas, since absolute values can vary slightly between methods.