Calories Burned Calculator

How many calories does exercise burn?

In 30 minutes, a 155 lb person burns about 134 calories walking at 3 mph, 239 cycling at 10 to 12 mph, 281 swimming freestyle laps, and 327 running at 6 mph. Weight lifting burns about 123, hatha yoga about 81, and jump rope about 387. These figures use the 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities, the standard reference list of energy costs for more than 1,000 activities. Each activity above has its own calculator on this site with more speeds, styles, and intensity options, listed under Related calculators below.

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Calories burned in 30 minutes, by activity and body weight

Activities are sorted from lowest to highest MET. Double each value for an hour, or halve it for 15 minutes.

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How MET values work

A MET (metabolic equivalent of task) expresses the energy cost of an activity as a multiple of resting burn. One MET is about 1 kcal per kg of body weight per hour, so an activity rated 6 MET burns about six times what you burn sitting still.

The first Compendium, published in 1993, gave researchers a shared set of codes so that studies could compare activity across populations. Updates in 2000, 2011, and 2024 added activities and replaced older estimates with measured values. The 2024 edition lowered some familiar numbers. Running at about 6 mph moved from 9.8 MET in 2011 to 9.3, and general weight lifting sits at 3.5.

Values are averages for adults. They do not adjust for fitness, technique, or body composition, so your own burn can land above or below the estimate at the same pace.

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How the calculator works

Calories = MET × body weight in kg × hours. Heavier people burn more at the same activity because they move more mass, and at the same pace a 185 lb person burns about 48% more than a 125 lb person.

Worked example: a 155 lb person (70.3 kg) runs at 6 mph for 30 minutes.

Calories = 9.3 × 70.3 × 0.5 = about 327 kcal. Resting burn for the same half hour is 1 × 70.3 × 0.5 = about 35 kcal, so net calories are about 292 kcal.

The calculator also classifies intensity. Below 3 MET is light, 3 to 5.9 MET is moderate, and 6 MET or more is vigorous. It counts each vigorous minute as two moderate minutes toward the weekly target.

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Gross and net calories

Gross calories are everything burned during the session, including the resting burn you would have used anyway. Net calories subtract that resting burn and show what the exercise added. The gap matters most for light activities. For 30 minutes of hatha yoga at 2.3 MET, resting burn makes up 1 MET of the 2.3, so net calories are only about 57% of gross. For running at 9.3 MET, net is about 89% of gross.

Use net calories when you add exercise to a daily target that already counts resting burn, as most calorie budgets do.

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How accurate are calorie estimates?

Fitness watches do not solve the problem. A Stanford study tested 7 wrist-worn devices on 60 adults against lab gas analysis during sitting, walking, running, and cycling.

Most measured heart rate well, but no device estimated calories with a median error below 20%.

A 2020 meta-analysis of 60 validation studies found wrist and arm monitors varied in accuracy by activity type. Devices that combined heart rate with motion sensing had less error than motion alone.

A MET estimate that matches your activity and pace is a reasonable baseline. Use a device to compare one workout with another, and treat any single calorie number as a range.

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Using exercise calories for weight loss

Body weight responds slowly to a change in energy balance. A modeling study in the Lancet estimated the half time of that response at about 1 year, and people with more body fat lose more weight for the same change in intake. A few weeks of scale readings say little about one workout.

Avoid counting exercise twice. If your daily target came from a TDEE calculator with an activity multiplier, that target already includes typical exercise. Log your intake and weight for 2 to 4 weeks, then adjust the daily target in small steps.

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The weekly activity target

Adults should get 150 to 300 minutes a week of moderate activity, 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous activity, or an equal mix, plus muscle-strengthening work on 2 or more days. Enter sessions per week and the calculator shows how much of that target your routine covers.

Any activity at 3 MET or more counts toward the aerobic minutes. Stretching, hatha yoga, and Pilates fall below that line, so pair them with walking, cycling, or a sport.

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How to use this calculator

Choose your unit system, enter your measurements, and read the results panel on the right. Values update instantly as you edit inputs.

We try our best to make our calculators as precise and reliable as possible. However, this tool can never replace a professional doctor's assessment. If any health condition bothers you, consult a physician.

How it works

Calories = MET × body weight (kg) × hours, using 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities values. Pickleball uses 4.1 MET, measured in recreational doubles players, because the Compendium has no pickleball code. Net calories remove 1 kcal per kg per hour of resting burn.

Practical tips

• Pick the activity and pace closest to what you did, or open its dedicated calculator.
• Enter the whole session for classes and sports, breaks included.
• Use net calories when adding exercise to a daily calorie target.
• Treat watch calorie counts as rough, since no tested device got below 20% error.
• Check progress with weight trends over several weeks, not single workouts.

Frequently asked questions

• How many calories do I burn in 30 minutes of exercise?For a 155 lb (70 kg) person: about 81 kcal doing hatha yoga, 123 kcal lifting weights, 134 kcal walking at 3 mph, 239 kcal cycling at 10 to 12 mph, 264 kcal playing pickup basketball, 327 kcal running at 6 mph, and 387 kcal jumping rope.
• Which exercise burns the most calories?Per minute, fast running, vigorous HIIT, jump rope, and hard rowing sit at the top, at 11 MET or more. Per week, the best choice is the one you can do most often, since a 45-minute walk you do daily beats a hard session you skip.
• Why does body weight change the result?Moving more mass takes more energy, so calories scale with weight. At the same pace, a 185 lb person burns about 48% more than a 125 lb person.
• What is the difference between gross and net calories?Gross calories are everything burned during the session. Net calories subtract what you would have burned sitting still for the same time, about 1 kcal per kg per hour, and show what the exercise added.
• How accurate is a MET estimate?MET values are averages from many studies. Fitness, technique, and how hard you work move your own burn up or down. Pick the option closest to your pace or effort, and use a dedicated calculator when one fits better.

Related calculators

References

1. Herrmann SD, et al. J Sport Health Sci 2024. 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities: A third update of the energy costs of human activities
2. Ainsworth BE, et al. Med Sci Sports Exerc 1993. Compendium of physical activities: classification of energy costs of human physical activities
3. Ainsworth BE, et al. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2011. 2011 Compendium of Physical Activities: a second update of codes and MET values
4. O'Driscoll R, et al. Br J Sports Med 2020. How well do activity monitors estimate energy expenditure? A systematic review and meta-analysis of the validity of current technologies
5. Shcherbina A, et al. J Pers Med 2017. Accuracy in Wrist-Worn, Sensor-Based Measurements of Heart Rate and Energy Expenditure in a Diverse Cohort
6. Hall KD, et al. Lancet 2011. Quantification of the effect of energy imbalance on bodyweight
7. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, 2nd edition