Sport & running
How many calories do you burn during exercise?
Kcal burned from body weight, activity MET and duration — running, cycling, swimming and more.
Quick answer
MET values let you compare activities on one scale: kcal = MET × weight (kg) × hours. Running at MET 9.8 for 45 minutes at 70 kg burns about 9.8 × 70 × 0.75 ≈ 515 kcal — walking at MET 3.5 for the same time is only ~185 kcal.
Calories burned
515 kcal
- Per hour (reference)
- 686 kcal/h
- MET used
- 9.8
Formula: kcal = MET × weight (kg) × hours. MET values are population averages — your actual burn varies with fitness, terrain and intensity.
How it works
MET tables are population averages from lab studies; hills, heat, fitness level and form all shift the real number ±15%. Use the result to compare sessions and size post-workout snacks — a GPS fitness watch with heart rate narrows the gap, and a chest heart rate strap beats wrist sensors on intervals.
Do not eat back every calculated kcal — apps and treadmills routinely overestimate by 10–20%. For weight management, log food with a scale and treat exercise burn as a rough guide. Heart conditions, diabetes or pregnancy: confirm intensity targets with your doctor. Estimates only, not medical advice.
Part of what this number counts, you would have burned anyway. A MET value includes the roughly one MET your body spends just being alive, so the calories the session genuinely added are closer to (MET − 1) × weight × hours — on a 45-minute run at 70 kg that difference is about fifty kilocalories, and on a long low-intensity activity like walking it can be a third of the total. Watches and machines almost never subtract it. It is a large part of why exercise burn reads high, and the practical conclusion is the same: use it to compare sessions, not to earn food. To turn this into something you can act on, compare it with your maintenance figure from the TDEE calculator — a session is only a deficit relative to that.
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Frequently asked questions
What MET value for a 5 km run?+
At ~6 min/km pace (10 km/h) use MET ~10; slower jogging ~8 km/h is MET ~8. Enter duration in minutes and your weight — speed is baked into the MET you pick. Trail running with elevation often deserves +1 MET versus flat road at the same perceived effort.
Does weight training burn many calories?+
During the session, moderate lifting is ~MET 6 — less than running. The afterburn (EPOC) adds modestly over the next hours; the main benefit is muscle and long-term metabolism, not a huge single-session burn. Heavy compound sets with short rest push MET higher than machine circuits.
Gross vs net calories — which is this?+
Gross expenditure during the activity only — it does not subtract your resting metabolism for those minutes. For all-day totals, add resting burn separately (see TDEE calculator). Net calories burned = gross minus what you would have burned sitting still for the same duration.
Can I use custom MET?+
Yes — compendium values exist for hundreds of activities. If your sport is niche, look up its MET in the Compendium of Physical Activities and paste it in the custom field. Update when fitness improves: the same pace feels easier and burns fewer calories per minute as you adapt.
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