FitDexCalories burned calculator
The same walk doesn't burn the same in a 55-kilo body and a 95-kilo one. Carrying your own weight is the work. The calculation below takes your weight and your time, multiplies them by the intensity of the activity (MET), and then separates how much of the result came from the exercise from the resting share you'd have burned sitting down anyway.
What you burn doing this
4.0 kcal/min
With your resting burn subtracted
- The gross figure trackers show158 kcal
- You'd burn this doing nothing37 kcal
- 500 kcal burn off in124 minutes
FitDex times your workout with a live counter and folds the calories you burn into your daily balance — you don't have to copy this number down anywhere.
Other activities, same duration
The ranking below holds for the weight and duration you entered. The figures are net of resting expenditure; the gross number a tracker shows is higher on every row.
| Activity | MET | Net | Gross |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jump rope — moderate pace | 11.8 | 397 kcal | 434 kcal |
| Running — 11.3 km/h (5:19 min/km) | 11.0 | 368 kcal | 404 kcal |
| Running — 9.7 km/h (6:12 min/km) | 9.8 | 323 kcal | 360 kcal |
| Swimming — freestyle, vigorous | 9.8 | 323 kcal | 360 kcal |
| Stair climber | 9.0 | 294 kcal | 331 kcal |
| Running — 8 km/h (7:30 min/km) | 8.3 | 268 kcal | 305 kcal |
| Cycling — 19-22 km/h | 8.0 | 257 kcal | 294 kcal |
| HIIT — bodyweight circuit | 8.0 | 257 kcal | 294 kcal |
| Basketball — game | 8.0 | 257 kcal | 294 kcal |
| Tennis — singles | 8.0 | 257 kcal | 294 kcal |
| Dance — high-impact aerobic | 7.3 | 232 kcal | 268 kcal |
| Stationary bike — moderate | 7.0 | 221 kcal | 257 kcal |
| Football — casual match | 7.0 | 221 kcal | 257 kcal |
| Cycling — 16-19 km/h | 6.8 | 213 kcal | 250 kcal |
| Weight training — vigorous | 6.0 | 184 kcal | 221 kcal |
| Swimming — freestyle, easy | 5.8 | 176 kcal | 213 kcal |
| Walking — uphill | 5.3 | 158 kcal | 195 kcal |
| Walking — fast (6.4 km/h) | 5.0 | 147 kcal | 184 kcal |
| Elliptical | 5.0 | 147 kcal | 184 kcal |
| Rowing machine — moderate | 4.8 | 140 kcal | 176 kcal |
| Walking — brisk (5.6 km/h) | 4.3 | 121 kcal | 158 kcal |
| Gardening | 3.8 | 103 kcal | 140 kcal |
| Weight training — moderate | 3.5 | 92 kcal | 129 kcal |
| House cleaning | 3.3 | 85 kcal | 121 kcal |
| Walking — easy pace (4 km/h) | 3.0 | 74 kcal | 110 kcal |
| Pilates | 3.0 | 74 kcal | 110 kcal |
| Yoga — hatha | 2.5 | 55 kcal | 92 kcal |
How is it calculated?
The equation is one line: calories burned = MET × 3.5 × weight (kg) / 200 × minutes. MET is a coefficient saying how many times your seated expenditure an activity costs: brisk walking 4.3, running 9.8, skipping rope 11.8.
The constants have a clear origin: 1 MET is roughly 3.5 millilitres of oxygen per kilo per minute, and every litre of oxygen consumed is about 5 calories. 3.5 × weight / 1000 × 5 simplifies to 3.5 × weight / 200.
The MET values here come from the 2011 Compendium of Physical Activities. Population averages, measured in laboratories. They aren't invented and they aren't rounded to look tidy, but being averages carries its own limit: two people walking at the same pace already differ in stride efficiency, so your real expenditure can sit ±25% away from the number in the table.
The number this page leads with is NET: computed with (MET − 1). Because the MET definition includes rest, part of the raw result is what you'd burn without getting up at all. For someone at 70 kilos, half an hour of brisk walking is 158 kcal gross, 37 kcal of which is resting, leaving 121 kcal of extra burn.
The reverse calculation is the same equation solved the other way: minutes needed for a given calorie amount = calories / net burn per minute. If you want to "work off" a dessert, what you owe is the extra, not the gross.
Watches and treadmills usually display the gross figure and correct it with heart-rate data. A lower number here isn't an error, it's the answer to a different question — which is why the gross value stays on the card too.
How to read your result
The ranking in the table doesn't change when the duration or the weight does: net burn is linear in weight, so every row scales by the same factor. Intensity alone sets the order. So the answer to "which sport burns more" doesn't vary from person to person — only the size of the number does.
Don't draw a straight line from calories burned to weight lost. Because exercise also affects appetite, and because the size of that effect varies sharply from person to person, in some people half of what was burned returns at the next meal while in others none of it does. The calculation tells you the expenditure. It doesn't tell you the outcome.
Extending the duration is usually easier and more sustainable than raising the intensity. Thirty minutes of running and sixty minutes of brisk walking give a similar net burn; the second loads the joints less and is easier to repeat three times a week.
Weight training looks low in MET terms (3.5 at moderate intensity), but the table doesn't measure everything that activity does. Because rest between sets pulls the average down, the number in the table looks duller than the session really is, while the muscle you gain raises your basal metabolism for good and that also belongs to the same training. None of it appears in this table.
Don't use the target-calorie box as a punishment device. Knowing that 500 calories cost 124 minutes of brisk walking is a useful sense of scale, but treating food as a debt to be repaid with exercise damages your relationship with both over time.
Frequently asked questions
Why does my watch show a higher number?
Two reasons. First, watches display the gross figure, counting your resting burn too, whereas the big number here is net. Second, watches apply their own corrections from heart rate, while the MET table uses an average. The gross line on the result card should sit closer to what your watch says.
Why does the net figure matter so much?
Because what moves the balance is the extra expenditure. Your resting burn is already counted inside your daily calorie need; add the gross exercise figure on top and you've counted the same calories twice. At low intensities the difference decides things: 40% of the gross for 2.5-MET yoga is resting burn.
Can walking do it, or do I have to run?
For total expenditure what counts isn't intensity but intensity × time. Compare the table's numbers over doubled durations: 60 minutes of brisk walking gives a net burn close to 30 minutes of running. Running's advantage is time efficiency; walking's is the low joint load, which makes weekly repetition easy.
Can I add this number to my daily calorie target?
You can add the net figure, not the gross. One warning though: if the activity factor in your daily calorie calculation already covers your regular training, you'd be counting the same exercise twice. Either set the factor to "sedentary" and log workouts one by one, or set the factor honestly and add nothing — pick one, not both.
Related tools
- Calorie calculatorEnter your height, weight, age and activity level to see your daily calorie needs, basal metabolic rate and macro split in seconds. The same formula as the FitDex app.
- Weight loss timelineSee how many weeks it takes to reach your goal weight — under both a fixed calorie intake and one you re-adjust each week. The two dates aren't the same, and we explain why.
- BMR calculatorWork out the energy your body spends doing nothing, using the Mifflin-St Jeor equation. Your total daily expenditure and water need come with it. The equation is written out in full — along with which part of it you can actually change.
- Macro calculatorTurn your daily calorie target into grams of protein, carbohydrate and fat. We publish the ratio we use and why we chose it, instead of offering preset templates with no explanation.
This tool is for information only and is not a substitute for medical diagnosis or treatment. Talk to a healthcare professional before making a lasting change to how you eat.