Calories Burned by Activity
METs-based estimates drawn from the Compendium of Physical Activities, across thirty-plus activities.
- 01Enter your bodyweight — energy cost scales with the mass you move.
- 02Pick the activity and duration.
- 03Compare against the other activities listed to gauge relative effort.
What the terms mean
- MET
- Metabolic equivalent: how many times your resting energy use an activity costs. 8 METs is eight times resting.
- Compendium
- The published reference assigning MET values to hundreds of activities.
- Net vs gross
- Gross is total energy during the session; net subtracts what you would have burned anyway.
MET values come from the Compendium of Physical Activities. They are population averages — actual cost varies with skill, terrain and intensity.
Running, 10 km/h for 30 minutes at 9.8 METs.
Method & sources
Energy cost is calculated as METs × 3.5 × bodyweight (kg) ÷ 200 per minute, the standard ACSM metabolic equation. This includes the calories you would have burned at rest anyway, so the additional cost of exercise is somewhat lower than the figure shown. Wearable estimates are typically optimistic; treat all of these as approximations.
Ainsworth BE et al., Compendium of Physical Activities, Med Sci Sports Exerc 2011 · ACSM Guidelines for Exercise Testing
What these numbers
actually tell you.
This figure is inflated, deliberately and unavoidably
It is gross energy expenditure, so it includes the seventy to a hundred calories you would have burned in that hour sitting still. The additional cost of the exercise is meaningfully lower than the number shown. That is true of every calorie-burn figure you will see, including your watch.
Do not eat these calories back at face value
This is the single most common way a carefully planned deficit disappears. MET values are population averages that ignore your efficiency, skill and terrain, and wearable estimates have been found to carry errors above twenty percent. If you do eat some back, half the displayed figure is a conservative starting point.
Use it comparatively
The estimates are far more reliable for ranking sessions against each other than for budgeting intake. Consistent error still tells you correctly that today was harder than yesterday. Let a weekly average bodyweight settle the question of whether your energy balance is actually where you think it is.
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