Calorie Burn Activity Calculator

Discover how many calories you burn with walking, cycling, or running! Enter your personal details, activity type, speed, and duration to get an estimate. Plus, plan your weight loss journey by specifying your activity frequency and desired weight loss. The calculator will calculate how long it will take to reach your goal for your selected activity.

To use the calculator, enter your sex, age, height, and weight, then click on "Calculate." An estimate of your Resting Energy Expenditure will be displayed in the top heading. Next, select an activity from the dropdown menu. The app will then calculate the energy burned based on the default values shown in the Speed and Duration sliders for the selected activity.

You can adjust these two sliders to see how changes affect the energy burn value displayed in red in the header. By experimenting with different speed and duration settings, you can determine how fast and how long you need to perform an activity to burn the desired amount of energy. Additionally, the Duration slider will indicate the distance traveled.

You can use this calculator as a tool for planning your weight loss. Start by selecting the average speed and duration of an activity you currently do or plan to do regularly. Next, use the Frequency slider to indicate how often you engage in that activity. Then, set your weight loss goal using the Burn Goal slider. The calculator will display the approximate time to reach your weight loss goal in the Time to reach your burn goal line at the top.

Feel free to experiment with all four sliders to explore different scenarios for achieving your desired weight loss. The calculator updates continuously, allowing you to instantly see results as you adjust.

About the Calculations

This calculator relies on your Resting Energy Expenditure as a baseline in calculating energy burn for the various activities. Resting Energy Expenditure (REE) is often used interchangeably with Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR). It is the energy burned by your body to keep it functioning while you do nothing but rest for a 24 hour period. This energy is usually expressed in Calories or kilocalories and it is used to perform essential body functions such as breathing, maintaining body temperature, blood circulation, cell growth and brain functions.

Both Resting Energy Expenditure (REE) and Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) can be measured using direct or indirect calorimetry gas analysis. These measurements are available at some health clubs and medical clinics; however, they can be expensive and inconvenient. Alternatively, REE and RMR can be roughly estimated using predictive mathematical equations based on factors such as height, weight, age, and sex. Comparisons of various predictive equations have shown that the Mifflin-St Jeor formula is the most reliable, often predicting REE within 10% of measured values and having the narrowest margin of error. This calculator utilizes the Mifflin-St Jeor formula, along with Metabolic Equivalent of Task (MET) values, to calculate energy expenditure.

Metabolic Equivalent of Task

A Metabolic Equivalent of Task (MET) is the ratio of the energy expenditure rate of a body during a physical activity to the rate when the body is at rest. For example, the physical activity of walking 4.0 mph on a level firm surface is rated at a MET of 5. This means that the activity will burn energy at a rate 5 times that of being at rest. If your REE is say 1527 Calories, the amount of energy you would burn per minute while resting is 1527 / (24 x 60) or 1.06 Calories. So, walking at 4.0 mph would burn 1.06 x 5 or 5.3 Calories per minute.

Tables of MET values for hundreds of activities are available in the ➤ Compendium of Physical Activities tables which is updated periodically.