How the Calories Burned Calculator Works
Pedzah estimates calories burned from three inputs: an activity’s MET value, your body weight in kilograms, and duration. A MET (metabolic equivalent of task) is a multiple of resting energy use. Sitting quietly is about 1 MET; jogging in this tool is 7 MET — roughly seven times resting effort. The activity you pick is how intensity is represented here.
The formula used by the calculator is:
kcal = MET × weight (kg) × time (hours)
Time in minutes is converted to hours (minutes ÷ 60). The result is rounded to a whole number of kilocalories. MET values are typical averages from common activity lists, not a measurement of your session.
How Many Calories Do You Burn During Exercise?
Calories burned during exercise are not a single number. Energy use depends on body weight, the activity you choose, how hard you work, and how long the session lasts. Two people who walk for the same 30 minutes will not get the same estimate if their weights differ, because moving a heavier body generally requires more energy.
Running, walking, cycling, swimming, strength training, and yoga also have different typical energy costs. This tool captures that difference as a MET value — a multiple of resting effort. A calories burned during exercise calculator cannot see hills, rest breaks, heart rate, or fitness level, so the result is a planning estimate rather than a lab measurement of your workout.
For a personalized figure, enter your weight, pick an activity, and set duration in the calculator above. That is the most direct way to see how many calories you burn exercising in a given session. For food targets across a whole day, use the Calorie Calculator instead.
Calories Burned by Activity
The table uses this calculator’s actual MET list and a 70 kg example weight for one hour. Your result will differ if your weight or duration is different — calculate above for your numbers.
| Activity | MET | kcal / hour at 70 kg |
|---|---|---|
| Walking (3 mph) | 3.5 | 245 |
| Jogging | 7 | 490 |
| Running (6 mph) | 9.8 | 686 |
| Cycling moderate | 7.5 | 525 |
| Swimming | 8 | 560 |
| Weight lifting | 6 | 420 |
| Yoga | 3 | 210 |
Calories Burned During Cardio
Cardio calorie expenditure varies with body weight, the activity, intensity, and duration. Walking, jogging, running, cycling, swimming, and other aerobic or interval-style workouts all use energy at different typical rates. Higher intensity generally requires more energy per minute, but two people doing the same session can still differ because of size, fitness, terrain, and how continuously they move.
This page does not assign a fixed calorie count to running or any other cardio workout. Among the activities listed above, running at 6 mph has the highest MET (9.8), so it estimates more calories than walking for the same weight and time — that is a comparison inside this tool, not a claim that one workout always burns a set amount.
For walking specifically, choose Walking (3 mph) in the activity list. Pair distance and time with the Pace Calculator if you want pace as well as an energy estimate.
Calories Burned Per Hour
How many calories you burn per hour depends on body weight, the activity, and intensity. Hourly expenditure uses the same formula with time set to one hour: MET × weight in kilograms. A heavier person or a higher-MET activity typically raises that hourly estimate. Duration still matters for the workout total: twenty minutes is not the same as sixty, even when the per-hour rate is unchanged.
There is no universal average that fits every body and every activity. After you calculate, the result card shows calories burned per hour for your weight and activity, plus a comparison for the other listed activities at that same weight.
How Many Calories Do I Burn a Day?
It helps to separate two questions. This exercise calculator estimates calories burned from an activity — a walk, a ride, a swim. That is not the same as total calories burned throughout the day. Daily energy use can include resting energy expenditure, ordinary movement (walking around the house, standing, fidgeting), planned physical activity, and formal exercise.
A hard workout can be a large slice of the day, but most people still burn a substantial amount of energy at rest. If you want a full-day picture, calculate your total daily energy expenditure with our TDEE Calculator, and estimate your basal metabolic rate with our BMR Calculator. Use this page when you care about one session; use TDEE when you care about the whole day.
Daily food targets that start from TDEE live on the Calorie Calculator. Macro splits such as protein intake and dietary fat answer a nutrition question, not an exercise-burn question.
How Many Calories Should I Burn a Day?
There is no universal daily exercise-calorie target that fits everyone. Age, body weight, fitness level, how active you already are, exercise intensity, workout duration, and personal health or fitness goals all change what is reasonable. A calories-should-I-burn calculator that printed one number for every adult would be guessing.
Regular physical activity matters more than chasing a specific calorie total. Some days you may walk; other days you may do a longer cardio session. The useful step is to estimate the session you actually plan, then look at the whole day with TDEE if you are matching food to activity. If body size is part of that picture, you can also check BMI or body surface area— those are size indexes, not exercise prescriptions.
Factors That Affect Calories Burned
Body Weight
Body weight is a direct input in the MET formula. For many whole-body activities, a heavier person typically has a higher estimated energy cost for the same MET and duration. This tool uses mass in kilograms; it does not adjust for muscle versus fat or for height on its own.
Exercise Intensity
Intensity is represented by the activity’s MET. A higher MET means a larger multiple of resting energy use, so the same weight and time produce a higher estimate. Real intensity still varies within an activity — an easy jog and a hard run are not the same session.
Exercise Duration
Longer activity generally increases total calories burned when weight and MET stay similar. Doubling the minutes roughly doubles the estimate. Rest breaks, which this tool does not subtract automatically, can lower the true session total.
Type of Exercise
Different activities have different energy requirements and published MET values. Walking and yoga sit lower on this list; running and swimming sit higher. The activity table above shows those differences for a 70 kg example hour.
Kcal vs Calories
In nutrition, the “calorie” on food labels is a kilocalorie (kcal): 1 kcal = 1 food Calorie. This calculator reports kilocalories, which is what people usually mean when they ask how many calories they burned. A small-c scientific calorie is 1/1000 of that and is not used on this page.
How Accurate Is a Calories Burned Calculator?
A MET-based estimate is a reasonable planning figure, not a measured burn. Published MET values are averages for typical adults doing a named activity. Heart rate, hills, heat, rest, clothing, and how efficiently you move are not captured. Two sessions that look the same on paper can differ in real life.
Treat the result as an estimate you can compare across activities and durations. Wrist trackers and gym machines use other models and will not always match. Informational only — not medical advice. Results are estimates. Consult a qualified clinician for health decisions.