Calories Burned Calculator (MET)

About the Calories Burned Calculator (MET)

A MET (metabolic equivalent) compares an activity with sitting quietly: 1 MET is about 1 kcal per kg of body weight per hour, so brisk walking at 4.8 METs uses about 4.8 times as much energy as resting. Multiply by your weight and the time and you have an estimate of the calories burned.

This calculator uses the 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities — 1,111 activities from cricket and Surya Namaskar to sweeping and drumming, with their MET values exactly as published — and can personalise them with corrected METs for your age, sex, height and weight. For treadmills and exercise bikes it uses the ACSM metabolic equations for your speed, incline or watts, and it can estimate from your average heart rate. Add activities to your week to see minutes and MET-minutes against the WHO 2020 guideline.

How the calories are worked out

• Compendium activities: kcal = MET × body weight (kg) × hours — the method of the Compendium’s own calculator, which defines 1 MET as 1 kcal/kg/hour. Brisk walking, 70 kg, 30 minutes: 4.8 × 70 × 0.5 = 168 kcal.
• Above resting: MET values include the energy you would use anyway, so the calculator also shows (MET − 1) × weight × hours. Use this figure if you add exercise to a calorie target that already counts your resting needs, such as a TDEE.
• Corrected METs: the Compendium’s 1 MET assumes a resting oxygen use of 3.5 mL/kg/min, which overestimates many people’s resting rate. The corrected MET divides the published MET × 3.5 by your resting rate estimated with the Harris-Benedict equation (converted from kcal/day to mL/kg/min), as described on the Compendium website. The Compendium notes this suits personal estimates, while standard METs should be used for classifying intensity.
• ACSM equations: walking VO₂ = 0.1 × speed + 1.8 × speed × grade + 3.5; running VO₂ = 0.2 × speed + 0.9 × speed × grade + 3.5 (speed in metres per minute, grade as a fraction); exercise bike VO₂ = 1.8 × watts × 6.12 ÷ kg + 7; energy = VO₂ × kg ÷ 1000 × 5 kcal per litre of oxygen. The walking equation is meant for 1.9–3.7 mph and the running one above 5 mph (or from 3 mph when jogging), the bike one for 50–200 W.
• Heart rate (Keytel et al.): men kJ/min = −55.0969 + 0.6309 × HR + 0.1988 × kg + 0.2017 × age; women kJ/min = −20.4022 + 0.4472 × HR − 0.1263 × kg + 0.074 × age; ÷ 4.184 for kcal. Developed in 115 regularly exercising adults aged 18–45 during steady exercise.

Your week and the WHO 2020 guideline

WHO recommends that adults do 150–300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity a week, or 75–150 minutes of vigorous, or an equivalent combination, plus muscle-strengthening activities on 2 or more days; more than 300 minutes brings additional benefits. On WHO’s absolute scale, light activity is 1.5 to under 3 METs, moderate 3 to under 6, and vigorous 6 or more. The weekly panel counts each vigorous minute as two moderate minutes (75 vigorous minutes = 150 moderate) and leaves light activity out. It also shows MET-minutes from moderate and vigorous activity; WHO’s GPAQ analysis guide counts the minimum as 600 MET-minutes a week (150 minutes × 4 METs).

Where the activity list comes from

The 1,111 activities and their MET values are the 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities for adults aged 19–59 (Herrmann et al.), read from the Compendium website (the 2024 paper counts 1,114 activities; the website’s 22 tables list 1,111, and every value here matches them). The Compendium team allows commercial use, asks that MET values are not changed and that activities with different MET levels are not combined — both are respected here, and descriptions are shown as published. Where the 2024 PDF and the website differ (one biathlon row), the website’s corrected value is used. There is also an Older Adult Compendium (60+) and a Wheelchair Compendium with their own MET values, not included here.

Sources

• Herrmann SD et al. 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities: a third update of the energy costs of human activities. J Sport Health Sci 13:6-12 — and the Compendium pages on corrected METs and unit conversions (ACSM equations)
• American College of Sports Medicine. ACSM’s Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription, 11th ed. (2021) — metabolic equations
• Keytel LR et al. Prediction of energy expenditure from heart rate monitoring during submaximal exercise. J Sports Sci 23:289-97
• Bull FC et al. World Health Organization 2020 guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour. Br J Sports Med 54:1451-62
• WHO, Global Physical Activity Questionnaire (GPAQ) analysis guide — 600 MET-minutes

Limitations

• MET values are averages for groups of adults, not measurements of you. In one study cited by the Compendium, the standard MET underestimated people’s measured values 89% of the time; corrected METs reduce, but do not remove, that error.
• The Compendium was first published to make the energy values given to self-reported activities comparable across studies; it gives average costs, not the exact cost for one person.
• Heart-rate estimates assume steady aerobic exercise; they do not fit interval sessions, weight training, or people on medicines that change heart rate.
• For adults; children and teenagers use different reference values.
• Your weekly list is kept in this browser’s storage and is never sent anywhere.

Privacy

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