Calories Burned Calculator

There is no single calorie-burn number for an activity because two people can perform the same workout and use different amounts of energy. Body weight, pace, intensity and workout duration all affect the result.

Example calorie-burn calculation

Suppose a 70 kg person performs an activity rated at 5 METs for 30 minutes:

5 × 3.5 × 70 ÷ 200 × 30 ≈ 184 calories

That is a standardized estimate. Your actual energy expenditure can be higher or lower.

MET stands for Metabolic Equivalent of Task. It is a standardized way to describe the energy cost of physical activities relative to rest.

The 2024 Compendium of Physical Activities assigns MET values to hundreds of activities, including walking, running, cycling, swimming, household work and occupational tasks. Higher-intensity versions of an activity generally have higher MET values and therefore produce a higher estimated calorie burn for the same person and duration.

Walking is one of the most common calorie-burn searches, but the answer changes with body weight, walking speed, hills and total time. A heavier person generally uses more energy than a lighter person covering the same walk at the same pace.

How many calories does walking 10,000 steps burn?

There is no universal answer. Ten thousand steps can represent a different distance for different people because stride length varies. Your weight and walking speed also change energy expenditure.

For many adults, 10,000 steps is roughly several miles of walking, but the safest way to estimate the calories is to use your actual walking time, pace and body weight rather than assuming that every 10,000-step day burns the same amount.

Can 10,000 steps burn 400 calories?

Yes, it can for some people. It can also be less or more. A higher body weight, faster pace, greater distance or uphill walking typically increases energy expenditure.

How many calories are burned in a 10 km walk?

A 10 km walk does not have one fixed calorie value. Someone walking slowly for two hours and someone covering the same distance briskly will have different intensity and duration profiles. Enter your weight, walking intensity and time into the calculator for an estimate.

Running generally has a higher energy cost per minute than walking because it is performed at a higher intensity. However, calorie burn still depends on body weight, pace, duration and incline.

Published activity tables show how large the difference can be. Harvard Health, for example, lists about 288 calories for a 155 lb person running at 5 mph for 30 minutes and about 450 calories at 7.5 mph for the same duration.

Cycling calorie burn varies substantially because casual riding, moderate road cycling, hill climbing and vigorous stationary cycling are very different workloads.

Resistance, speed, terrain, wind and body weight all matter. Harvard Health lists about 288 calories for a 155 lb person cycling at 12–13.9 mph for 30 minutes, showing why specifying pace is important when estimating cycling calories.

The table below gives example values for a 155 lb / 70 kg person over 30 minutes. These are reference examples rather than personalized predictions.

Reference examples are based on published Harvard Health activity tables. Different sources and MET assumptions can produce somewhat different estimates.

There is no single exercise or time requirement for burning 700 calories. The time depends on your body weight and the intensity of the activity. A higher-intensity exercise may reach that expenditure faster, while lower-intensity activity generally requires more time.

It is better to calculate the activity you actually plan to do than to treat 700 calories as a daily exercise target. Calorie estimates should not be used to justify excessive exercise or extreme food restriction.

A calories burned calculator estimates energy used during a specific activity. It is not the same thing as your daily calorie requirement.

Treat any calorie-burn result as an estimate. Standardized MET values describe typical energy costs, but real expenditure varies from person to person.

Fitness level, movement efficiency, body composition, temperature, incline, terrain and equipment can all change actual energy use. Even wearable devices can disagree because they use different sensors and prediction algorithms.

The activity method uses standardized MET values together with body weight and exercise duration. This is a common approach for estimating physical-activity energy expenditure.

When available in the calculator, heart-rate-based estimates should also be treated as estimates rather than inherently more accurate measurements. Heart rate is influenced by fitness, heat, medication, stress, dehydration and other factors besides energy expenditure.

1. 2024 Compendium of Physical Activities — standardized MET values
2. Harvard Health — Calories burned in 30 minutes by activity and body weight

Last reviewed: August 30, 2026