About Calorie Burn
'How many calories did that burn?' powers every fitness app — and every answer, including lab-adjacent ones, is an estimate built on METs: standardized intensity multiples measured across studies and catalogued in the Compendium. Heavier bodies burn more at the same activity (more mass to move), longer burns more, and intensity multiplies everything.
Pick from 15 common activities (walking through jump rope), enter weight and duration, and get the estimate with its per-hour rate and the MET math shown. Comparing activities honestly — brisk walk vs swim vs weights — is where the tool earns its keep.
Exercise burn joins resting burn in your full daily number — the TDEE Calculator.
The MET Formula
One formula covers every activity — only the MET changes:
kcal per minute = MET × 3.5 × weight(kg) ÷ 200 1 MET = resting metabolism (~1 kcal/kg/hour)
Worked example: running 6 mph (9.8 METs) at 160 lb (73 kg) for 30 minutes: 9.8 × 3.5 × 73 ÷ 200 × 30 ≈ 373 kcal — a ~747 kcal/hour clip. The same half hour walking briskly (4.3 METs) burns ~164: intensity, not sweat, is the multiplier.
Burn Rates by Weight
Calories per 30 minutes at three body weights — all from this calculator's formula:
| Activity (METs) | 130 lb | 160 lb | 200 lb |
|---|---|---|---|
| Walking, brisk (4.3) | 133 | 164 | 205 |
| Yoga (2.5) | 77 | 95 | 119 |
| Weightlifting (3.5) | 108 | 133 | 167 |
| Cycling 12–14 mph (8.0) | 248 | 305 | 381 |
| Running 6 mph (9.8) | 303 | 373 | 467 |
| Jump rope (11.8) | 365 | 450 | 562 |
Read down any column: doubling METs doubles burn. Read across: the same workout costs a 200-lb body ~25% more than a 160-lb one — the physics of moving mass.
Honest Notes on Exercise Calories
Three humility clauses: METs are averages (hills, wind, and technique move real numbers), the formula charges you for the resting calories you'd have burned anyway (a 373-kcal run is ~340 EXTRA), and trackers wrap the same math in sensors — wrist devices routinely miss by 20–40% on strength work especially. Directionally excellent, decimally fictional.
The planning takeaway: exercise calories are easier to eat than to burn — that 373-kcal run un-does one pastry — so weight management leans on the intake side while exercise carries the health load (fitness, muscle, mood, longevity) regardless of the calorie ledger. Counting every burned calorie back as food budget is the classic way to out-eat a training plan.