Calories burned running

Calories burned

Different physical activities burn different numbers of calories. This calculator calculates the calories burned for an activity based on your weight and time spent doing that activity. How the calculations are performed, including sources for the used values are all listed below.

Metabolic Equivalence of Task (MET)

This section explains how we calculate the calories burned for an activity.

Everything humans do, even being at rest, burns calories. We use "calories" as a unit of measurement for energy. The question of how many calories are burned is thus essentially the question of how much energy is used. Humans need oxygen to burn macronutrients for energy. This process is called aerobic metabolism.The energy produced through aerobic metabolism is measured in kilocalories (kcal). Human bodies produce around 5 kcal of energy for every liter oxygen consumed¹. Hence, the intake of oxygen is used to measure how many calories are burned. On average, a person at rest consumes 3.5 mL of oxygen per kilogram per minute. To calculate the liters of oxygen used per hour, the value 3.5 is multiplied by 60. This results in humans consuming 210 mL or 0.21 liters of oxygen per kilogram per hour while being at rest.

This means that, at rest, humans use on average 5kcal/liter*0.21 liter = 1.05 kcal per kg per hour.

Performing an activity however, burns extra calories, relative to being at rest. How many calories are burned for some task, is captured in a corresponding MET-value, which stands for Metabolic Equivalence of Task.

Being at rest is set at to 1.0 MET.

We've established before that being at rest burns 1.05 kcal per kilogram per hour.

And thus 1 MET is equivalent to 1.05 kcal per kg per hour.

Do note that for the sake of simplicity, 1 MET is sometimes set equal to 1 kcal/kg/h exactly. In this calculator we use 1 MET = 1.05 kcal/kg/h.

For reference, jogging has a MET-value of 7.5 and burns 7.5 times more calories per kilogram per hour compared to being at rest.

This comes down to burning 7.5*1.05 = 7.88 kcal per kg per hour.

MET-values are based on 'The Compendium of Physical Activities', which was developed in 1993 by Ainsworth et al. (1993), but has been revised and expanded multiple times within the scientific framework (Herrman, Willis & Ainsworth, 2024). A compendium is a detailed and concise work on a specific subject.

This compendium contains information on energy expenditure while performing different physical activities. The values used in this calculator come from this revised and expended compendium, publicly available on this website https://pacompendium.com/.

The values we use come from the "Adult compendium", but they also exist for older adults and people in wheelchairs.

Because the compendium is updated now and then, different calculators may give different values. It depends from which source the MET-values are derived.

Formula for calculating calories burned

As previously established, 1 MET equals 1.05 kcal per kilogram per hour.

This can also be written as: 1 MET = (1.05 kcal / kg) / hour

By solving the equation for kcal, we can mathematically derive how to calculate calories burned based on the MET-value of some activity, the weight of a person, and the time spent doing that activity.

MET = (1.05kcal/kg)/hour

= (1.05kcal/kg)/hour = MET

= 1.05kcal/kg = MET*hour

= 1.05kcal = MET*hour*kg

= 1.05kcal = MET*kg*hour

= kcal = MET*kg*hour / 1.05

or using lbs

kcal = MET*(lbs/2.2)*hour / 1.05.

Example

You have been running for 45 minutes at 10 km/h (6.2 mph) and weigh 65 kilograms (143.3lbs)

Look up the most recent MET-value for running at 10 km/h (6.2 mph) in the Compendium for Physical Activity

MET = 9.3

Hours = 45 min / 60 = 0.75 hours

Weight = 65 kg (143.3 lbs)

Calories burned = (9.3*0.75*65) / 1.05 = 431.8 kcal

¹ This value is based on the energy produced from carbohydrates. For the other macronutrients, proteins and fats, the energy obtained per liter oxygen consumed is somewhat lower, albeit not by much.

References

• Frankenfield, D., Roth-Yousey, L., Compher, C., & Evidence Analysis Working Group. (2005). Comparison of predictive equations for resting metabolic rate in healthy nonobese and obese adults: a systematic review. Journal of the American Dietetic association, 105(5), 775-789.


• Mifflin, M. D., St Jeor, S. T., Hill, L. A., Scott, B. J., Daugherty, S. A., & Koh, Y. O. (1990). A new predictive equation for resting energy expenditure in healthy individuals. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 51(2), 241-247. Sabounchi, N. S., Rahmandad, H., & Ammerman, A. (2013).


• Sabounchi, N. S., Rahmandad, H., & Ammerman, A. (2013). Best-fitting prediction equations for basal metabolic rate: informing obesity interventions in diverse populations. International journal of obesity, 37(10), 1364-1370.