How to Calculate the Calories You Burn During Exercise Menu Verywell Fit Nutrition Weight Management Nutrition Facts Nutrition Basics Diets Meal Plans Meal Delivery Services View All News Fitness and Nutrition What to Buy How We Test Products Fitness Gear Nutrition Products Tools Recipe Nutrition Calculator Weight Loss Calorie Goal BMI Calculator Body Fat Percentage Calculator Calories Burned by Activity Daily Calories Burned Pace Calculator About Us Editorial Process Meet Our Review Board Search Beginners How to Calculate the Calories You Burn During Exercise By Paige Waehner Paige Waehner Paige Waehner is a certified personal trainer, author of the "Guide to Become a Personal Trainer"; and co-author of "The Buzz on Exercise & Fitness." Learn about our editorial process Updated on October 05, 2022 Reviewed Verywell Fit articles are reviewed by nutrition and exercise professionals. Reviewers confirm the content is thorough and accurate, reflecting the latest evidence-based research. Content is reviewed before publication and upon substantial updates. Learn more. by Tara Laferrara, CPT Reviewed by Tara Laferrara, CPT Tara Laferrara is a certified NASM personal trainer, yoga teacher, and fitness coach. She also created her own online training program, the TL Method. Learn about our Review Board Print Verywell / Photo Illustration by Sabrina Jiang / Getty Images Table of Contents View All Table of Contents Calculator for Calories Burned Exercising Overview Calories Burned Formula Accuracy Calculate the Calories You Burn During Exercise To use this "calories burned exercising" calculator, you'll need to pick your activity, enter how long you performed it for, and enter your weight. Though you're burning calories all the time simply by doing your normal daily activities, exercise can help you burn even more. The amount depends on the type of exercise and how long you do it. Overview Whether you're trying to lose weight, want to know how much to fuel your body after a workout, or are just curious about how many calories you burned during exercise, you can estimate your calorie expenditure by using a simple calculator. Alternatively, you can use an activity tracker to track your calories burned. If you are wondering how to burn calories, there are a number of ways. To figure out exactly how many you burn each day, or your total energy expenditure (TEE), you need to know your basal metabolic rate (BMR), the thermic effect of food (TEF) you eat, and your general activity level. Exercise is the fourth factor and one that has the potential to burn the most calories. Calories Burned Formula The basic formula for the calculator is: Total calories burned = Duration (in minutes)*(MET*3.5*weight in kg)/200 Calculators have an activity MET (metabolic equivalent for task) built-in. This number estimates how much energy the body uses during a specific activity. It varies based on activity and is standardized so that it can be used across the board for different people and so that it's easier to compare different activities to each other. For example, low-impact aerobic dancing (5 METs) burns fewer calories per minute compared to high-impact aerobic dancing (7 METs). Slow-paced walking (3 METs) burns less. Accuracy Keep in mind that this is a very broad estimate and it isn't going to be exact. The only way to get a truly accurate number is to go to a lab and have them hook you up to machines that measure everything from your VO2 max (maximum oxygen uptake) to your maximum heart rate. Since most people will not go to such lengths, use your estimate of calories burned as a base point to track your workouts. If you typically burn a certain number of calories during a certain type of workout, you can increase that number to burn more calories or decrease it if you're feeling burned out or overtrained. Most cardio machines will give you a general number of calories burned, but keep in mind that's just an estimate as well. Your best option is to use these numbers as kind of a baseline. Maybe they're not totally accurate, but you at least get a sense of which activities tend to burn more calories and you can tweak your workouts each week to get a little more out of your exercise time. For example, if you usually walk at 3 miles per hour, try bumping up your speed to the next level or raise your incline. Even doing that just a few times throughout the workout can increase how many calories you burn. Other Factors to Consider The machine doesn't take into account all of the factors that influence exercise intensity such as: Age: The older you are, the harder you have to work to get to a higher intensity level of activity. Body Composition: A person with more muscle will often burn more calories than a person with higher body fat. Temperature: The warmer the environment you're working out in, the more calories you will burn. This raises your body temperature so you do have to warm up as much and more energy can be directed toward calorie burn. You can also workout longer but should be cautious not to overdo it to the point of heat exhaustion. Fitness Level: An experienced exerciser will burn fewer calories because his or her body has become more efficient at exercise. Diet: Your metabolism is the rate at which your body burns calories, so it's directly affected by your diet. If you do not eat enough, skip meals, or eat unhealthy foods (including too much caffeine), your metabolism can fall and affect your calorie burn.​ Sleep: Not getting an adequate amount of sleep can cause you to burn fewer calories. Not only will you feel more fatigued and possibly exercise less, but a lack of sleep can also reduce your metabolism as well. Oxygen Intake: Oxygen gives your body the energy it needs to keep going. People who breathe more heavily during their workout tend to burn more calories. It indicates that you're working harder and for every liter of oxygen you take in, you're burning 5 calories. A Word From Verywell Just like counting calories in your food can help you reach your weight loss goals, so can knowing how many calories you're burning during exercise. Remember to keep it simple and only worry about the estimates for exercises you're actually doing. There's no need to overwhelm yourself with numbers right off the bat. If you add something new, run it through the formula. Try to focus on the goals of staying active and eating healthy and you should notice some weight loss. How Many Calories Do You Burn Walking a Mile? 6 Sources Verywell Fit uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. Hills AP, Mokhtar N, Byrne NM. Assessment of physical activity and energy expenditure: an overview of objective measures. Front Nutr. 2014;1:5. doi:10.3389/fnut.2014.00005 Bushman B PhD. Complete Guide to Fitness and Health 2nd Edition. American College of Sports Medicine. Human Kinetics. 2017. The Compendium of Physical Trackings Guide. Prevention Research Center, University of South Carolina. Del coso J, Hamouti N, Ortega JF, Mora-rodriguez R. Aerobic fitness determines whole-body fat oxidation rate during exercise in the heat. Appl Physiol Nutr Metab. 2010;35(6):741-8. doi:10.1139/H10-068 Broussard JL, Ehrmann DA, Van cauter E, Tasali E, Brady MJ. Impaired insulin signaling in human adipocytes after experimental sleep restriction: a randomized, crossover study. Ann Intern Med. 2012;157(8):549-57. doi:10.7326/0003-4819-157-8-201210160-00005 McColl P. 5 things to know about metabolic equivalents. American Council on Exercise. 2017. Additional Reading McArdle WD, Katch FI, Katch VL. Exercise Physiology: Nutrition, Energy, and Human Performance. 8th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; 2015. By Paige Waehner Paige Waehner is a certified personal trainer, author of the "Guide to Become a Personal Trainer," and co-author of "The Buzz on Exercise & Fitness." See Our Editorial Process Meet Our Review Board Share Feedback Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! What is your feedback? Other Helpful Report an Error Submit Related Articles How Many Calories Will I Burn Doing Pilates? How to Burn More Calories on a Treadmill How to Change Your Daily Energy Expenditure for Faster Weight Loss How Many Calories Can You Burn While Walking? Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR): Calculations and How to Use Them How Many Calories Do You Burn Walking a Mile? How Much Should You Run to Lose One Pound? How Do I Change My Metabolism? Why You Aren't Losing Weight With Walking How Can I Burn More Fat When Exercising? How Many Walking Calories You Burn Per Minute How Many Calories Does Muscle Really Burn? The 6 Things You Need to Know About Tracking Exercise Calories Use a Simple Weight Maintenance or Weight Loss Calculator for Calories What Is a Calorie Deficit? The Truth About Your Fat-Burning Zone for Weight Loss When you visit the site, Dotdash Meredith and its partners may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your devices and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. You can find out more about our use, change your default settings, and withdraw your consent at any time with effect for the future by visiting Cookies Settings, which can also be found in the footer of the site. Cookies Settings Reject All Accept All