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Calories Burned Calculator — Run, Bike, Walk
Estimate calories for a run, ride, or walk by the numbers.
Where the calories come from
Calorie burn is driven by how much oxygen your body uses to move. For running and walking this tool uses the ACSM oxygen-cost equations, which account for both speed and incline; for cycling it uses MET values (multiples of resting metabolism) bucketed by speed. In every case, calories ≈ MET-equivalent × weight in kg × hours.
Running and walking
Running VO₂ = 0.2·S + 0.9·S·G + 3.5 and walking VO₂ = 0.1·S + 1.8·S·G + 3.5, where S is speed in metres per minute and G is the grade as a decimal. From VO₂, calories ≈ VO₂ × kg ÷ 200 × minutes. Incline matters far more for walking than the gentle term suggests once the grade gets steep.
Cycling and body weight
Cycling uses a MET by road speed — from about 6.8 METs under 16 km/h up to 16 METs above 28 km/h — because air resistance, not incline, dominates on the flat. Note that calorie burn scales almost directly with body weight: moving a heavier body simply costs more energy at the same pace. These are gross calories, including the baseline you would burn at rest.
Questions
How is calorie burn estimated?
For running and walking it uses the ACSM oxygen-cost equations (which account for speed and incline); for cycling it uses MET values by speed. Calories = MET × your weight in kg × hours, where MET is the oxygen cost relative to rest.
Why does weight matter so much?
Moving a heavier body costs more energy, so calorie burn scales almost directly with body weight. That is why two people at the same pace can burn very different amounts.
Net or gross calories?
This shows gross calories — the total your body uses, including the baseline it would have spent at rest. If you want the extra cost of exercising specifically, subtract your resting expenditure for that time.