Work out how many calories a bike ride burns from your body weight, speed and time, using the standard MET formula, with gross and net figures shown separately.
| Input | Result |
|---|---|
| 70 kg, 30 minutes, 12–14 mph, moderate | 294 kcal gross, 257 kcal net |
| 90 kg, 60 minutes, 12–14 mph, moderate | 756 kcal gross, 662 kcal net |
| 70 kg, 30 minutes, 16–19 mph, racing | 441 kcal gross, 404 kcal net |
| Intensity | MET |
|---|---|
| Under 10 mph, leisurely | 4.0 MET |
| 10–12 mph, light | 6.8 MET |
| 12–14 mph, moderate | 8.0 MET |
| 14–16 mph, vigorous | 10.0 MET |
| 16–19 mph, racing | 12.0 MET |
MET values from the Compendium of Physical Activities. Only intensities reproduced consistently across independent published tables are listed here.
A MET (Metabolic Equivalent of Task) is a multiple of your resting energy use: sitting quietly is 1 MET, and an activity at 5 METs costs five times as much energy per minute as sitting still. The values published in the Compendium of Physical Activities, maintained by researchers and updated most recently in 2024, are measured averages across groups of healthy adults, rounded to the nearest 0.0, 0.3, 0.5 or 0.8.
The formula used here is the standard one from the American College of Sports Medicine:
calories per minute = MET × 3.5 × body weight (kg) ÷ 200
The 3.5 is the resting oxygen uptake in millilitres per kilogram per minute that defines 1 MET, and 200 is the conversion that turns it into kilocalories. It is the same formula most fitness trackers and cardio machines use, which is why the number here should be in the same neighbourhood as the one on your machine.
MET values are population averages, not measurements of you. Real energy cost moves with body composition, fitness, movement efficiency, terrain, water temperature and how hard you are actually working, and the 3.5 mL/kg/min constant behind the formula was derived from a single reference adult, so it fits a lean average adult far better than it fits anyone at the edges. Independent testing of consumer wearables routinely finds errors of 20–30%, in both directions.
The tool reports two figures for that reason. Gross calories is the total your body burned during the session. Net calories subtracts what you would have burned sitting down for the same length of time, that is the number that actually represents what the exercise added. If you are logging food against exercise, the net figure is the honest one.
This is an estimate, not medical advice. Nothing here diagnoses a condition, assesses a pregnancy or replaces a clinician. If you are pregnant, trying to conceive or managing a health condition, follow the guidance of your own medical team over any number a calculator produces.
A 70 kg adult cycling at a moderate 12–14 mph for 30 minutes burns about 294 kcal gross, or roughly 257 kcal net. Speed matters a lot: the same rider at a leisurely pace under 10 mph burns less than half that.
Because air resistance rises steeply with speed, so the energy cost is far from linear. The MET table goes from 4.0 at a leisurely pace to 12.0 at racing speed, three times the intensity for roughly double the speed.
Roughly, at the same effort. A studio bike removes wind resistance and terrain, so the MET value for a comparable perceived effort is usually a little lower outdoors than the effort suggests, but effort, not location, is what dominates.
Yes, if you are matching exercise against food. Gross counts the calories you would have burned sitting down for those minutes, and logging them as exercise overstates what the ride added.