Work out how many calories a run 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, 6 mph, 10:00 /mile | 360 kcal gross, 323 kcal net |
| 90 kg, 60 minutes, 6 mph, 10:00 /mile | 926 kcal gross, 832 kcal net |
| 70 kg, 30 minutes, 10 mph, 6:00 /mile | 533 kcal gross, 496 kcal net |
| Intensity | MET |
|---|---|
| 6 mph, 10:00 /mile | 9.8 MET |
| 7 mph, 8:34 /mile | 11.0 MET |
| 8 mph, 7:30 /mile | 11.8 MET |
| 9 mph, 6:40 /mile | 12.8 MET |
| 10 mph, 6:00 /mile | 14.5 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 running at 6 mph (10 minutes per mile) for 30 minutes burns about 360 kcal gross, or roughly 323 kcal net of resting burn. Heavier runners burn more at the same pace because they are moving more mass.
Per minute, yes, running at 6 mph is about 9.8 METs against about 3.5 for a moderate walk, so roughly three times the rate. Per mile the gap narrows, because you cover the distance in far less time; the honest comparison is per minute, which is what the calculator shows.
Because it is using a different model. Watches usually infer burn from heart rate, which requires assumptions the device cannot check, while this calculator uses the published MET value and states it openly. Neither is a measurement; differences of 20–30% are normal.
Net, if you are balancing exercise against eating. Gross includes the energy you would have spent simply being alive for those 30 minutes, so counting it against food double-counts your resting metabolism.