Welcome to Marathon Handbook’s calories burned per activity calculator.
Simply select your activity from the list of over 800, enter the activity duration and your weight, and the calculator will do the rest.
Keep scrolling to get the low down on how the calculator works, who it’s built for, and other essential info.
Calories Burned Calculator (Per Activity)
To estimate calories burned, enter your weight and the activity duration, then choose from the list of 800+ activities and hit calculate.
Who Is The Calories Burned Calculator For?
This calculator can be used by anyone.
Whilst many will want to use it to see how many calories they burn during sport and exercise, it features a huge number of other activities to choose from across all types of daily (and not-so-daily) activities.
Curious to know how many calories are burned playing in a marching band? - It's covered.
Types of exercise included in the activity calorie calculator include running, jogging, cycling, walking, hiking, weightlifting, gym-going, sports, swimming, treadmill use, elliptical use, HIIT, and hundreds more.
Related: Daily Calories Burned Calculator
How Do We Calculate How Many Calories Are Burned Per Activity?
Our calories burned calculator is based on data collected and generously published for free by The Compendium of Physical Activities.
Each activity corresponds with a Metabolic Equivalent or MET value.
One MET is defined as the amount of energy burned while sitting at rest. This equates to 3.5 ml of oxygen consumed per kg of body weight per minute.
This means that an activity with a MET of 2.0 burns two times as much energy per minute as sitting at rest.
Once we know the MET value of a certain activity, all that we need in order to estimate calories burned doing said activity (i.e. energy used) is the weight of the individual carrying out the activity and the duration of the activity.
The exact formula to calculate calories burned from weight, activity duration, and MET of activity is outlined below.
Calories Burned Per Activity Formula:
Related: What Are METs?
What Are The Limitations Of The Calculator?
Calories burned per activity also depend on body type, fitness, the ratio of muscle to fat, and local conditions such as temperature, wind, and humidity.
For example, someone who has a lower level of fitness or a higher body fat percentage may burn more calories per minute of activity, even if compared to someone of the same weight and height.
Related: What Is Running Economy?
Additionally, conditions that place stress on the body such as cold, heat, high humidity, or wind resistance are likely to result in more calories being burned per minute of activity.
How Else Can You Measure Calories Burned Per Activity? Are There More Accurate Methods?
A heart rate monitor is one of the most effective ways of measuring calories burned.
This is because heart rate is strongly connected to how much effort it takes you to carry out an activity, which is closely linked to how many calories you burn.
This means a heart rate monitor is likely more accurate than a per-activity calculator, as it is based on your own specific heart rate and effort exerted.
However, without a heart rate monitor, the above calculator is one the most accurate methods of measuring calories burned per activity.
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