Calories burned calculator
Estimate what a workout burned: weight training from your sets, cardio from its minutes.
Calories burned
~155kcal
About 12 minutes of lifting at 5 MET, and the time between sets at 2 MET.
- Above resting
- ~100 kcal
- Per hour
- ~210 kcal
“Above resting” leaves out the 55 kcal you would have burned anyway. Add it to your maintenance only if your activity level doesn’t already count this workout.
How many calories does lifting weights burn?
Less than it feels like. The Compendium rates hard lifting at 6 MET, but only while the bar is moving, and most of a session is rest. So each working set counts as about 40 seconds of work, and the time between sets as 2 MET: breathing hard and walking around, not sitting still. That is the model the VERTEX app uses.
An hour with 20 working sets comes to about 200 kcal for an 80 kg man. Lifting is how you keep and build muscle, not a way to burn calories. For fat loss, the calorie deficit calculator does more.
The formula: METs × your resting burn
Calories burned = MET × minutes × your resting kcal per minute.
The usual version assumes 1 kcal per kg per hour at rest, which overstates it for most adults (Kozey 2010). This calculator uses your own resting rate from the Mifflin–St Jeor equation, which is why it asks for age, height and sex.
Calories burned per 30 minutes
For two 30-year-olds: a woman of 65 kg and 165 cm, and a man of 85 kg and 180 cm.
| Activity | MET | Woman, 65 kg | Man, 85 kg |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weight training, 12 sets | 5.0 | 80 | 105 |
| Walking, brisk, 6 km/h (3.7 mph) | 4.8 | 135 | 185 |
| Jogging, easy pace | 7.5 | 215 | 285 |
| Running, 10 km/h (6 mph) | 9.3 | 265 | 355 |
| Running, 13 km/h (8 mph) | 12.0 | 345 | 460 |
| Exercise bike, moderate (90–100 W) | 6.0 | 170 | 230 |
| Spin class | 9.0 | 255 | 345 |
| Rowing machine, hard (100–149 W) | 7.5 | 215 | 285 |
| Elliptical, moderate | 5.0 | 145 | 190 |
| Stair climber | 9.3 | 265 | 355 |
| HIIT, hard (burpees, Tabata) | 11.0 | 315 | 420 |
| Circuit training, kettlebells, minimal rest | 7.5 | 215 | 285 |
| Swimming laps, freestyle, easy | 5.8 | 165 | 220 |
| Yoga, hatha | 2.3 | 65 | 90 |
Should you eat back exercise calories?
Use the above resting figure: the rest you would have burned anyway. And if your maintenance estimate already counts your training in its activity level, don’t add workouts on top.
Watch and tracker numbers deserve less trust than they get: in a Stanford test of seven wrist devices, even the best was off by 27% on average.
Calories burned FAQ
How many calories does an hour of weight training burn?
About 200 kcal for an 80 kg man doing 20 working sets in an hour, and less for a lighter person. Most of a lifting session is rest between sets, so it burns less than the effort suggests. Circuits with little rest burn more.
Should I eat back the calories I burn exercising?
Only the part above resting, and only if your maintenance estimate doesn't already include your training. If you picked an activity level that counts your workouts, adding them again counts them twice.
Are fitness watch calorie counts accurate?
Not very. A Stanford study of seven wrist-worn devices found none measured energy expenditure within an acceptable error. The most accurate was off by 27% on average, the least accurate by 93%.
What is a MET?
A multiple of your resting energy use. Sitting still is 1 MET; running at 10 km/h is about 9 MET, nine times resting. The values here come from the 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities.
Why do my age, height and sex change the result?
The textbook formula assumes everyone burns 1 kcal per kg per hour at rest, which overstates resting burn for most adults. This calculator uses your own resting rate from the Mifflin–St Jeor equation instead, so the estimate fits your body rather than an average one.
Sources
- Herrmann SD, Willis EA, Ainsworth BE, et al. 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities: a third update of the energy costs of human activities. Journal of Sport and Health Science. 2024;13(1):6–12.
- Kozey S, Lyden K, Staudenmayer J, Freedson P. Errors in MET estimates of physical activities using 3.5 ml·kg⁻¹·min⁻¹ as the baseline oxygen consumption. Journal of Physical Activity and Health. 2010;7(4):508–516.
- Mifflin MD, St Jeor ST, Hill LA, et al. A new predictive equation for resting energy expenditure in healthy individuals. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 1990;51(2):241–247.
- Shcherbina A, Mattsson CM, Waggott D, et al. Accuracy in wrist-worn, sensor-based measurements of heart rate and energy expenditure in a diverse cohort. Journal of Personalized Medicine. 2017;7(2):3.
Built by Max Van Strydonck, Founder of VERTEX. Last reviewed .