Calories Burned by Activity (Full Chart)

Which burns more calories in one hour: gentle yoga or a steady run? The gap is bigger than most people guess, and body weight changes the answer too. This chart lines up calories burned by activity for common workouts at one reference weight, then shows you how to scale each number to fit your own body.

What This Calories Burned Chart Shows

This chart lists general calories burned by activity for common exercises like walking, running, cycling, swimming, and yoga. All numbers use one reference body weight: 70 kg, or about 154 lb.

The figures come from MET values, a standard way researchers measure how hard an activity works your body. They are population averages, so your real burn will run a bit higher or lower depending on your body, your effort, and the conditions you exercise in.

Think of this chart as a starting point for comparing activities, not a precise readout of your personal burn. For an exact estimate built around your own numbers, the Exercise Calorie Calculator factors in your weight, duration, and activity type directly.

Calories Burned by Activity: The Full Chart

The table below ranks ten common activities from lowest to highest calorie burn per hour, all at the same 70 kg (154 lb) reference weight. Use it to compare how activities stack up against each other.

Notice the pattern: as MET value climbs, so does the calorie total, because MET is a direct measure of how much energy an activity demands. The chart below shows the same trend as a visual, side-by-side comparison.

What Is a MET, in Brief

MET stands for metabolic equivalent of task. One MET is roughly the energy your body uses just sitting quietly. An activity rated at 8 METs, like running, uses about eight times that resting energy.

Public health groups use MET values to sort activities into light, moderate, and vigorous intensity. This chart uses the same MET values to estimate calories burned by activity at the reference weight above.

MET is a useful shortcut, not a full explanation of exercise physiology. If you want the deeper formula work behind calorie-burn estimates, that lives in a separate nutrition guide, not this chart article.

You will often see MET listed on gym equipment or fitness apps alongside a workout name. Knowing what it means helps you understand why two activities with similar names can burn very different amounts of energy.

Low Effort vs High Effort: Same Time, Different Burn

Duration is not the only thing that decides your calorie burn. Effort level changes the number a lot, even over the exact same amount of time.

Picture 30 minutes of easy walking next to 30 minutes of running, both at 70 kg. The walk burns about 129 calories. The run burns about 294 calories, more than double, in the same half hour.

This is why effort matters as much as the clock. A short, hard workout can match or beat a longer, easy one for total calories burned.

How to Adjust the Chart for Your Own Body Weight

Every number above uses a 70 kg (154 lb) reference. Your body is probably not exactly that weight, so the chart numbers need a small adjustment.

The good news is the math is simple. Calories burned scale directly with body weight for the same activity and duration, so you can use a ratio.

1. Find the chart value for your activity.
2. Divide your own weight by 70 kg (or by 154 lb, if you use pounds).
3. Multiply the chart value by that ratio to get your estimate.

For example, someone at 90 kg running for one hour would multiply 588 by (90 / 70), landing near 756 calories. Someone at 56 kg would multiply 588 by (56 / 70), landing near 470 calories.

This ratio works for any activity in the chart above. It will not be perfectly exact for every body, but it is a solid, quick way to personalize the numbers.

Combining Duration and Weight in One Estimate

The chart assumes a full hour at a 70 kg body, but most workouts are not exactly 60 minutes. You can combine the weight ratio and a duration change into a single quick calculation instead of doing two separate steps.

Start with the activity MET value. Multiply by your weight in kilograms, then by your workout time in hours, then by 1.05.

For example, a 90 kg person cycling at a moderate pace for 45 minutes would use 7.5 (MET) x 90 (kg) x 0.75 (hours) x 1.05, which comes out to about 532 calories. Swap in your own weight and time to personalize any row in the chart.

The Method Behind the Chart

The chart uses a standard MET-based formula. It multiplies MET value by body weight in kilograms and by time in hours, then applies a fixed conversion number.

Written simply: calories burned equals MET times weight in kg times hours times 1.05. Plugging in running at 8 METs, 70 kg, and 1 hour gives 8 x 70 x 1 x 1.05, which equals 588 calories, matching the chart above.

What Else Changes How Many Calories You Burn

MET values are averages, so several real-world factors push your actual burn above or below the chart. Keep these in mind when you compare your own results.

• Fitness level: a trained body often works more efficiently, which can lower the burn slightly for the same pace.
• Terrain and incline: hills, sand, and stairs raise the effort well above a flat surface.
• Muscle mass: more lean muscle tends to raise resting and active calorie burn.
• Temperature: very hot or cold conditions can raise how hard your body works.
• Rest breaks: stopping and starting lowers your average burn compared to steady effort.

Wearable trackers try to account for some of this with heart rate data, but they are still estimates, not lab measurements.

None of this means the chart is unreliable. It simply means your personal number will sit somewhere in a reasonable range around the chart value, rather than matching it exactly.

Quick Pointers: Pace Instead of Calories

Sometimes the goal is not calories at all, but hitting a target speed. If you want to work out your running speed instead, see How to Calculate Your Running Pace.

Swimmers can do the same with lap times. See How to Calculate Swimming Pace for that walkthrough.

Both guides go deeper into pace math than this chart does, since pace and calories are related but separate questions.

Frequently Asked Questions About Calories Burned by Activity

Sources

This article is for general education only, not medical advice. Training needs and safe limits vary by fitness level and health history, so talk with a doctor before starting a new exercise program, especially if you have a health condition. Reviewed for accuracy by Dr. Abdullah Khalil, MBBS. Last updated September 13, 2026.