This page helps you compute how many calories you burn doing various physical tasks. Enter your weight, then describe the duration and intensity of each activity.
You can express the intensity or “energy cost” of any activity with a simple, standard number. In fitness lingo, it’s known as the metabolic equivalent of task, or MET for short. Don’t be intimidated – whether you’ve been sleeping or running, it’s easy to come up with a MET value for anything you do based on this handy chart or the examples below.
Use decimal values whenever you need to, pressing the TAB key after you enter each value. List as many activities as you like and this page will keep a running total of your caloric expenditure!
| activity | calories burned |
|---|---|
| total calories burned: | 0 |
| Physical Activity | MET |
|---|---|
| Light Intensity Activities | < 3 |
| sleeping | 0.9 |
| watching television | 1.0 |
| writing, desk work, typing | 1.8 |
| walking, less than 2.0 mph, level ground, very slow | 2.0 |
| Moderate Intensity Activities | 3 to 6 |
| bicycling, stationary, 50 watts, very light effort | 3.0 |
| calisthenics, home exercise, light or moderate effort | 3.5 |
| bicycling, <10 mph, leisure, to work or for pleasure | 4.0 |
| bicycling, stationary, 100 watts, light effort | 5.5 |
| Vigorous Intensity Activities | > 6 |
| jogging, general | 7.0 |
| pushups, situps, pullups | 8.0 |
| calisthenics, jumping jacks, vigorous effort | 8.0 |
| running jogging, in place | 8.0 |
For a more comprehensive guide, download the latest PDF compendium of MET values for various activities.