Can I roughly calculate how many calories I'm burning during exercise?

Hi Hustorgut,

There are numerous websites that list the approximate calorie expenditure of different sports and activities. These are of course not completely accurate but the only way to be accurate is to use sophisticated scientific measuring equipment, which you'll only find in a lab or specific exercise facilities.

A rule of thumb is very intense activity (like running at 6 1/2 minute mile pace) burns about 1000 calories per hour. If you weigh more, are in poor condition, or aren't used to that particular activity, you'll burn more calories.

If you want to be more accurate, you can measure your calorie use reasonably accurately by referencing a certain activity and plugging in how long you exercise and how much you weigh. For instance, if you run for 60 minutes at 6 minute mile pace you can multiply the 60 minutes by your body weight in kilos and then multiply it by an "activity factor" given for the reference exercise. For an example, see the chart at the bottom of this site's page: http://www.acefitness.org/updateable/update_display.aspx?pageID=593

The Compendium of Physical Activities was JUST revised and there’s now a website (http://sites.google.com/site/compendiumofphysicalactivities/home)!

The Compendium of Physical Activities lists a MET level for just about anything active you can do. The link to the chart that Mark provided in his response had already converted METs to cal/min, but in case you get really excited about metabolic calculations (like I do!) and are looking to try to estimate the caloric expenditure of just about EVERYTHING you do throughout the day (because you can do that with this site), to covert METs to cal/min, you need to first convert METs to VO2, then multiply by body weight in kg (to convert pounds to kg, divide by 2.2), and then divide that answer by 200. And finally multiply your answer by the number of minutes you’re exercising.

Kcal/min = (METs x 3.5 x weight in kg)/200

For example: I’m taking my very first horse riding polo lesson on Saturday. The Compendium of Activities says that playing polo is approximately 8 METs and I weigh approximately 50 kg (110 pounds divided by 2.2). Soo….
(8 METs x 3.5 x 50 kg)/200 = 7 kcal/min x 60 minutes of riding = 420 calories burned

That's hard core Lauren! Great info for dedicated personal trainers and athletes!

I'm so glad that it'll be helpful! I'm a pretty big nerd when it comes to metabolic calculations and get very excited about them! :)

To explain the equation above:

3.5 ml/kg/min is the resting component in a metabolic calculation (resting energy expenditure)

Mets are the activity energy expenditure

Mets * 3.5 = ml/kg/min (total oxygen consumption; Vo2)

ml/kg/min * weight in kg = ml/min (total oxygen consumption; Vo2)

ml/min divide by 1,000 = liters/min (total oxygen consumption; Vo2)

liters/ min * 5 = Kcal/ min (divide by 1,000 and multiply by 5 = divide by 200)

We now get back to the equation that Lauren taught us:
kcal/ min = (mets*3.5*kg of body weight)/200

Thanks for breaking down METs and VO2! I sometimes forget that not everyone spends their days talking about peak exercise intensities on treadmill stress tests! :)

a good quailty heart rate monitor....(garmin), gives me the most efficient way to track calories burned druing excersise.

I know this is an old question, but I'd like to expand on it...

I've seen various pages online that calculate the basic BMR value, but then they mutliply the result by a factor like 1.2 or greater based on your activity level. I get this idea...the more active you are, the more calories you burn in a given day. Makes sense.

But, if I'm trying to determine the total number of calories I burn per day, and I'm using the MET values to estimate calories expended by doing various activities and exercises....then do I need to multiply the BMR by the activity level factor, or am I covering it all by the extra calculations I'm doing with the exercise MET values?

In other words, am I double booking activity and exercise calories by including the factor in the BMR calculation and then also adding the estimated calories burned via the MET method?

Thanks!