Calories Burned Swimming
Energy burned swimming moderate laps, from the 5.8 MET value — noticeably lower than most swimmers expect, and the page shows the arithmetic that gets there.
Moderate lap swimming is 5.8 MET, lower than most swimmers expect and lower than running. The water does the work of supporting body weight, and body weight is what most of the energy in land exercise goes into moving.
With weight 75 kg, duration 45 minutes, calories burned comes to 343 kcal — calories burned. It is reached in 3 steps, the last of which is 7.6125 * 45, and each one is printed on the page with its numbers filled in. The formula is the one published by Compendium of Physical Activities, not an approximation fitted to it.
Formula and sources checked · How we check
- Calories per minute
5.8 * 3.5 * 75 / 2007.613 kcal/min- Calories burned
7.6125 * 45342.563 kcal- Net of what you would have burned at rest
342.5625 - (1 * 3.5 * 75 / 200) * 45283.5 kcal
Which stroke does this assume?
Freestyle at a steady, continuous pace. Breaststroke sits close to it and backstroke a little under, while butterfly is roughly double at 13.8 MET. Time resting at the wall is not swimming: enter the time you were actually moving rather than the time you were in the building.
Why is swimming below running?
Water carries your weight, and moving body weight is where most of the energy in land exercise goes. What you get back is resistance on every stroke, which is why a hard swim closes the gap on a run and an easy one does not come near it.
The formula
- Calories per minute
met * 3.5 * weight / 200 - Calories burned
per_minute * minutes - Net of what you would have burned at rest
calories - (1 * 3.5 * weight / 200) * minutes
Formula from Compendium of Physical Activities — MET reference values, CDC — physical activity for adults.
The same calculator, other cases
Undecided? The Calories Burned Calculator carries every case behind one control.