Calories Burned Walking
Energy burned walking at 3.5 mph, computed from the 4.3 MET value for that pace against your own weight and the time you spent moving, on flat ground.
Walking at 3.5 mph carries a MET value of 4.3 — under half of running. The figure people find surprising is that an hour of brisk walking and twenty-five minutes of running burn about the same, because MET scales with intensity and the total is intensity times time.
With weight 75 kg, duration 45 minutes, calories burned comes to 254 kcal — calories burned. It is reached in 3 steps, the last of which is 5.64375 * 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
4.3 * 3.5 * 75 / 2005.644 kcal/min- Calories burned
5.64375 * 45253.969 kcal- Net of what you would have burned at rest
253.96875 - (1 * 3.5 * 75 / 200) * 45194.906 kcal
Does walking uphill count for more?
Considerably. A 3.5 mph walk on the flat is 4.3 MET; the same pace up a 5% grade is about 6.0, and at 10% it passes 8.0, which is level with cycling. The figure above assumes flat ground, so a hilly route burns more than it says rather than less.
Does carrying weight change the answer?
Yes, and it is already in the arithmetic: MET is multiplied by body mass, which is why a heavier person burns more at the same pace. A loaded pack behaves the same way. Add its weight to yours before entering a figure and the result holds without any other adjustment.
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
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