Running calorie calculator

How much energy that run really cost — from your weight, distance, time and hills, using the same equations exercise labs use.

Activity
Unit
Unit
Calories burned (net)700kcal774 kcal gross including resting burn
Net per km
70
Net per mile
113
Gross per hour
774
Pace
6:00/km

How the estimate works

The American College of Sports Medicine’s metabolic equations estimate oxygen use from speed and grade. For running: VO2 = 0.2 × speed + 0.9 × speed × grade + 3.5 ml/kg/min (speed in metres per minute). Walking uses 0.1 and 1.8 in place of 0.2 and 0.9. Each litre of oxygen releases about 5 kcal.

Because the oxygen cost of running is almost proportional to speed, the energy per kilometre barely changes with pace — the famous “a mile is a mile” rule. Hills matter much more: at 5% average incline, a run costs around 20% more. If you want to plan how that fuel budget fits a race, the race time predictor and its AI coach can help with a fuelling plan.

Estimates don’t include afterburn (EPOC), which adds a few percent after hard sessions, or individual differences in running economy, which can reach ±10%.

Questions runners ask

How many calories does running burn?

Roughly 1 kcal per kilogram of body weight per kilometre, largely independent of pace. A 70 kg runner burns about 70 kcal per km, or about 110 kcal per mile, a bit more uphill.

Does running faster burn more calories?

Per kilometre, only slightly. Per minute, much more — faster running covers more distance in the same time. So a fixed distance costs about the same whether you jog or race it.

What is the difference between gross and net calories?

Gross calories include what your body would burn anyway at rest (about 1 kcal per kg per hour). Net calories subtract that, giving the extra energy the run itself cost. Net is the fairer number when thinking about food.

Is running or walking better for burning calories?

Over the same distance on flat ground, running burns roughly 1.5–2 times as much as walking at normal speeds. Walking becomes surprisingly costly uphill, which is why steep hikes are hard work.

Are fitness tracker calorie numbers accurate?

A 2017 Stanford study (Shcherbina et al.) found wrist devices measured heart rate well but none estimated energy expenditure accurately, with errors often above 20%. Treat any estimate — including this one — as a ballpark.

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