Walking Calorie Calculator: What It Does
This walking calorie calculator tells you how many calories you burn when you walk. You add your age, gender, height, weight, speed and time. The tool does the math and shows your calories burned, distance, steps and BMR. It also draws a graph, so you can see how the calories grow as you keep walking.
You may also know it as a walk and calories calculator, a calories burned walking calculator, or a walking calories burned calculator. It is all the same idea. Add your numbers and get a fast answer. On this page you will also find six more walking tools, so you can work out steps, distance, weight loss and more in one place.
How Many Calories Do You Burn Walking a Mile?
Most people burn about 65 to 135 calories in one mile. The biggest thing that changes this number is your body weight. A heavier person uses more energy to move the same distance.
Easy rule: you burn about half a calorie per pound of body weight for each mile you walk at a normal pace.
For example, a 150-pound person burns about 80 calories in a mile at 3 mph. A 210-pound person burns about 111 calories in the same mile. The table below shows more weights and speeds.
| Pace | 120 lb | 150 lb | 180 lb | 210 lb | 240 lb |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2.5 mph | 65 | 82 | 98 | 114 | 131 |
| 3.0 mph | 64 | 79 | 95 | 111 | 127 |
| 3.5 mph | 67 | 84 | 100 | 117 | 134 |
| 4.0 mph | 68 | 85 | 102 | 119 | 136 |
You may see that the calories per mile do not change much when you speed up. That is true. What changes is the time. A faster walk burns more calories in the same time, because you cover more miles.
1 Hour Walk Calories
A lot of people want to know the calories for a 1 hour walk. The answer depends on your weight and your speed. Find your weight in the table below and read the number for your pace.
| Pace | 120 lb | 150 lb | 180 lb | 210 lb | 240 lb |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2.5 mph | 163 | 204 | 245 | 286 | 327 |
| 3.0 mph | 191 | 238 | 286 | 333 | 381 |
| 3.5 mph | 234 | 293 | 351 | 410 | 468 |
| 4.0 mph | 272 | 340 | 408 | 476 | 544 |
How Many Calories Does Walking 3 Miles Burn?
At a normal pace of 3 mph, walking 3 miles takes about one hour. So the 3 mph row in the table above is also your answer for 3 miles. A 120-pound person burns about 190 calories, a 150-pound person burns about 240, and a 180-pound person burns about 285.
If you walk the same 3 miles faster, you finish sooner. The total calories stay close, but you get the same work done in less time.
Steps to Calories Calculator: How Steps Turn Into Calories
Most people take about 2,000 to 2,500 steps in one mile. Taller people take fewer steps, and shorter people take more. So 10,000 steps is about 4 to 5 miles for most adults.
To change steps into calories, we first change steps into distance. We use your height to guess your step length. Then we use your weight and your speed to find the calories. For a 160-pound person at an easy pace, 10,000 steps burns about 350 to 420 calories.
To try it, open the Steps to Calories tab above the calculator, type your steps from your phone or watch, and press Calculate. In the main tool, you can also tap the 10,000 steps button under Duration.
Steps to Distance Converter: How Far Are Your Steps?
Your step length is about 41% of your height. So a man who is 175 cm tall takes steps of about 72 cm. At that size, 10,000 steps is about 7.3 km, or 4.5 miles. A shorter person takes smaller steps, so the same 10,000 steps is a shorter distance.
The Steps to Distance tab does this for you. Add your steps, your height and your gender, and you get the distance in kilometers and miles. It also shows your step length and how long the walk takes at a normal pace.
Walking Distance and Time Calculator
Sometimes you know two things about your walk and you need the third. This tool finds one thing when you know the other two. Know your speed and time? You get the distance. Know the distance and your speed? You get the time. Know the distance and the time? You get your speed and pace.
For example, a 5K is 3.1 miles. At a normal pace of 3 mph, you finish it in about 62 minutes. Walk at 4 mph and it takes about 47 minutes. Open the Distance & Time tab to plan your own walk.
How to Calculate Calories Burned by Walking
You can do the math by hand. This is the formula we use:
Here is an example. Say you weigh 70 kg and walk at 3 mph for one hour. The MET value for 3 mph is 3.5.
If your weight is in pounds, divide it by 2.2 to get kilograms. If your time is in minutes, divide it by 60 to get hours.
What Is a MET?
MET stands for Metabolic Equivalent of Task. It is a number that shows how hard an activity is. Sitting still is 1 MET. The harder you walk, the higher the number. These values come from the Compendium of Physical Activities, which is a list that researchers use around the world.
| Speed | MET | How it feels |
|---|---|---|
| Less than 2.0 mph | 2.0 | Slow stroll |
| 2.0 mph | 2.8 | Easy walk |
| 2.5 mph | 3.0 | Relaxed walk |
| 3.0 mph | 3.5 | Normal walk |
| 3.5 mph | 4.3 | Brisk walk |
| 4.0 mph | 5.0 | Fast walk |
| 4.5 mph | 7.0 | Power walk |
| 5.0 mph | 8.3 | Very fast, race walk |
Walking Calories and BMR
BMR means Basal Metabolic Rate. It is the number of calories your body burns in a full day just to stay alive, even if you do nothing. Your body uses this energy for breathing, blood flow and keeping warm.
The calculator shows your BMR with the Mifflin-St Jeor formula:
Women: (10 × kg) + (6.25 × cm) − (5 × age) − 161
The calories you burn walking are extra. They are added on top of your BMR. So your total daily burn is your BMR plus your walk plus your other daily moves.
TDEE Calculator: Your Total Daily Calories
TDEE means Total Daily Energy Expenditure. It is all the calories your body uses in one day, including your BMR, your walks and every other move. To find it, we multiply your BMR by an activity number, from 1.2 for a desk life to 1.9 for very hard work.
For example, if your BMR is 1,700 and you exercise 1 to 3 days a week (1.375), your TDEE is about 2,340 calories. Eat around that number and your weight stays the same. Eat about 500 less each day and you can lose about one pound a week. Open the TDEE & BMR tab to see your own numbers.
Treadmill Incline Calorie Calculator
Walking uphill is one of the easiest ways to burn more calories without going faster. When you add incline, your legs and heart work harder, so the calories go up fast. At 3 mph, a 150-pound person burns about 235 calories in an hour on a flat treadmill. At a 5% incline, the same hour burns about 385 calories.
The Treadmill Incline tab compares flat walking with your incline walk, and draws a graph for every incline from 0 to 15%. Try not to hold the side bars. When you hold on, your body does less work and you burn fewer calories.
Why Your Result Can Change
- Weight: more weight means more calories burned.
- Speed: a faster walk burns more calories per minute.
- Time: a longer walk burns more calories in total.
- Terrain: hills, sand and trails make your body work harder.
- Age and gender: these change your BMR, which changes how your body uses energy.
- Fitness level: fit people use energy a little better, so they may burn a bit less for the same walk.
Tips to Burn More Calories While Walking
- Walk a little faster. Even 0.5 mph more makes a real change.
- Add hills or use the incline on a treadmill.
- Swing your arms and keep your back straight.
- Try short fast bursts, then go back to a normal pace.
- Take a short walk after meals. It is easy and it adds up.
- Walk a little longer each week, not all at once.
- Wear comfortable shoes so you can walk without pain.
Walking Weight Loss Calculator
A common rule says that 3,500 calories is about one pound of body fat. This is a rough number, but it helps you plan. Say you walk and burn 300 calories every day. In 30 days, that is 9,000 calories, which is about 2.5 pounds.
The Weight Loss tab does this plan for you. Add your weight today, your goal weight, your walking speed, the minutes you walk and the days you walk each week. You will see how many weeks it can take, and a graph of your weight going down. Food matters too. Walking works best when you also eat in a way that is right for you.
Please note: the numbers on this page are estimates. They are for general help only and are not medical advice. If you have a health problem or you are starting a new plan, talk to your doctor first.