Walking Calorie Calculator

By Rick Campbell · Updated 15 Sept 2026 · Sourced to primary literature · Not medical advice

Walking is the session most people can keep. This page turns pace, time and bodyweight into gross and net kilocalories using Compendium MET values, then adds kilometres, a step estimate, and how much of a WHO weekly activity target that session covers.

Ainsworth and colleagues published the 2011 Compendium update (doi 10.1249/MSS.0b013e31821ece12). Values are maintained at pacompendium.com. WHO's 2020 physical activity guideline asks adults for at least 150 to 300 minutes of moderate activity a week, which is about 500 to 1,000 MET-minutes.

Enter weight, a pace and minutes. You get session energy, kcal per kilometre, MET-minutes, a WHO-week share, minutes and steps to 500 kcal, and the same minutes at every listed walking pace.

In brief

Gross kcal/min = MET × 3.5 × kg ÷ 200. Net subtracts the 1 MET you would have burned sitting.
Moderate walking here is 4.8 km/h at 3.5 MET. Brisk is 5.6 km/h at 4.3 MET. Uphill 5% is 5.3 MET.
WHO's adult week is at least 150 minutes of moderate activity, about 500 MET-minutes at the low end.
Treat a single MET session as plus or minus 20%. Fitness and grade move the real cost.

What you'll see here

Gross and net calories, kilometres, steps, kcal per km, minutes and steps to 500 kcal, and every walking pace in one table.

What a MET is on this page

One MET is the energy cost of sitting quietly, defined as 3.5 ml of oxygen per kilogram per minute, which works out near 1 kcal per kilogram per hour. Session cost is MET times that resting rate times minutes.

Gross includes the calories you would have burned resting anyway. Net is the extra above sitting (MET minus 1). Trackers and gym machines usually print gross, which is one reason they read high next to a 'net of the walk' claim.

The MET guide on this site is the longer reading. This page is the walk.

Compendium walking paces

Slow (3.2 km/h) is 2.8 MET. Moderate (4.8 km/h, about 3 mph) is 3.5 MET. Brisk (5.6 km/h) is 4.3 MET. Very brisk (6.4 km/h) is 5.0 MET. A 5% uphill at 5.6 km/h is 5.3 MET. Those are population averages from the 2011 Compendium, not your watch.

A fitter walker at the same speed costs less. A heavy pack, mud or a strong wind costs more. Plus or minus 20% is a fair personal band around any one row.

Kilometres are pace times hours. Steps use 1,312 steps per kilometre as a labelled convention, not a measured stride. A tall person will take fewer steps. A short person will take more.

WHO 150 minutes and 500 MET-minutes

WHO 2020 asks adults for 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity activity a week, or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous activity, or an equivalent mix. Expressed as MET-minutes, the lower adult target is about 500 a week and the upper is about 1,000.

A 30-minute moderate walk is 3.5 × 30 = 105 MET-minutes, about 21% of the 500 MET-minute floor. Five such walks are a week that meets the letter of the lower target if the rest of the day is not fully sedentary.

The share printed here is this session's MET-minutes divided by 500. It is not medical clearance and it does not replace strength work, which WHO also asks for on two or more days.

Minutes and steps to 500 kcal

The form also solves for how long this pace must run to reach 500 kcal gross, and how many conventional steps that is. That is a teaching row, not a daily goal. Most of a fat-loss deficit is still food.

At 3.5 MET and 70 kg, kcal per minute is 3.5 × 3.5 × 70 ÷ 200 = 4.29. 500 kcal then takes about 117 minutes. That is a long walk, which is the point of the row.

Do not add this session on top of a TDEE that already used an 'active' multiplier. Pick one: session extra on a sedentary TDEE, or an activity factor that already includes the walks.

Walking versus the rest of the day

NEAT (fidgeting, standing, chores) often dwarfs a single 30-minute walk. A desk day plus a walk can still be a low TDEE. The activity factor on the TDEE page is where that day lives.

A walk does not cancel a large meal. Two beers are about 300 kcal, which is an hour of moderate walking for many adults. The alcohol calculator makes that comparison explicit.

If the goal is a deficit, put the session in context with the deficit and check-in tools. If the goal is the WHO week, stack minutes until the share adds up.

What to do with the number

Pick the pace you can repeat four or five days. Compare the same minutes at every pace in the table if you are deciding whether 'brisk' is worth it. Carry weight into the calories-burned and TDEE calculators.

The running calculator uses the same MET formula at faster paces. Heart-rate zones are a different tool: they pace effort, they do not replace METs.

This is not a VO2 max test and it is not a medical screen. Chest pain on a walk is a clinician, not a faster pace.

How it's calculated

Gross session energy

Gross kcal = MET × 3.5 × bodyweight (kg) × minutes ÷ 200

Net uses (MET − 1) in place of MET. Trackers usually report gross.

Distance and steps

km = km/h × minutes ÷ 60; steps ≈ km × 1,312

1,312 steps/km is a labelled convention, not your stride.

WHO-week share

Share = (MET × minutes) ÷ 500

500 MET-minutes is the lower adult weekly target used here (WHO 2020).

Worked example: 70 kg, 30 minutes at 4.8 km/h (3.5 MET)

Gross kcal/min = 3.5 × 3.5 × 70 ÷ 200 = 4.29. Session gross ≈ 129 kcal. Net ≈ 92 kcal.
Distance = 4.8 × 0.5 = 2.4 km. Steps ≈ 2.4 × 1,312 = 3,149.
MET-minutes = 3.5 × 30 = 105, about 21% of a 500 MET-minute WHO week.
Minutes to 500 kcal gross at this pace = 500 ÷ 4.29 ≈ 117 minutes.
The same 30 minutes at 5.6 km/h (4.3 MET) is about 158 kcal gross, which is why the pace table exists.

Where this number is used in the real world

Turning a daily walk into kcal, km and steps.
Seeing how much of a WHO 500 MET-min week one session covers.
Comparing slow, moderate, brisk and uphill at the same minutes.
Estimating how long a pace must run to reach 500 kcal.
Putting a walk into TDEE without double-counting.

Frequently asked questions

Why is my watch higher than this page?

Most watches print gross calories and some add a generous personal multiplier. This page uses a published MET and the standard 3.5 ml/kg/min oxygen definition. A watch that thinks you are jogging when you are walking will read high. Treat both numbers as plus or minus 20% and steer fat loss by the weekly scale and waist, not by a single session. If you already set TDEE to 'active', do not subtract this walk again.

Is 10,000 steps a science target?

It is a round number that came out of a pedometer marketing slogan, not a WHO line. WHO speaks in minutes and MET-minutes. This page will estimate steps from kilometres using 1,312 steps per kilometre so you can compare a session with a step goal you already have. Meeting 150 minutes of moderate walking a week matters more than hitting a five-digit step count on a rest day.

Does walking on a treadmill count the same?

At the same speed and grade, the MET is in the same family. A 5% incline at 5.6 km/h is the uphill row (5.3 MET). A flat treadmill at 4.8 km/h is the moderate row. Holding the rails lowers cost. Outdoor wind and surface raise it. Use the row that matches the grade you actually walked, then keep the plus-or-minus 20% band.

Can I lose fat by walking only?

You can lose fat with any routine that keeps weekly energy below expenditure. Walking is often the movement people will actually repeat, which is why it works. It will not outrun a large surplus. The deficit calculator still sets food. This page tells you what the session is worth so you do not invent a 600 kcal walk that was 130.

What is the difference between this and the generic calories-burned page?

The calories-burned calculator covers many Compendium activities on one screen. This page is walking-only: pace list, kilometres, steps, WHO-week share, and minutes to 500 kcal. Same MET formula underneath. Use this when walking is the session you care about. Use the other when you need cycling, lifting or chores next to the walk.

Should I walk faster to hit vigorous METs?

Vigorous is about 6 MET and above. Very brisk walking at 6.4 km/h is 5.0 MET, still moderate-to-hard. A 5% hill at 5.6 km/h is 5.3 MET. True vigorous minutes are usually jogging or a steep hike. WHO lets you mix. Faster walking is useful because it raises kcal and MET-minutes in the same half hour. It is not required if 150 moderate minutes is what you can keep.

Keep going

A single number rarely tells the whole story. Alongside the walking result, the running calculator, the calories burned calculator, the TDEE calculator and the heart rate zones calculator each add a different angle on the same measurements. For the reasoning behind the numbers, read METs and calories burned and Heart rate zones.

Sources

Ainsworth BE, Haskell WL, Herrmann SD, et al. 2011 Compendium of Physical Activities: a second update of codes and MET values. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2011;43:1575-81. doi.org/10.1249/MSS.0b013e31821ece12
World Health Organization. WHO guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour. Geneva: WHO; 2020. Adults: 150 to 300 minutes of moderate activity, about 500 to 1,000 MET-minutes a week. www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240015128
2011 Compendium of Physical Activities, values maintained at the Compendium site. pacompendium.com/

Cite this page

Quoting a figure from here in an article, a report or a piece of coursework? Use whichever of these your style guide asks for.

APA: Campbell, R. (2026). Walking Calorie Calculator. Body Stats. https://bodystats.co/app/walking-calorie-calculator
Plain text: “Walking Calorie Calculator”, Body Stats, last updated 15 September 2026, https://bodystats.co/app/walking-calorie-calculator

Every formula and threshold on this page is written out with its primary source on our methodology page. These results are informational and educational, not a diagnosis or a substitute for professional advice. See the medical disclaimer.

Last updated 15 September 2026. Written by Rick Campbell; not medically reviewed. See review status.