Running calorie calculator: what did your run burn?
Add your weight, then your distance and time or pace. Hills, a backpack and over-60 values are optional. You get kcal, kJ, per km and per mile.
- 2024 Adult Compendium running values, plus the 2024 Older Adult Compendium
- Hills from published research: Dill (1965) going up, Minetti (2002) coming down
- By James Gonzo at JG Fitness, personal trainer and swim coach
Work out calories burned running
Your estimate
Add your body weight to see your number.
Swimming instead? The swimming calorie calculator works by stroke, minutes or pool lengths.
On this page: Why the number matters · Pace · Hills · How it works · Examples · FAQ
What your running calorie number is actually for
A calorie figure on its own doesn't do much. It earns its keep when you use it to make a food decision: how much to eat today, what to have before tomorrow's long run, or whether you're eating enough to keep training well. Running is one of the bigger energy costs most people put their body through, so even a rough figure helps.
The calculator gives you a gross figure. That means it includes the energy you'd have used anyway just being alive for those minutes. For a 30-minute run that baseline is small, about one MET's worth, but it's why the number is a little higher than the “active calories” some watches show.
If you're trying to lose weight
Running burns a decent amount per session, which makes it useful for creating a calorie deficit. The catch is appetite. Plenty of runners eat back what they burned, and more, without noticing. Knowing a 5k cost you about 345 kcal (at 70 kg) makes it easier to see that a big pastry afterwards wipes it out. Steady, regular running beats occasional heroic efforts, and a deficit that's too big tends to show up as poor sessions, niggles and low mood.
If you care about running performance
Under-eating is one of the most common reasons training stalls. If you're running most days and your energy is flat, your sleep is poor or you keep picking up small injuries, compare what you burn with what you eat. Long runs and races are where the gap gets big: a marathon costs a 70 kg runner around 2,915 kcal at a 10-minute-mile pace, on top of a normal day's needs.
If you're trying to gain weight
Some runners, often younger or very lean ones, struggle to keep weight on. The calculator shows how much extra you need just to stand still. Add that to your normal intake first, then put a modest surplus on top if you want to build. Easy wins are bigger portions of meals you already like, milky drinks and snacks between meals.
If you want to hold your weight steady
For maintenance, the aim is simple: roughly match what you eat to what you use. Your weekly running total is a good starting point. Add up the week's runs, divide by seven, and that's roughly how much more you need each day than in a week off. Then adjust based on what the scales and your energy tell you over a few weeks.
Refuelling after a run
After a hard or long run, the priority is carbohydrate to top up your glycogen and some protein to help repair muscle. The bigger the number in the calculator, the more this matters, especially if you train again within a day. Our guide to what to eat after a run has portion ideas and timings.
Fuelling before a run
What you eat in the hours before a run decides how good it feels. A short easy run needs very little. A long run or race needs a proper carbohydrate meal a few hours before, and perhaps a small top-up nearer the start. See what to eat before running, what to eat before running in the morning and whether you should eat before running at all.
Fuelling during a run
On runs longer than an hour or so, many runners take carbohydrate on the way round, as gels, chews, drinks or real food. The calculator can't tell you how much to take, because that depends on your gut and the session, but it does show why: a two-hour run uses a lot of energy, and your stored carbohydrate only goes so far. Practise race-day fuelling in training, not on the day.
How your pace changes calories burned running
Faster running costs more energy every minute. The Compendium gives each speed band its own value, and the running calorie calculator picks the band nearest your speed. Here's what that looks like for a 70 kg runner.
| Compendium speed | Pace /km | Pace /mile | MET | Code | kcal, 30 min | kcal per km |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 to 4.2 mph | 9:06 | 14:38 | 6.5 | 12028 | 239 | 72 |
| 4.3 to 4.8 mph | 8:12 | 13:11 | 7.8 | 12029 | 287 | 78 |
| 5.0 to 5.2 mph | 7:19 | 11:46 | 8.5 | 12030 | 312 | 76 |
| 5.5 to 5.8 mph | 6:36 | 10:37 | 9.0 | 12045 | 331 | 73 |
| 6 to 6.3 mph | 6:04 | 9:45 | 9.3 | 12050 | 342 | 69 |
| 6.7 mph | 5:34 | 8:57 | 10.5 | 12060 | 386 | 72 |
| 7 mph | 5:20 | 8:34 | 11.0 | 12070 | 404 | 72 |
| 7.5 mph | 4:58 | 8:00 | 11.8 | 12080 | 434 | 72 |
| 8 mph | 4:40 | 7:30 | 12.0 | 12090 | 441 | 69 |
| 8.6 mph | 4:20 | 6:59 | 12.5 | 12100 | 459 | 66 |
| 9 mph | 4:09 | 6:40 | 13.0 | 12110 | 478 | 66 |
| 9.3 to 9.6 mph | 3:57 | 6:21 | 14.8 | 12115 | 544 | 72 |
| 10 mph | 3:44 | 6:00 | 14.8 | 12120 | 544 | 68 |
70 kg runner, level ground. Paces are the middle of each band. Below 4 mph the Compendium lists jogging at 2.6 to 3.7 mph (MET 3.3, code 12026); the calculator uses that and flags anything slower.
Look down the last column. Per kilometre, the number hardly changes between a jog and a fast run. A quicker run burns more per minute but finishes sooner, and the two effects almost cancel out. So if you want to know what a run cost you, distance and body weight tell you most of the story. Pace matters more when you compare sessions by time: 30 minutes of quick running costs far more than 30 minutes of jogging.
One honest limit: the Compendium values are averages for groups of people. Two runners of the same weight at the same pace can differ, because some are more economical than others. Experienced runners often use a little less energy at a given pace than beginners.
Calories burned running per mile and per km, by weight
Body weight moves the number far more than pace does. These are the calories burned running one mile and one kilometre at three Compendium speeds.
| Weight | Easy, 5.0 to 5.2 mph (11:46 /mile) | Steady, 6 to 6.3 mph (9:45 /mile) | Quick, 7.5 mph (8:00 /mile) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| per mile | per km | per mile | per km | per mile | per km | |
| 60 kg (9.4 st) | 105 | 65 | 95 | 59 | 99 | 62 |
| 70 kg (11.0 st) | 123 | 76 | 111 | 69 | 116 | 72 |
| 85 kg (13.4 st) | 149 | 92 | 135 | 84 | 140 | 87 |
| 100 kg (15.7 st) | 175 | 109 | 159 | 99 | 165 | 103 |
kcal, level ground. MET 8.5 (code 12030), 9.3 (12050) and 11.8 (12080) from the 2024 Adult Compendium.
Calories burned running a 5k, 10k, half marathon and marathon
At about a 10-minute mile (6 to 6.3 mph, MET 9.3), these are rough totals for each distance. For your own finishing time, pick the distance in the running calorie calculator above.
| Distance | 60 kg | 70 kg | 85 kg | 100 kg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 mile | 95 | 110 | 135 | 160 |
| 5k | 295 | 345 | 420 | 495 |
| 10k | 590 | 690 | 840 | 985 |
| 10 miles | 955 | 1,110 | 1,350 | 1,590 |
| Half marathon | 1,250 | 1,455 | 1,770 | 2,080 |
| Marathon | 2,500 | 2,915 | 3,540 | 4,165 |
kcal, rounded to the nearest 5, level ground. Gross figures, so they include what you'd burn anyway.
Hills and calories burned running
Hills are where simple calculators go wrong. Most use a flat-ground value, which undercounts a hilly run, or bolt on a vague percentage. We use two pieces of published research instead: one for going up and one for coming down.
Going up: lifting your body
Climbing means lifting your whole weight against gravity, and that costs energy on top of moving forward. D. B. Dill measured it in 1965: about 1.31 ml of oxygen per kg of body weight for every metre climbed. Each litre of oxygen is worth roughly 5 kcal, so the climbing cost works out as:
That's about 0.46 kcal per metre for a 70 kg runner, or 46 kcal for every 100 m of climbing, however long the run is.
Coming down: some of it comes back
Running down a gentle slope is cheaper than running on the flat, because gravity does some of the work. Minetti and colleagues (2002) measured the energy cost of running across a wide range of slopes and fitted an equation to the results. On gentle descents the cost drops below the flat value, then rises again on very steep ones as you brake hard. We use their equation to work out how much the downhill half of a loop saves.
So if your run goes out and back over the same hills, you climb and descend the same amount. The calculator assumes that unless you tick uphill only, which suits hill climbs, fell races that finish at the top, or an incline treadmill.
A worked example
Take a 70 kg runner doing 10 km in an hour with 150 m of climbing and the same back down.
- Flat running: 10 km/h is about 6.2 mph, so MET 9.3. That's 684 kcal.
- Climbing: 150 × 70 × 1.31 ÷ 1,000 × 5 = about 69 kcal extra.
- Descending: 150 m down over 5 km is a gentle 3% slope. Minetti's equation gives 3.06 J per kg per metre there, against 3.6 on the flat. Over 5 km at 70 kg, that saves about 45 kcal.
- Total: about 705 kcal with the descent, or 750 kcal if it were all uphill.
Not sure how much you climbed? Most watches and route apps show total elevation gain. If you only know the gradient, for example on a treadmill, enter it as a grade. Angles work too: a 2° slope is about a 3.5% grade.
How the running calorie calculator works
What a MET is
A MET (metabolic equivalent) compares the energy cost of an activity with sitting quietly. One MET is about 3.5 ml of oxygen per kg of body weight per minute, so an activity rated 9 MET costs about nine times as much as resting. The Compendium of Physical Activities is the reference list of these values, built from published studies. Its 2024 update is the one we use.
From METs to calories
This is the standard ACSM equation. MET × 3.5 × your weight gives your oxygen use per minute, and dividing by 200 turns that into kcal per minute (a litre of oxygen is worth about 5 kcal). Multiply by your minutes and you have the total.
Picking the running value
The calculator turns your distance and time, or your pace or speed, into a speed in mph. It then picks the level-running band nearest that speed from the 2024 Compendium (codes 12026 to 12135). We don't blend values between bands: each band is a measured average, and blending them suggests more precision than there is. Above 14 mph we use the top band and tell you.
Older adults
Resting metabolism tends to be lower later in life, so the 2024 Older Adult Compendium uses a resting baseline of 2.7 ml/kg/min instead of 3.5, with its own values for over-60s. It lists just two running entries: 3.6 mph (MET 8.5) and 7 mph (MET 15.8). When you tick “over 60”, we draw a straight line between those two points for speeds in between and work out the calories on the 2.7 baseline. Above 7 mph, we scale the adult figure by the same ratio as at 7 mph. At running speeds the result comes out up to about a fifth higher than the adult figure, and never lower. At a very slow jog (under 4 mph) it can be nearly double, because the adult Compendium's slow-jogging value (MET 3.3) is unusually low.
Hills
Climbing uses Dill's 1.31 ml/kg per metre. Descending uses Minetti's equation for the downhill half of the run. If you give a grade or an angle instead of a climb, we turn it into metres: over the whole distance for uphill only, or over half the distance for a there-and-back route.
Running with a backpack
Carrying a load means moving more mass, so we add the pack's weight to your body weight before working anything out, hills included. That's a simple, fair approach for light loads like a race vest or a commuting bag. A heavy or bouncing pack costs more than this, so read the result as a minimum.
Treadmill vs outdoor running
Outside, you push through air. On a treadmill you don't, so the same pace is slightly easier indoors. Jones and Doust (1996) found that a 1% treadmill incline matched outdoor running best for trained runners at normal training speeds. The Compendium's level-running values don't say whether they were measured indoors or out, so we treat them as level running either way. If you run on a treadmill at 1% or more, enter it as a grade with “uphill only” ticked.
Units
1 stone = 6.35029 kg, 1 lb = 0.453592 kg, 1 mile = 1.609 km and 1 kcal = 4.184 kJ. Totals are rounded to the nearest 5 kcal.
Calories burned running vs fat burned
People often ask how much fat a run burns. The honest answer is that no calculator can tell you. During a run your body uses a mix of fat and carbohydrate, and the mix shifts with pace, fitness and what you've eaten. Over days and weeks, what matters for body fat is your overall energy balance, not the fuel used in one session.
What we can give you is a body-weight equivalent, using the old rule that 3,500 kcal is worth about a pound (454 g) of body weight. That's about 7.7 kcal per gram, so a 340 kcal run is roughly 44 g.
Treat that as a rough guide. Hall (2008) showed the 3,500 kcal rule works reasonably well for people carrying a lot of body fat, but overstates how much weight leaner people lose for the same deficit, because some of what they lose is lean tissue and water. It also assumes you don't eat any of it back.
Using the calculator, step by step
- Weight: in kg, stone and pounds, or pounds. Your weight in running kit is close enough.
- What you know: distance and time (most common), distance and pace, or time and pace.
- Distance: pick one of the 12 presets, from 100 m to the marathon, or choose Other and type it in km, miles or metres.
- Time: hours, minutes and seconds. Use your moving time, without long stops.
- Pace or speed: minutes per km, minutes per mile, km/h or mph.
- Hills: total climb in metres or feet, or an average grade or angle. Leave it on Flat for road or track.
- Uphill only: tick it if you didn't come back down.
- Backpack: anything you carried, in kg or lb.
- Over 60: uses the older-adult values explained under “Older adults”.
One run, seven ways
Here's how the same 10-mile run at 9:30 per mile (5:54 per km) changes when you change one thing at a time. Every figure comes from the calculator above.
| Runner and route | kcal | kJ | Body-weight equivalent (g) | kcal per mile |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 65 kg, flat | 1,005 | 4,205 | 130 | 100 |
| 90 kg, flat | 1,390 | 5,820 | 180 | 139 |
| 65 kg, 275 m (900 ft) of up and down | 1,045 | 4,375 | 136 | 105 |
| 65 kg, 275 m climb, uphill only | 1,120 | 4,695 | 145 | 112 |
| 65 kg, carrying a 5 kg pack | 1,080 | 4,530 | 140 | 108 |
| 65 kg, over 60 | 1,195 | 5,000 | 155 | 119 |
| 90 kg, 275 m up and down, over 60 | 1,710 | 7,155 | 222 | 171 |
kcal and kJ rounded to the nearest 5. 10 miles in 1:35:00 is 6.3 mph, so the Compendium value is MET 9.3 (code 12050). Body-weight equivalent uses 3,500 kcal per lb, see above.
A few things stand out. Body weight is the big one: the 90 kg runner burns about 385 kcal more than the 65 kg runner over the same route. Adding 275 m of up and down adds around 40 kcal, because the descents give some back, while the same climb with no descent adds about 115. A 5 kg pack adds about 75, and the over-60 values add about 190.
Want something to compare it with? The swimming calorie calculator shows strokes, water aerobics and aqua jogging, and what the same minutes would cost running, cycling or walking.
What to eat around your run
Simple, sourced guides from a personal trainer and swim coach. No diets, no fads.
Want to run stronger, not just burn more?
James's free running strength plan at JG Fitness helps you hold your form on the hills and late in a race. Swimmer too? There's a free 4-week pool plan.
Running calorie calculator FAQ
How many calories does running burn?
For a 70 kg runner, about 69 kcal per km (111 per mile) at roughly a 10-minute mile, using the 2024 Compendium. Heavier runners burn more and lighter runners less. Put your own weight, distance and time into the running calorie calculator for your number.
How many calories does running a mile burn?
About 95 to 159 kcal for someone weighing 60 to 100 kg at about a 10-minute mile (MET 9.3, code 12050). Per mile, your weight changes the number far more than your speed does.
How many calories does a 5k, 10k, half marathon or marathon burn?
For a 70 kg runner at about a 10-minute mile: roughly 345 kcal for a 5k, 690 for a 10k, 1,455 for a half marathon and 2,915 for a marathon. The race table shows 60 to 100 kg.
Does running faster burn more calories?
Per minute, yes: the Compendium value climbs with speed. Per kilometre, hardly at all, because a faster run is over sooner. If you want a bigger number for the same distance, add hills or distance rather than pace.
How many extra calories does running uphill burn?
Dill (1965) measured about 1.31 ml of oxygen per kg of body weight for every metre climbed. That's roughly 0.46 kcal per metre for a 70 kg runner, so 100 m of climbing adds about 46 kcal. Running back down gives a little of that back, which is why the calculator has an “uphill only” box.
Does running with a backpack burn more calories?
Yes. The calculator adds the pack to your body weight, so a 5 kg pack on a 65 kg runner raises the estimate by about 8%. Heavy or badly fitted packs probably cost more than that, so treat it as a minimum.
Do people over 60 burn more calories running?
The 2024 Older Adult Compendium gives higher values for over-60s, worked on a lower resting baseline (2.7 instead of 3.5 ml/kg/min). Using it, a 70 kg over-60 running 5k in 30 minutes comes out at about 400 kcal, against 340 kcal on the adult values.
Do you burn fewer calories on a treadmill?
Slightly, because there's no air to push through. Jones and Doust (1996) found that a 1% treadmill incline matched the energy cost of running outside for trained runners at normal training speeds. If you run at 1% or more, add it as a grade in the calculator's hill options.
How much fat does a run burn?
None of the calculator's numbers measure fat directly. We show a body-weight equivalent using the old 3,500 kcal per pound rule: a 340 kcal run is about 44 g. Hall (2008) showed that rule fits people carrying more body fat best and overstates the loss for leaner people.
Why does my watch say something different?
Watches use their own formulas, usually with your heart rate, and some show active calories only. This calculator shows gross calories, which include what you'd burn anyway. Both are estimates.
Is the running calorie calculator accurate?
It's as good as the published averages behind it, which is fine for planning food and comparing runs. Your real burn depends on your running economy, terrain, wind and body make-up, so treat the result as an estimate, not a measurement.
Sources
- Herrmann SD, Willis EA, Ainsworth BE et al. 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities: a third update of the energy costs of human activities. Journal of Sport and Health Science, 2024. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10818145
- 2024 Adult Compendium, Running (codes 12xxx), opened 2 Nov 2026. pacompendium.com/running
- 2024 Older Adult Compendium of Physical Activities (MET 60+, 2.7 ml/kg/min baseline), opened 2 Nov 2026. pacompendium.com/older-adult-compendium
- Dill DB. Oxygen used in horizontal and grade walking and running on the treadmill. Journal of Applied Physiology 1965;20(1):19-22. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14257553
- Minetti AE, Moia C, Roi GS, Susta D, Ferretti G. Energy cost of walking and running at extreme uphill and downhill slopes. Journal of Applied Physiology 2002;93(3):1039-1046. journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/japplphysiol.01177.2001
- Jones AM, Doust JH. A 1% treadmill grade most accurately reflects the energetic cost of outdoor running. Journal of Sports Sciences 1996;14(4):321-327. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8887211
- Hall KD. What is the required energy deficit per unit weight loss? International Journal of Obesity 2008;32:573-576. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17848938