How Many Calories Does Running Burn? Pace, Weight and Distance

Running burns about 110 kcal per mile for a 70 kg (154 lb) adult at a 9-minute-mile pace, and that total changes little with speed. How many calories does running burn in half an hour? About 370 kcal at that pace. Both figures come from the running section of the 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities, which rates that pace at 10.5 METs. The tables below cover four paces and three body weights.

How many calories does running burn per mile?

About 1.6 kcal per kilogram of body weight, which is 110 kcal at 70 kg. The METs in the Compendium’s running table work out to that figure at most jogging and running paces. A faster runner spends more energy each minute but needs fewer minutes to cover the mile. The two nearly cancel.

The Compendium rates running at 5.0 to 5.2 mph at 8.5 METs (code 12030) and at 6 to 6.3 mph at 9.3 (12050). It puts 6.7 mph at 10.5 (12060) and 7.5 mph at 11.8 (12080). One MET is 1 kcal per kg per hour. So a mile at 9:00 pace is 10.5 × 70 kg × 0.15 h = 110 kcal.

Here’s the arithmetic for three body weights. Each cell shows the total for one mile, with the part above resting in brackets.

Pace (per mile, per km)	Speed	METs	55 kg (121 lb)	70 kg (154 lb)	90 kg (198 lb)
12:00 (7:27)	5.0 mph (8.0 km/h)	8.5	94 (83)	119 (105)	153 (135)
10:00 (6:13)	6.0 mph (9.7 km/h)	9.3	85 (76)	109 (97)	140 (125)
9:00 (5:36)	6.7 mph (10.8 km/h)	10.5	87 (78)	110 (100)	142 (128)
8:00 (4:58)	7.5 mph (12.1 km/h)	11.8	87 (79)	110 (101)	142 (130)

Values in kcal per mile. Divide by 1.609 for kilometers.

From 10:00 to 8:00 per mile, the 70 kg totals sit within 1 kcal of each other. The 12-minute row stood out when I lined the paces up: 1.70 kcal per kg per mile against 1.55 to 1.58 for the other three. Its MET value is for a band of 5.0 to 5.2 mph, and the sum treats the whole mile as 5.0 mph. At 5.2 mph the same MET gives 1.63. The 10-minute row has the same quirk: its band runs from 6.0 to 6.3 mph, and at 6.3 mph the figure would be 1.48. Treat both as rough, the 12-minute row most of all.

Walking the same mile is cheaper. At 3 mph a 70 kg adult uses 89 kcal in total and 65 kcal above resting, against 110 and 100 for the 9:00 run. That’s about a quarter more in total, and about half as much again above resting.

How many calories does a 30-minute run burn?

Between 298 and 413 kcal at 70 kg, depending on pace. For time instead of distance, take the Compendium’s MET value and multiply METs by kilograms by hours. A half hour at 6.0 mph is 9.3 × 70 kg × 0.5 h = 325.5 kcal, which the table rounds to 326.

Pace (per mile)	METs	55 kg	70 kg	90 kg
12:00	8.5	234 kcal	298 kcal	383 kcal
10:00	9.3	256 kcal	326 kcal	419 kcal
9:00	10.5	289 kcal	368 kcal	473 kcal
8:00	11.8	325 kcal	413 kcal	531 kcal

An hour doubles each cell, so 595 to 826 kcal at 70 kg. Going from 12:00 to 8:00 per mile adds 115 kcal in the same half hour. You also cover 3.75 miles instead of 2.5. Divide 413 by 3.75 and you’re back at 110 kcal a mile.

No pace in mind? The Compendium has looser entries. General jogging (code 12020) is rated 7.5 METs. General running (12150) is 8.0. At 70 kg and 30 minutes, that comes to 263 and 280 kcal. A jog and walk mix with jogging bursts under 10 minutes (12010) sits at 6.0 METs, which is 210 kcal. To see how that half hour compares with other workouts, read what exercise burns the most calories.

Is that the total, or only what the run adds?

It’s the total. Inside it sits what your body spends at rest, about 1 kcal per kg per hour, whether you run or lie on the couch. To get what the run itself adds, take one MET off first. For a 9:00 mile at 70 kg that is (10.5 − 1) × 70 × 0.15 = 99.75, so about 100 kcal instead of 110. The bracketed numbers in the first table are that smaller one. Plan with it. The resting part was spent either way. How many calories you burn a day shows how big that resting part is.

A common shortcut counts only the added part: 1 kcal per kg per km. It comes from a 1963 study by Margaria and colleagues. They measured two athletes running at speeds up to 22 km/h. Within those limits the net cost per kilogram per kilometer seemed to be independent of speed, and on level ground it was 1 kcal. For 70 kg that is 70 kcal a km, or 113 a mile.

Two athletes is a small sample. The Compendium’s values for the added part are lower. From the first table, the part above resting comes to 0.86 to 0.93 kcal per kg per km, and the total to 0.96 to 1.06. Against the lowest figure, 0.86, the shortcut is 16% higher, and it never strays further than that from the table, whichever column you compare. A 10 km run at 70 kg comes to 700 kcal by the shortcut. The 9:00 row says 685 in total and 620 above resting. Whichever you choose, keep using it, so your weekly numbers stay comparable.

How do you calculate calories burned running yourself?

You need your weight in kilograms, your time and the MET value for your pace from the Compendium’s running page. A running calorie calculator that uses METs does this same sum. Here it is by hand:

1. Convert your weight if you need to: pounds ÷ 2.2046 gives kilograms.
2. Find your pace on that page and note its MET value. A 10-minute mile is 6.0 mph, and a 9-minute mile is 6.7.
3. Multiply METs × kilograms × hours for the total.
4. Subtract kilograms × hours for the part above resting.

Take an 82 kg (181 lb) runner who goes 45 minutes at 6.0 mph, which is 4.5 miles. The total is 9.3 × 82 × 0.75 = 572 kcal. The part above resting is 8.3 × 82 × 0.75 = 510 kcal. As a check, 572 ÷ 4.5 miles is 127 kcal a mile, and 82 × 1.55 lands on the same figure. That’s the whole method.

Know only the distance? Multiply your weight by the cost per kilogram in the table. That’s 1.55 to 1.70 kcal per kg per mile, or 0.70 to 0.77 per lb.

The Compendium’s unit conversions page prints the American College of Sports Medicine running equation. I tried it as a second opinion. It is VO2 = 0.2 × speed in meters a minute + 3.5, for speeds above 5.0 mph. At 6.0, 6.7 and 7.5 mph it gives 10.2, 11.3 and 12.5 METs, against the table’s 9.3, 10.5 and 11.8. That is 6% to 10% higher. Published methods differ by about 10%, and my tables sit at the low end.

To do this sum for walking from your step count, use the steps to calories calculator. It takes steps, weight and pace, uses the same Compendium file and separates the total from the extra above resting. It doesn’t cover running, so for a run use the formula above. The walking tables are in calories burned walking per mile, hour and step.

What changes the number, and how far off can it be?

Slope and surface change what a mile costs. The rest of this section is about how much of the number you can trust.

Does a treadmill change it?

At fast paces, a little. A belt doesn’t push air against you. In a 1996 study, nine trained men ran at six speeds from 2.92 to 5.0 m/s. That is 10.5 to 18 km/h, or 6.5 to 11.2 mph. They ran on a level road and on a treadmill at 0%, 1%, 2% and 3% grade. Up to about 7.4 mph (3.33 m/s), the road and a flat treadmill did not differ significantly. From 3.75 to 4.58 m/s (8.4 to 10.2 mph) the road cost more, and a 1% grade closed the gap.

Every pace in my tables is 7.5 mph or below. There a flat treadmill is close to the road. Run faster and you can set the belt to 1%. Nine men is a small group, though, and all of them were trained runners used to a treadmill.

How much does a hill add?

Quite a lot. The Compendium rates running uphill at 6.0 mph on a 5% incline at 13.3 METs (code 12260). Level running at 6 to 6.3 mph is 9.3. That is 43% more each minute: 466 kcal against 326 in 30 minutes at 70 kg. Downhill is cheaper. A slope of -10% to -15% at 6.0 to 6.9 mph is rated at 7.5 METs (12353), about 19% less than level.

Do you keep burning calories after a run?

A little, and much less than the word afterburn suggests. The extra oxygen your body uses while recovering is called excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, or EPOC. A 2006 review by LaForgia and colleagues found that a long recovery of 3 to 24 hours may follow a hard session. That meant at least 50 minutes at 70% of maximal oxygen uptake, or at least 6 minutes at 105%. Even in those studies, the extra was just 6% to 15% of the exercise’s net oxygen cost. The authors added that non-athletic people are unlikely to tolerate such sessions.

Take a 30-minute run at 9:00 pace and 70 kg. The part above resting is 9.5 × 70 × 0.5 = 332.5 kcal, and 6% to 15% of that is 20 to 50 kcal. That’s the best case, from studies built to find a long recovery. A Sports Medicine review adds that studies with low intensity or short duration consistently find no sustained rise. After an easy jog, I count nothing.

How accurate is a running watch?

Not very. In a Stanford study, 60 adults wore wrist devices while a gas analyzer measured their true energy use. The treadmill protocol included running at an average of 5.7 mph and then 6.9 mph. For each of seven devices, the median calorie error over all tasks was between 27.4% and 92.6%. Running was among the better tasks, yet its error was still 31.0%, which is about 100 kcal on the 326 kcal run in the table.

Those were 2017 devices. Newer watches have been tested since, and how accurate Apple Watch calories are is the place to look for the later results.

A distance-based sum has errors of its own. The Compendium’s authors state that their table does not reflect precise individual values. They note that resting metabolic rate and the energy cost of activity vary with age, sex, height and body weight or composition. No published error bar for the tables turned up. I treat 10% either way as my own working band, taken from the gap between methods above, not from a study.

What should you do with the number?

Log the run once, by distance and time, and use the figure above resting. The Compendium sets one MET at 1 kcal per kg per hour of rest, and that part is already in your day. Some calorie targets also assume an active lifestyle. Adding the whole run to one of those counts part of the energy twice. To see how exercise fits into a plan without taking over the arithmetic, read calorie deficit and working out.

In weekly terms, take three runs of 3 miles each at 9:00 pace and 70 kg. They add up to 9 × 99.75 = 898 kcal above resting. Spread over seven days, that’s 128 kcal a day.

Here’s a step for today. Time one mile on your usual route and note your weight in kilograms. Multiply by 1.6 for the total and by 1.4 for the part above resting. For a 70 kg runner that is 112 and 98 kcal, close to the 110 and 100 in the table. Write both down where you’ll see them.

If you have a heart or joint condition, or you get chest pain or dizziness when you run, ask a doctor before you add distance. This page can estimate energy, not judge that.

Compare one mile at 12:00 with the same mile at 8:00. A 70 kg body spends 119 kcal on the first and 110 on the second, and the second is over four minutes sooner.