Walking Calorie Calculator

How many calories does walking burn?

Four things decide it: your weight, your speed, how long you walk and the ground under your feet. Weight matters most. Moving a heavier body takes more energy, so a 215-pound person burns about two-thirds more than a 130-pound person on the same walk. Speed matters next, and it adds up faster than you might expect: going from 3 mph to 3.5 mph raises the burn by about a quarter. Hills raise it again.

What doesn't change much is the energy per mile. Walk a mile slowly or quickly and the calories land in a similar range, because the slower walk simply takes longer. That's why distance is a handy way to think about calories burned walking.

Calories burned walking for 30 minutes, by speed

So the calories in a 30-minute walk run from under 100 for a slow stroll to well over 200 for a fast walk by a larger person. Most people walking at an ordinary pace land between 110 and 185.

45-minute walks and an hour of walking

How many calories does a 45 minute walk burn?

At an everyday 3 mph, a 45-minute walk burns about 168 calories at 130 pounds, 200 at 155, 239 at 185 and 278 at 215. Forty-five minutes at that pace covers about 2.25 miles, so it's a typical lunchtime loop or a walk to work and back. Pick up the pace to a brisk 3.5 mph and the same 45 minutes burns about 253 calories for a 155-pound person, and covers more ground too.

People often ask how many calories are burned walking 45 minutes compared with half an hour. The answer scales in a straight line: 45 minutes burns one and a half times what 30 minutes does at the same speed, because the energy per minute doesn't change during a steady walk.

An hour of walking

Stretch it to an hour and you burn about 224, 267, 319 and 371 respectively. How many calories you burn walking in an hour therefore sits roughly between 200 and 400 for most adults on flat ground, and higher at a brisk pace.

Calories burned walking 2, 3, 5 and 6 miles

A 3 mile walk is a common goal, and for a 155-pound person it burns about 267 calories at 3 mph. How many calories do I burn walking two miles? About 178 at the same weight and pace, or 149 at 130 pounds and 247 at 215. A 5 mile walk comes to about 445, or about 482 if you keep a brisk 3.5 mph, and walking 6 miles burns about 534. At a brisk pace the per-mile figure creeps up a little, because brisk walking is less efficient than a relaxed stride.

Hills and hiking

Climbing is where walking gets hard. For a 155-pound person, 30 minutes on a gentle 1 to 5% grade burns about 186 calories, a 6 to 10% hill about 246, and a steep 11 to 20% climb about 309. That's up to twice the flat-ground figure. The descent burns less than the climb, so on an out-and-back hill route the average falls somewhere between the two.

For trail walking, the calculator's hiking setting uses the Compendium's value for hiking at a normal pace through fields and hillsides with no load. A heavy backpack adds more, and steep, rocky terrain adds more again, so treat the result as a floor if you're carrying gear. If you're looking for a calories burned in hiking calculator, the "Trail hike" option is the one to use.

How to burn more on the same walk

If you want your usual route to do more work, a few changes make a measurable difference:

• Walk a bit faster. Moving from 3 to 3.5 mph is the single easiest change; for a 155-pound person it adds about 35 calories to a 30-minute walk.
• Find a hill. Even a gentle grade adds about 50 calories per half hour at that weight. Steeper climbs add more.
• Mix in faster stretches. Alternating a few minutes of brisk walking with your normal pace raises the average without wearing you out.
• Go a little further. An extra half mile at 3 mph adds about 45 calories for a 155-pound person, and it's the change most people can keep up.

Swinging your arms and walking tall help you keep a faster pace comfortably, which is where the extra calories come from.

Walking outside or on a treadmill

On level ground, walking on a treadmill burns a similar amount to walking outdoors at the same speed. The Compendium rates treadmill walking at 3.0 to 3.4 mph at 3.8 METs, the same as walking at that speed on a firm path. Outdoors you deal with wind, uneven ground and small hills, which can nudge the number up. Indoors, the incline button is the easiest way to add effort, and grade makes a much bigger difference than a few tenths of a mile per hour. For incline walks and the 12-3-30, use the treadmill calorie calculator, which works from the exact grade.

How this walking calorie calculator works

Every activity in the 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities has a MET value, short for metabolic equivalent of task. One MET is the energy you use sitting quietly, defined as 1 calorie per kilogram of body weight per hour. Walking at 3 mph is rated 3.8 METs, so it uses 3.8 times as much energy as sitting.

Calories = METs × weight (kg) × hours

Example: a 155-pound person (70.3 kg) walking at 3 mph for 30 minutes burns 3.8 × 70.3 × 0.5 = about 134 calories. The calculator also shows the "on top" figure, which subtracts the 1 MET you'd burn anyway sitting still. For the same walk that's about 98 calories, the better number to use if you're working out how a walk changes your daily total.

The Compendium lists walking in speed bands, such as 2.8 to 3.4 mph, rather than for every speed, so the result steps up when you cross into the next band. Hill and trail values come from the Compendium's climbing and hiking entries.

Walking for weight loss

The CDC counts walking briskly at 2.5 mph or faster as moderate-intensity activity, and recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate activity a week for adults: for example, 30 minutes on five days. For a 155-pound person, five brisk 30-minute walks at 3.5 mph burn about 840 calories a week in total. Our guide to how many calories to burn a day compares walking with other activities.

That's a real help, but on its own it's a slow route to weight loss. Pairing regular walks with eating a little under your maintenance calories works better. Our TDEE calculator shows your maintenance level and a daily target, and it already counts everyday walking in its activity levels, so don't add your walks on top unless they're extra to your normal week.

To see how a daily walk changes your goal date, try the walking slider in the weight loss simulator. Counting steps rather than minutes? Steps to calories converts your daily count. If your app adds walks back to your food budget, read what net calories mean before you eat them back.

Walking compared with running

Running burns more per minute: about 327 calories in 30 minutes at 6 mph for a 155-pound person, against 134 for walking at 3 mph. Per mile the gap is much smaller, about 109 calories running versus 89 walking, because the run covers twice the ground in the same time. If you have time but not the knees or the lungs for running, walking further gets you most of the way there.

Why your watch may show a different number

Fitness trackers estimate calories their own way, often from heart rate and movement, and some report total calories while others report only the active part. If your watch says more than this calculator, check whether it's including the calories you'd have burned anyway. Neither number is exact; both are estimates.

Walking calories FAQ