See what a walk is worth: enter your weight, pick a pace from a slow stroll to race walking, give the time or the distance, add a hill or treadmill incline if there is one, and get calories burned in total, per mile and per minute, with an estimate of the steps taken.
Calories burned
300
60 min · 3.0 mi
Per mile
100
Per minute
5.0
3.5 METs
Approx. steps
6,300
300 kcal ≈ 0.09 lb of body fat. Walk this 60-minute route 5 days a week and it adds up to about 78,013 kcal a year — roughly 22 lb.
📌 Gross calories including what you would burn resting. Level-ground METs from the Compendium of Physical Activities; inclines use the ACSM walking equation. Real burn varies ±15 % with fitness, terrain and load.
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Calories per mile by weight and pace
Weight
2.0 mph
2.5 mph
3.0 mph
3.5 mph
4.0 mph
120 lb
80 kcal
69 kcal
67 kcal
70 kcal
71 kcal
150 lb
100 kcal
86 kcal
83 kcal
88 kcal
89 kcal
180 lb
120 kcal
103 kcal
100 kcal
105 kcal
107 kcal
210 lb
140 kcal
120 kcal
117 kcal
123 kcal
125 kcal
240 lb
160 kcal
137 kcal
133 kcal
140 kcal
143 kcal
Level ground, gross calories including resting burn. Per mile the pace barely matters between 2.5 and 4 mph; per minute it matters a lot — 4 mph burns almost twice as much per minute as 2 mph.
How the calculation works
calories per minute = MET × 3.5 × weight (kg) ÷ 200
A MET is a multiple of resting energy use. The Compendium of Physical Activities rates level walking at 2.8 METs for 2 mph, 3.5 for 3 mph, 4.3 for 3.5 mph, 5.0 for 4 mph and 7.0–8.3 for 4.5–5 mph. Worked example: 180 lb (81.6 kg) at 3 mph for 60 minutes: 3.5 × 3.5 × 81.6 ÷ 200 = 5.0 kcal per minute, so 300 calories for the 3-mile hour. Add a 5 % grade and the ACSM equation gives 5.4 METs: about 460 calories.
Roughly 80–120 calories for most adults — about 100 at 180 lb and a moderate 3 mph pace. Weight is the biggest factor (heavier people burn more per mile). Pace matters surprisingly little per mile between 2.5 and 4 mph; a very slow stroll actually scores higher per mile in gross terms because it takes longer, and above 4.5 mph the mechanics change and a mile costs noticeably more.
About 4.5–5 miles for an average stride, so roughly 400–500 calories at 180 lb, or 300–350 at 130 lb. Step length shrinks at slow speeds and grows when you walk fast, which is why the calculator estimates steps from speed and distance rather than assuming 2,000 per mile.
A lot: at 3 mph a 5 % grade raises the burn from about 300 to 460 calories an hour for a 180 lb walker (5.4 METs instead of 3.5), and a 10 % treadmill incline roughly doubles the flat-ground figure. The calculator applies the ACSM walking equation for grades above zero; it does not subtract for downhill, which burns slightly less than flat.
It helps: 30 brisk minutes is about 150–200 calories, or 750–1,000 a week — a quarter to a third of a pound of fat weekly by itself, plus better blood sugar and blood pressure. Pair it with a modest calorie deficit and the loss becomes visible. The 150 minutes a week of moderate activity recommended by the CDC is exactly five such walks.
Gross — the total your body burns during the walk, including the calories you would have burned sitting still (about 1.2–1.5 per minute). Fitness trackers usually show the same gross number; if you want the extra burn from walking alone, subtract about 1 MET, roughly 25–30 % of the total at a moderate pace.