Estimate the calories you burn walking a mile, or any walk, from your weight, pace and minutes. The tool covers everything from a slow stroll to a power walk and adds per-minute rates and rough steps.
Faster walking and hills raise the intensity (MET), so they burn more per minute. This is an estimate from standard MET values.
A general estimate – real burn varies with terrain, load, fitness and individual metabolism. Step count is a rough guide based on typical cadence.
How Many Calories Does Walking 1 Mile Burn?
Walking 1 mile burns about 82 kcal for a 70 kg (154 lb) person at a moderate 3 mph. A mile at that pace takes 20 minutes, and 3.5 MET × 70 kg × 20 ÷ 60 = 81.7. Body weight moves the number most, as the table shows.
| Body weight | Calories per mile at 3 mph |
|---|---|
| 60 kg (132 lb) | 70 kcal |
| 70 kg (154 lb) | 82 kcal |
| 80 kg (176 lb) | 93 kcal |
| 90 kg (198 lb) | 105 kcal |
| 100 kg (220 lb) | 117 kcal |
- Find the MET for your pace: 3 mph is about 3.5.
- Work out the minutes for a mile: 60 ÷ 3 = 20.
- Multiply MET by weight and minutes, then divide by 60: 3.5 × 70 × 20 ÷ 60 = 81.7 kcal.
How the Walking Calorie Estimate Works
The tool turns your pace into a MET value (a standard measure of exercise intensity), then scales it by your weight and time.
Formula: Calories = MET × Weight (kg) × Minutes ÷ 60. The per-hour rate is simply MET × Weight (kg), and the per-minute rate is that figure divided by 60. Approximate steps are estimated as a cadence (steps per minute, based on the MET level) × Minutes.
- Body weight: your weight in kilograms or pounds (toggle between units); heavier bodies burn more calories at the same pace.
- Walking pace: a preset speed from slow stroll (2 mph) to power walk (4.5 mph) or uphill/hiking, each mapped to a MET (metabolic equivalent) value between 2.8 and 7.0.
- Duration: how many minutes you walked, used to scale the per-minute burn to a total.
Calories Burned Walking 30 Minutes at 3 mph, and Other Examples
A 70 kg person walking 30 minutes at 3 mph burns about 123 kcal, the second row below. Calories burned walking 3 miles in 1 hour at that pace double it to about 245 kcal, and calories burned walking 1 hour at 3.5 mph come to about 301 kcal.
| Weight | Pace | Duration | Estimated Calories |
|---|---|---|---|
| 65 kg | Slow stroll (2 mph) | 30 min | 91 kcal |
| 70 kg | Moderate (3 mph) | 30 min | 123 kcal |
| 60 kg | Brisk (3.5 mph) | 45 min | 194 kcal |
| 80 kg | Fast (4 mph) | 60 min | 400 kcal |
| 90 kg | Power walk (4.5 mph) | 20 min | 210 kcal |
Making Sense of Your Walking Estimate
Treat the figure as a fair ballpark. MET values describe the average energy cost at a given pace, and your own burn can sit above or below it.
- Pace matters most. Pick the speed you actually hold, not your fastest stretch; timing yourself over a known distance is a quick check.
- Hills and load add work. Walking uphill, on sand or with a heavy backpack burns more than a flat-ground estimate shows.
- Body weight changes the result. Heavier people use more energy over the same distance.
Fitness trackers often give a different number because they use heart rate and their own algorithms. Neither is exact, so stick with one method.
If you walk for weight management, remember these are gross calories and include the energy you would have used anyway at rest. If you have heart or joint problems, ask your doctor how much walking suits you. The metabolic equivalent of task article on Wikipedia explains how MET values become calorie figures.
Common questions about walking calories
How many calories does walking 1 mile burn?
At a moderate 3 mph, a mile takes 20 minutes and burns about 82 kcal for a 70 kg (154 lb) person. At 90 kg (198 lb) it is about 105 kcal.How many calories does a brisk 30 minute walk burn?
At a brisk 3.5 mph, a 70 kg person burns about 150 kcal in 30 minutes. At a moderate 3 mph the same walk burns about 123 kcal.How many calories are burned walking 3 miles in 1 hour?
Three miles in an hour is a 3 mph pace, which burns about 245 kcal for a 70 kg walker. Speed up to 3.5 mph for the hour and it rises to about 301 kcal.Why does the calculator need my body weight?
Calorie burn while walking scales almost directly with body mass at a given pace, because moving more weight takes more energy. That is why weight is multiplied straight into the formula.How is the approximate step count worked out?
Steps come from a typical walking cadence that rises with pace, multiplied by your minutes. It is a rough guide based on average strides, not a count from a device.Does walking uphill burn more calories than flat walking?
Yes. Uphill walking and hiking use a higher MET value than flat walking at a similar speed, because you are working against gravity, so the burn per minute is higher.Related Calculators
If you want the bigger picture beyond a single walk, the TDEE calculator estimates your total daily energy needs, while the daily steps calorie burn calculator looks at burn across your whole day of steps. Pair either with the calorie deficit calculator if you’re using walking as part of a weight-loss plan.