TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Compute Calories Burned For Activities

ADVERTISEMENT

The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 17, 2009

You can get a rough estimate of the calories you will expend in many activities with a simple formula developed by physiologists using a yardstick known as the Metabolic Equivalent, or MET.

A single MET represents the amount of energy used at rest. The University of South Carolina's Arnold School of Public Health maintains what it calls the Compendium of Physical Activities, which gives the MET value of an array of sports, exercises and everyday tasks.

The list can be downloaded from http://prevention.sph.sc.edu/tools/compendium.htm.

To estimate calorie usage, find your activity on the list and multiply its MET value by your weight in kilograms. For example, take a woman who weighs 124 pounds (about 56 kilograms) and uses a stationary bicycle at moderate effort, which has a MET value of 7. Multiply 7 times 56 and you'll learn that an hour on that bike would burn about 392 calories, or 6.5 calories per minute.

The Washington Post

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT