A MET, or metabolic equivalent, is calculated as a ratio of your working energy expenditure to your resting energy expenditure. One MET equals 3.5 milliliters of oxygen consumed per kilogram of body weight per minute, which is roughly what your body uses sitting quietly in a chair. An activity rated at 6 METs means your body is working six times harder than it does at rest.
You don’t need to measure oxygen consumption yourself. Researchers have already done that for over a thousand activities and published the results in a standardized reference called the Compendium of Physical Activities. The practical calculations you’ll want involve turning those published MET values into calories burned or weekly activity totals.
The Calories-Per-Minute Formula
To estimate how many calories you burn during any activity, use this formula from the University of Colorado Hospital:
Calories per minute = 0.0175 × MET value × your body weight in kilograms
If you only know your weight in pounds, divide by 2.2 to get kilograms. So a 180-pound person weighs about 82 kg. If that person goes for a moderate-paced walk (3.5 METs), the math looks like this: 0.0175 × 3.5 × 82 = roughly 5 calories per minute. Over a 30-minute walk, that’s about 150 calories.
Swap in a higher-intensity activity and the numbers climb fast. That same person playing a basketball game (8.0 METs) would burn about 11.5 calories per minute, or 345 calories in half an hour.
MET Values for Common Activities
The 2024 Adult Compendium of Physical Activities catalogs 1,114 activities with their MET values. Activities fall into four intensity bands: sedentary (1.0 to 1.5 METs), light (1.6 to 2.9), moderate (3.0 to 5.9), and vigorous (6.0 and above). Here are some common reference points:
- Hatha yoga: 2.5 METs
- Walking, moderate pace (about 3 mph): 3.5 METs
- Power yoga: 4.0 METs
- Circuit training, moderate effort: 4.3 METs
- Vigorous weight lifting or bodybuilding: 6.0 METs
- Basketball game: 8.0 METs
- Swimming laps, fast freestyle: 9.8 METs
- Running at 10 mph (6-minute mile): 14.5 METs
You can look up the MET value for nearly any activity at pacompendium.com, the official home of the Compendium.
How to Calculate MET-Minutes Per Week
MET-minutes are the standard way to measure your total weekly exercise volume, and they’re what health guidelines are built around. The calculation is simple: multiply the MET value of your activity by the number of minutes you spent doing it.
If you run at a pace worth 5 METs for 40 minutes, that session gives you 200 MET-minutes. Do three sessions like that plus two 30-minute walks at 3.5 METs, and your weekly total is 600 + 210 = 810 MET-minutes.
The U.S. Physical Activity Guidelines recommend 500 to 1,000 MET-minutes per week for significant health benefits. The WHO’s recommendation of at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity per week works out to roughly 450 to 500 MET-minutes, which sits right at the lower end of that range. This framework is useful because it lets you mix and match activities of different intensities. A shorter vigorous workout can contribute as many MET-minutes as a longer moderate one.
Why the Standard MET May Not Fit You
The 3.5 ml/kg/min baseline that defines one MET was originally derived from a single person: a 70-kilogram, 40-year-old male. That number doesn’t perfectly represent everyone. Resting metabolic rate is lower in people who carry more body fat, declines with age, and tends to be lower in women compared to men. This means the standard MET value overestimates resting energy expenditure for many people, which in turn skews the calorie calculations.
For most practical purposes, the standard formula still gives you a reasonable estimate. But if you’re significantly heavier, older, or female, your actual calorie burn at rest is likely somewhat lower than the formula assumes, meaning the calorie numbers you calculate will be slightly inflated. Leaner, more muscular individuals may find the opposite: their resting oxygen consumption is a bit higher than the standard value.
How Fitness Trackers Estimate METs
Most wearable devices don’t measure oxygen consumption directly. Instead, they use accelerometer data from your wrist to estimate movement intensity and classify your minutes as light, moderate, or vigorous based on internal algorithms. Fitbit, for example, breaks activity into “fairly active” and “very active” minutes that roughly correspond to moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (above 3.0 METs).
These estimates come with real limitations. Validation research shows systematic bias across consumer wearables when compared to research-grade accelerometers worn at the hip. Wrist-worn devices tend to overestimate activity because arm movements get counted even when your body isn’t working that hard. The intensity thresholds these devices use to classify activity aren’t publicly disclosed by most manufacturers, making it difficult to know exactly how they define “moderate” or “vigorous.” The data is useful for tracking trends over time, but the specific MET or calorie numbers on any given day are approximations, not precise measurements.
METs as a Fitness Benchmark
Beyond tracking exercise, MET capacity is a meaningful marker of cardiovascular fitness. During a treadmill stress test, the peak MET level you can sustain tells clinicians a lot about your heart health. Achieving 7 METs or higher is generally considered good exercise capacity for men, while the threshold for women is around 5 METs. Reaching 10 METs or above during a stress test is associated with a low risk of heart problems.
This gives the MET scale a dual purpose. You can use it day to day to estimate calories and track weekly activity volume, and it also serves as a long-term benchmark of your overall fitness. If activities that once felt vigorous start feeling moderate, your MET capacity has improved, even if you never set foot on a treadmill in a clinic.