How many calories do I burn while cycling?

How many calories do you actually burn while cycling? How long do you need to cycle to burn off a pancake? It’s quite handy to know if you’re looking to lose weight or maintain your current weight. As mentioned in a previous blog about fat burning, the key to weight loss is simply consuming fewer calories than you expend. Knowledge is power, as they say. So, let’s dive into how many calories you actually burn while cycling in today’s blog.

What factors determine the number of calories burned?

It mainly depends on:

• Your weight
• Gender
• The intensity of your activity
• Your age
• And the duration of the effort

How many calories do I burn while cycling?

Someone weighing 70 kilograms cycling at 25 km/h burns approximately 700 kilocalories per hour. But how do you calculate your burn if you don’t weigh 70 kilograms and cycle at a different speed? Well, here’s how. The following formula provides a good estimate:

Total calories burned = Duration of your activity in minutes x (MET x 3.5 x weight in kg) / 200

The MET number (Metabolic Equivalent for Task) estimates how much energy your body expends during a specific activity. Cycling at an average of 28 kilometers per hour? Your MET is 12. For example, if you’re cycling at 32 kilometers per hour, your MET is 15.8.

We’ve compiled the following MET scores for you:

Speed in km/h – MET score 9 – 3.5 15 – 5.8 18 – 6.8 21 – 8 24 – 10 28 – 12 32 – 15.8 35 – 17.5 37 – 20 40 – 23

Let’s say you weigh 80 kilograms and you’ve cycled for 60 minutes at an average of 32 kilometers per hour. The formula would look like this:

Total calories burned = 60 x (15.8 x 3.5 x weight in kg) / 200

Which amounts to: 1327.0 Kcal (!)

Fortunately, there are plenty of apps available nowadays (Strava, Garmin, Tacx, Swift, etc.) that can easily estimate your calorie expenditure.

Do you want to read more of these kind of articles? Check them out here.