Running Calorie Calculator
Enter your body weight to estimate the calories you burn running each popular distance, from a parkrun 5K to a full marathon.
| Distance | Estimated calories |
|---|---|
| 1 mile | 121 kcal |
| 5K | 376 kcal |
| 10K | 752 kcal |
| 10 mile | 1,210 kcal |
| Half marathon | 1,586 kcal |
| Marathon | 3,173 kcal |
A gross estimate using about 1.04 kcal per kilogram per kilometre. Real burn shifts with terrain, fitness, and running economy.
How the estimate works
Running has an unusually stable energy cost: close to one kilocalorie per kilogram of body weight per kilometre, at almost any pace. This calculator uses 1.036 kcal per kg per km, a standard gross figure, multiplied by your weight and the distance. That is the entire formula. The two numbers that matter are both on this page, and neither of them is speed.
A 70 kg runner (154 lb) burns about 363 kcal over a 5K, 725 over a 10K, and 3,060 over a marathon. Add 12 kg of body weight and the same 10K costs 845 kcal instead of 725. That sensitivity to weight is why the calculator asks for it, and why any list claiming a 10K burns 600 calories is meaningless without saying whose 10K.
Why pace barely matters
Running faster burns more per minute, but you occupy fewer minutes, and the effects nearly cancel out. This surprises almost everyone the first time. What faster running does change is the training stimulus and a modest afterburn, but as raw calorie arithmetic, distance is what you are buying. If burning energy is the goal, add miles, not speed. Walking is the exception: at normal speeds it uses meaningfully less energy per mile than running, so run-walking a distance burns somewhat less than running it.
Reading the number honestly
These are gross calories, which include what your body would have burned anyway sitting on the sofa. For a one-hour run, knock roughly 70 to 100 kcal off the headline to get the true extra cost. And beware the classic trap: a 5K is one bagel with cream cheese. Runners reliably overestimate the licence a run buys. The run earns the deficit; the kitchen decides whether you keep it.
Chasing a race goal rather than a calorie one? The race time predictor turns a recent result into a target for any distance, and the pace calculator gives you the splits to hold on the day.
Running calorie questions
- Do I burn more calories running faster?
- Per minute, yes. Per mile, barely. Faster running costs more energy per minute but you finish sooner, and the two nearly cancel. A 25-minute 5K and a 35-minute 5K burn within a few percent of each other. Distance and body weight set the bill.
- How many calories does a marathon burn?
- Roughly 2,500 to 3,500 for most adults; about 3,060 at 70 kg. Your body only stores around 2,000 kcal of ready glycogen, which is exactly why marathoners fuel during the race and why the wall shows up near mile 20 for runners who do not.
- Why does my watch show a different number?
- Watches estimate from heart rate and their own proprietary models, and two watches on the same run routinely disagree by 10 to 20%. No consumer estimate is exact. Pick one method, use it consistently, and trust the trend rather than any single number.