Movement burns calories, but usually fewer, and far more variably, than people expect: a brisk walk or a hard gym session rarely undoes a single indulgent meal. That is the honest version, you cannot outrun a bad diet. What exercise does do is real and worth having: it widens the calorie deficit that drives weight loss, protects muscle while you lose fat, and is one of the strongest predictors of keeping weight off for good. The burn figures you see are estimates, calculated from METs (a measured intensity value for each activity) and your body weight, so heavier bodies and harder efforts burn more. There is no single best workout; the best exercise is simply the one you will keep doing, week after week. These guides put realistic numbers on walking, running, cycling, steps, and your total daily burn, and CalcEat lets you log workouts right alongside your food so the whole picture stays in one place.
Your daily calorie burn is mostly your resting metabolism, not exercise. Learn the three parts of total daily energy expenditure, how to estimate yours with the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, and why every estimate is just a starting point.
Cycling can burn anywhere from about 250 to over 700 calories an hour depending on how hard and how heavy you ride. Here is the science, a full table, and why the real number varies.
Running burns a lot of calories per minute, but the exact number depends on your body weight and pace. Here is the MET-based math, a full table, and how it compares to walking.
Walking burns roughly 100 to 250 calories per half hour depending on your weight and pace. Here is how to estimate your own number, and how to make it count.
The famous 10,000-step goal came from a 1960s Japanese ad campaign, not a study. Here is what steps really burn, what the science says, and how to pick a target that helps you lose weight.
