Calculate MET minutes from activity intensity and duration, compare against WHO weekly guidelines, and estimate calories burned.
| Quantity | Value | Formula | Notes |
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| Level | MET minutes per week | Your status | What it means |
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| Category | MET range | Examples | Your status |
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| Activity | MET value | Category | 30 min MET minutes |
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| Metric | Value | Notes |
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Founder & CEO, Toolraxy
Faiq Ur Rahman is a web designer, digital product developer, and founder of Toolraxy, a growing platform of web-based calculators and utility tools. He specializes in building structured, user-friendly tools focused on health, finance, productivity, and everyday problem-solving.
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A MET minute is one minute of activity performed at one metabolic equivalent (MET), where 1 MET equals the energy you burn sitting quietly. Multiply an activity’s MET value by the minutes you perform it, and you get MET minutes. Brisk walking at roughly 5 METs for 30 minutes produces 150 MET minutes. The metric was formalized through the Compendium of Physical Activities, a standardized catalogue maintained by researchers at Arizona State University and updated in 2024 with over 300 new activity codes. MET minutes let you compare a 20-minute run against an hour of gardening on the same scale.
The metric sits inside a broader system of exercise dosage measurement that includes heart rate zones, step counts, and rating of perceived exertion. MET minutes are unique because they combine intensity and duration into a single number that maps directly onto the WHO’s 2020 guidelines, which recommend 150–300 minutes of moderate activity or 75–150 minutes of vigorous activity per week for adults. The WHO expresses that recommendation in MET minutes as a 600 MET-minute weekly minimum, rising to 1,200 for additional benefit. Research published in BMC Public Health confirmed that adults accumulating 600–1,200 MET minutes per week show measurably lower prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors compared with those below that threshold.
To calculate MET minutes, multiply the activity’s MET value by the number of minutes you perform it. A 45-minute cycling session at 6.8 METs produces 306 MET minutes. If you do that three times per week, your weekly total is 918 MET minutes. Here’s how to use the tool step by step.
Choose your unit system. Metric uses kilograms and kilometres; imperial uses pounds and miles. The calculator converts your body weight automatically if you switch.
Pick an activity from the dropdown. The tool carries 46 activities with published MET values, from sitting at a desk (1.3 METs) to running at 8 mph (11.8 METs).
Enter your session duration in minutes. The default is 30 minutes. You can go up to 600 minutes.
Check or override the MET value. Selecting an activity auto-fills its typical MET value. Choose “Custom” if you want to enter a value from a lab test or a different reference.
Enter your body weight. This input feeds the calorie estimate only. It does not affect MET minutes.
Set your weekly frequency. The tool multiplies session MET minutes by days per week to produce your weekly total.
Read the results. The hero panel shows session MET minutes. The tiles below break out per-week totals, calories per session, and your WHO guideline band.
Check the breakdown tables. Four reference tables show the calculation steps, WHO band boundaries, intensity categories, and MET values for common activities.
The calculator uses three formulas. Session MET minutes = MET value × duration in minutes. Weekly MET minutes = session MET minutes × days per week. Calories per minute = (MET value × 3.5 × body weight in kg) ÷ 200. Calories per session = calories per minute × duration.
Formula: Session MET minutes = MET × minutes
Formula: Weekly MET minutes = MET × minutes × days
Formula: kcal/min = (MET × 3.5 × kg) ÷ 200
The 3.5 in the calorie formula is a standard constant representing the resting oxygen consumption of 3.5 millilitres of oxygen per kilogram of body weight per minute. The 200 is a unit conversion factor that turns millilitres of oxygen into kilocalories. The result is an estimate. It assumes average resting metabolic rate, which varies by individual. The MET values themselves come from the Compendium of Physical Activities, which measures energy expenditure through indirect calorimetry.
You jog at a general pace roughly 7 METs for 38 minutes, four days per week. You weigh 82 kg.
Step 1: Session MET minutes = 7 × 38 = 266 MET minutes per session.
Step 2: Weekly MET minutes = 266 × 4 = 1,064 MET minutes per week.
Step 3: Calories per minute = (7 × 3.5 × 82) ÷ 200 = 10.0 kcal/min.
Step 4: Calories per session = 10.0 × 38 = 382 kcal.
The tool places 1,064 weekly MET minutes in the “Recommended” band above the 600 minimum, within the 900–1,200 range the WHO treats as the target zone for substantial health benefit. If you dropped to three sessions per week, you’d fall to 798 MET minutes, still above the minimum but below the recommended band. The difference between three and four sessions is roughly 266 MET minutes per week.
Four variables change your weekly MET-minute total: intensity, duration, frequency, and which activities you log. Intensity has the largest single-session effect, running at 9.8 METs for 30 minutes produces nearly three times the MET minutes of walking at 3.5 METs for the same time. Duration scales linearly: double the minutes, double the MET minutes. Frequency is the weekly multiplier. Activity selection matters because MET values vary by a factor of nearly 10 across common activities.
Intensity (MET value): A higher MET value multiplies every minute you spend. Switching from moderate cycling (6.8 METs) to vigorous cycling (8.0 METs) adds about 18% to your session MET minutes.
Duration per session: MET minutes scale one-to-one with time. A 45-minute session produces 50% more MET minutes than a 30-minute session at the same intensity.
Weekly frequency: Each additional day adds a full session’s worth of MET minutes. Going from three to four days per week adds 33% to your weekly total.
Body weight: Weight does not change MET minutes. It changes the calorie estimate. A heavier person burns more calories at the same MET value.
Activity type: Sitting at a desk (1.3 METs) and running at 8 mph (11.8 METs) differ by a factor of nine. Choosing a higher-MET activity is the fastest way to increase weekly volume.
Rest periods: The calculator assumes continuous activity for the full duration. If you take breaks, your actual MET minutes are lower than the tool reports.
Measurement error in MET values: Published MET values are averages. Individual energy expenditure varies with fitness, body composition, and technique.
MET minutes are a measure of physical activity volume. You calculate them by multiplying an activity’s MET value by the minutes you spend doing it. A 30-minute brisk walk at 5 METs gives you 150 MET minutes.
The WHO recommends a minimum of 600 MET minutes per week for substantial health benefits. That equals 150 minutes of moderate activity or 75 minutes of vigorous activity. Some research suggests additional benefit up to about 1,200 MET minutes per week.
Multiply the MET value for your activity by your workout duration in minutes. If you cycle at 6.8 METs for 45 minutes, that’s 6.8 × 45 = 306 MET minutes for that session.
Yes. One thousand MET minutes per week is within the recommended range. It’s above the 600 minimum and below the 1,200 upper end of the target zone. Most health gains from physical activity accumulate at totals between 600 and 1,200 MET minutes per week.
No. MET minutes measure activity volume intensity times duration. Calories measure energy expenditure, which also depends on your body weight. Two people doing the same MET minutes burn different calorie totals if they weigh different amounts.
A MET value is the ratio of your working metabolic rate to your resting metabolic rate. Sitting quietly equals 1 MET. Brisk walking equals roughly 5 METs, meaning you’re burning five times the energy you’d burn at rest.
Yes. Housework, gardening, and lawn mowing all carry published MET values. General housework is about 3.0 METs, gardening about 3.8 METs, and mowing the lawn about 5.0 METs. They count toward your weekly total if you log the duration.
It’s an estimate, not a measurement. The formula uses a standard resting metabolic rate constant. Your actual burn depends on fitness, body composition, and how efficiently you move. Treat the calorie number as a ballpark, not a precise figure.
No. MET minutes depend only on intensity and duration. Body weight affects the calorie estimate, which the tool calculates separately.
Yes. That’s the main value of the metric. Running at 8 METs for 30 minutes and walking at 4 METs for 60 minutes both produce 240 MET minutes. The MET-minute total lets you compare a short hard session against a long easy one.
Exercise minutes count time only. MET minutes count time multiplied by intensity. Thirty minutes of running counts as 30 exercise minutes but produces around 249 MET minutes at 8.3 METs. The same 30 minutes of walking produces 105 MET minutes at 3.5 METs.
The calculator assumes continuous activity for the full duration you enter. If you took breaks, your actual MET minutes are lower. It also uses published average MET values, which may be higher than your actual intensity.
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