Heart Rate Calorie Calculator: Calories from Your Heart Rate
Enter your average heart rate from a workout, your age, weight and how long you exercised, and see the calories you burned. Works for any steady cardio: running, cycling, rowing or a class.
- Free, no signup
- Updated 16 October 2026
- Stays in your browser
Fill in your details and your answer appears here as you type.
Calories burned in 30 minutes by heart rate
For a 35-year-old, from the Keytel equations.
| 110 bpm | 130 bpm | 150 bpm | 170 bpm | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Woman, 60 kg | 170 cal | 235 cal | 300 cal | 365 cal |
| Woman, 75 kg | 155 cal | 220 cal | 285 cal | 350 cal |
| Man, 75 kg | 260 cal | 350 cal | 440 cal | 530 cal |
| Man, 90 kg | 280 cal | 370 cal | 460 cal | 555 cal |
In the study's equation for women, weight has a small negative effect once heart rate is known, which is why the heavier woman scores slightly less at the same heart rate.
How we got it
Keytel and others (2005), the model without a fitness test, in kJ a minute: men -55.0969 + 0.6309 x heart rate + 0.1988 x weight in kg + 0.2017 x age; women -20.4022 + 0.4472 x heart rate - 0.1263 x weight + 0.074 x age. Divided by 4.184 for calories and multiplied by the minutes. It was built from 115 adults aged 18 to 45 during steady exercise at about 57 to 90% of their maximum heart rate. The plus or minus 20% band is our own.
Updated . Sources: Keytel and others, 2005, Journal of Sports Sciences.
The evidence
Every recommendation on this page links here. The badge shows what kind of source it is, so you can judge how strong it is.
- Study
In 115 regularly exercising adults aged 18 to 45, measured during steady exercise at about 57 to 90% of maximum heart rate, energy use was predicted from heart rate, sex, weight and age. Without a fitness test the prediction correlated 0.857 with measured energy use; adding VO2 max raised it to 0.913.
Keytel et al., 2005, Journal of Sports Sciences: Prediction of energy expenditure from heart rate monitoring during submaximal exercise
- Review
A meta-analysis of 351 studies (18,712 people) gave maximum heart rate = 208 - 0.7 x age, confirmed in a lab study of 514 adults; 220 - age underestimates it in older adults.
Tanaka, Monahan and Seals, 2001, Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Age-predicted maximal heart rate revisited
Our own rules of thumb
These are our choices, not findings from a study. We list them so you know which parts are judgement calls.
- The range is plus or minus 20%.
- Prefer not to say uses the midpoint of the male and female equations.
- We flag heart rates under 55% or over 95% of your estimated maximum, outside what the study measured.
Questions
How do you calculate calories burned from heart rate?
Put your average heart rate, weight and age into the Keytel equation for your sex, which gives energy use per minute, then multiply by the minutes. A 35-year-old man of 80 kg at 140 beats a minute burns about 13.4 calories a minute, or about 400 in 30 minutes.
Is heart rate better than a MET table?
It reflects how hard the workout was for you, which a table cannot. But the equations were built from steady cardio in adults 18 to 45, so for stop-start workouts and other ages the estimate is rougher.
Does fitness change the result?
Yes. In the study, adding a measured VO2 max improved the prediction (correlation 0.913 against 0.857 without it). We use the version without it, since few people know their VO2 max.
How many calories do I burn at 150 bpm?
For 45 minutes, about 445 calories for a 30-year-old woman of 60 kg, and about 660 for a 35-year-old man of 75 kg.
Does this work for weight lifting?
Less well. The equations come from steady cardio; in strength training heart rate jumps during sets and drops between them, so the estimate is rougher.
Turn this number into a plan
The free bodymaths app keeps your numbers, plans your training and meals around them, and adjusts as you log.
- A dated forecast that updates as you log
- Workouts and meals built around your numbers
- Private: your data stays on your device
Free, no card.