How many calories does 1 mi burn? Your definitive guide

January 2, 2026 •

4 min read

According to estimates from Harvard Health Publishing, a 155-pound person can burn approximately 100 calories running one mile. Understanding exactly how many calories does 1 mi burn is a fundamental step toward tracking fitness progress and effectively managing your weight.

Quick Summary

The exact number of calories burned per mile varies significantly based on body weight, speed, and activity type. Running burns more calories per mile than walking due to increased intensity and effort, though both are effective forms of exercise for energy expenditure.

Key Points

Personalization is Key: Your body weight is the single most significant factor in determining how many calories does 1 mi burn, requiring more energy to move a larger mass.
Running vs. Walking: Running burns more calories per mile than walking because it's a higher-intensity activity involving more vertical movement.
Intensity is Important: While pace has a smaller effect on calories per mile for running, increasing your speed or adding intervals will increase the total calories burned over a set time.
Terrain Adds Challenge: Adding inclines or running on uneven terrain increases your energy expenditure, helping to boost your calorie burn for the same distance.
Accuracy with METs: For a more precise calculation, use the Metabolic Equivalent (MET) formula, which factors in your body weight and the specific activity's intensity.
Consistency Over Intensity: For long-term health and weight management, being consistent with your physical activity is more impactful than achieving a maximal burn on a single occasion.

Your Personal Calorie Burn: Why It's Not a Single Number

While a common rule of thumb suggests that running a mile burns around 100 calories, this is a very generalized estimate. The precise number is influenced by several personal factors, meaning your own calorie burn will differ from others. The most significant factors are your body weight and the intensity of your exercise. Heavier individuals expend more energy to move their mass over the same distance, resulting in a higher calorie burn per mile. Your pace also plays a key role; a faster, more vigorous effort consumes more calories per minute, even if the total calories per mile for running a flat surface might not change drastically based on speed alone. However, increasing speed reduces the time spent, impacting the total calories burned over a specific time duration.

Other Influential Factors

Beyond weight and speed, several other variables affect your total calorie expenditure per mile:

Terrain: Running or walking on an incline or varied terrain, such as hills, requires more muscle activation and effort, increasing the number of calories burned.
Fitness Level: As your body becomes more efficient and your cardiovascular fitness improves, it requires less energy to perform the same task. This means a highly conditioned athlete may burn slightly fewer calories over a given distance than a beginner.
Age and Sex: Metabolic rate tends to decrease with age, and men typically have more muscle mass than women of the same weight, which burns more calories at rest. These differences can influence calorie burn.
Running Form: An individual's biomechanics, or their running form, can also affect caloric expenditure. Efficient form can conserve energy, while less-efficient form can increase the energy required.

Walking vs. Running Calorie Burn: A Comparison

Many wonder whether they should walk or run to maximize their calorie burn over a mile. The answer lies in intensity. Running is a higher-impact, higher-intensity activity that generally burns more calories than walking over the same distance, primarily because the body is briefly airborne with each stride, requiring more energy to combat gravity.

Comparing Calories Burned Per Mile (by Weight)

The table below provides a general comparison of estimated calories burned per mile for walking versus running for individuals of different weights. These figures are estimates and will vary based on personal factors.


Body Weight	Walking (3.5 mph)	Running (6 mph)
125 lbs	~75 calories	~114 calories
155 lbs	~90 calories	~140 calories
185 lbs	~105 calories	~170 calories
205 lbs	~115 calories	~190 calories

Maximizing Your Calorie Burn

If your goal is to increase the number of calories you burn per mile, incorporating these strategies can be highly effective:

Add Incline: Whether on a treadmill or outdoors, adding hills or inclines to your route forces your body to work harder against gravity, significantly boosting your calorie expenditure.
Incorporate Interval Training: Alternating between high-intensity bursts (sprinting) and low-intensity recovery periods (walking or jogging) can increase your total calorie burn and create an “afterburn” effect, where your body continues to burn calories at a higher rate even after you've finished exercising.
Increase Pace: While running pace has a smaller impact on calories per mile, a faster pace burns more calories per minute. If you have a set amount of time for your workout, increasing your speed will increase the overall calorie burn.
Try Weighted Gear: Wearing a weighted vest can increase the total load your body moves, leading to a higher calorie burn per mile. However, it's important to consult a healthcare professional before adding weights to avoid injury.

Calculating Your Personal Calorie Burn with METs

For a more accurate estimation of your personal calorie burn, you can use the Metabolic Equivalents (METs) method, which measures the energy cost of an activity relative to resting metabolism. One MET is defined as the energy you use while sitting still. You can find MET values for a vast range of activities in resources like the Compendium of Physical Activities. The formula is:

Calories Burned Per Minute = METs x 3.5 x (your body weight in kilograms) / 200

Using this, you can estimate the calories burned for specific activities. For example, running at 6 mph (a 10-minute mile) has a MET value of approximately 9.8. A 155-pound (70.3 kg) person would use this formula to get a more precise estimate.

Conclusion

The number of calories you burn over one mile is not a fixed figure but a dynamic estimate influenced by a range of personal and environmental factors. While running generally offers a higher calorie-burning potential per mile than walking, consistency and intensity are the most important elements for weight management and overall health. For the most accurate tracking, using a fitness tracker or the scientifically-backed METs formula provides a more personalized estimate. No matter your fitness level, a mile is a beneficial distance, and small adjustments to your routine can help you maximize your effort.

For more details on calorie expenditure, consider referencing the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for scientific context on energy metabolism.

Frequently Asked Questions

For the same distance, running a mile burns more calories than walking a mile due to its higher intensity and the greater energy required to propel your body forward and upward with each stride.

While the calories burned per mile on a flat surface is fairly constant regardless of speed, running faster means you complete the mile in less time, increasing the calorie burn per minute. For total calories in a fixed time, faster is better.

You can increase your calorie burn by walking faster, walking on an incline or hilly terrain, or adding weight with a weighted vest. Incorporating intervals of brisk walking can also help.

Your body weight is the most significant factor. The heavier you are, the more energy your body needs to move, meaning you will burn more calories per mile than a lighter person performing the same activity.

Fitness trackers provide a good estimate of calorie burn but are not perfectly accurate. They use personal data and activity metrics to calculate an approximation, but factors like individual metabolism and specific biomechanics can cause variation.

Yes, walking a mile is an excellent, low-impact exercise for weight management. Consistent walking helps create a calorie deficit, especially when paired with a healthy diet.

The 'afterburn' effect, or Excess Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC), is when your body continues to burn calories at a higher rate for a period of time after a high-intensity workout. Running and interval training can trigger a greater afterburn than steady-state walking.