Estimate how many calories you burn sitting from your body weight and sitting time, using standard MET values for quiet sitting, desk work or light tasks.

Choose a reference that matches the activity. A custom value is an assumption and may be below 1 MET.

Leave blank for 1 hour.

Optional settings

Sitting Calories Burned Formula

Choose calories for a sitting time or time for a gross calorie amount. Presets use specific 2024 Adult Compendium references for ages 19–59, not a measurement of your personal energy use. Quiet sitting is 1.0 MET; the default 1.3 MET reference describes desk/computer work, and light seated tasks use 1.5 MET. A positive custom standard MET may be below 1.

Gross kcal ≈ MET × 3.5 × Weightkg ÷ 200 × Minutes
Minutes = (Gross kcal) / (MET × 3.5 × Weightkg ÷ 200)

Variable Definitions

  • Weightkg = body weight in kilograms; pounds are converted using 1 lb = 0.45359237 kg.
  • Minutes Sitting = your total seated time in minutes.
  • MET = the selected standard activity reference. The Compendium conversion uses 3.5 mL/kg/min per MET and about 5 kcal per liter of oxygen, giving kcal/min = MET × 3.5 × kg ÷ 200.

Activity Reference METs

Activity reference MET 150 lb for 30 min 150 lb for 1 hour
Quiet sitting 1.0 36 calories 71 calories
Desk/computer work 1.3 46 calories 93 calories
Light seated tasks 1.5 54 calories 107 calories

How to Use the Calculator

  1. Choose calories for a sitting time or time for a gross calorie amount.
  2. Enter body weight in pounds or kilograms.
  3. Enter sitting time in minutes or hours, or enter the gross kcal amount for the time solve.
  4. Select an activity reference or provide a sourced custom standard MET. Custom values must be positive; a value below 1 is retained.
  5. Click Calculate.

Calories Burned Sitting by Body Weight

The table below uses the 1.3 MET desk/computer-work reference and the unrounded formula above. Both tables round their gross kcal estimates to the nearest whole kcal. They are reference examples, not personal measurements.

Body Weight 30 Minutes 1 Hour 2 Hours
120 lb 37 calories 74 calories 149 calories
150 lb 46 calories 93 calories 186 calories
180 lb 56 calories 111 calories 223 calories
200 lb 62 calories 124 calories 248 calories

Example

For an illustrative body weight of 160 lb and 90 minutes of desk/computer work at 1.3 MET:

Gross kcal ≈ 1.3 × 3.5 × (160 × 0.45359237) ÷ 200 × 90 = 148.596860412

That is about 148.60 gross kcal, or 149 kcal rounded to the nearest whole kcal. Gross energy includes the standard resting component.

What Counts as Each Sitting Style?

  • Quiet sitting, 1.0 MET: the general quiet-sitting reference, code 07021. This is a standard proxy, not your measured resting rate.
  • Desk/computer work, 1.3 MET: the seated computer-work reference, code 11582; it is not a universal value for every quiet activity.
  • Light seated tasks, 1.5 MET: code 11580 includes light office, desk, and assembly tasks. Select a reference matching the actual task; a custom MET is user supplied and not independently verified here.

Common Questions

Should I enter minutes or hours?
Select minutes or hours; 1 hour equals 60 minutes. Changing the input unit converts the entered quantity.
What does the 1 MET comparison mean?
It subtracts a standard 1 MET energy baseline for the same weight and time. The result is signed: a custom MET below 1 gives a negative difference, not negative gross energy or a measured calorie deficit. Standard METs do not measure individual resting metabolism.
Does a longer sitting session burn more calories?
Within this model, keeping both body weight and MET fixed makes energy proportional to time. This arithmetic is not a recommendation to stay seated longer; the inverse duration is not a health or exercise prescription.