Let’s say you’re watching Netflix when you suddenly realize you’ve been sitting for hours. Even worse, you feel the sluggishness of a sedentary routine settling in. To shake off the blues, you get off the couch, move around a little, and, ideally, burn some calories. But how many calories can you burn in a short amount of time? You might even wonder how long it takes to burn 500 calories and how are calories measured. This article will give you valuable insights to address your goals, like quickly and effectively burning 500 calories using activities that fit seamlessly into your lifestyle, helping you achieve your fitness and health goals.
Cal AI’s calorie tracker can help you quickly reach your objective, simplifying how long it takes to burn 500 calories with different activities. Before long, you can pick the proper exercise to return to your show in no time.
Burning 500 calories isn’t easy. Anyone who’s taken an intense cardio class can attest to that. And though the benefits of exercise go well beyond burning calories, sometimes we do have a target expenditure in mind.
After all, we can track how much we eat and set fitness and body composition goals, but if we don’t know how many calories we are burning when we hit the gym, we might miss the mark with our goals.
Despite all the gadgets and gizmos available, it’s difficult to precisely measure the number of calories you burn during a workout. “Things like your age, weight, fitness level, body composition, diet, BMR, and sleep can all affect your individual calorie burn per workout,” explains Smith. "However, you can use tools like METs (metabolic equivalent for task) to make a rough estimate.”
The formula for calculating your energy expenditure during exercise with METs is: Total calories burned = Duration (in minutes) x ((METs x 3.5 x weight in kg)/200). Smith says that technology will probably do a good enough job for those who aren’t so mathematically inclined or prefer something that involves less number crunching.
“You can also use a fitness tracker like an Apple Watch or Fitbit, but again, these will only give you an estimate and have been shown to be up to 80-90% inaccurate.”
The Fast Track to Burning 500 CaloriesRunning is one of the quickest ways to burn 500 calories. Smith says a 150-pound person would only need to run about 40 minutes to burn 500 calories if they maintain a 12-minute mile pace (5 mph). “Running steadily keeps your heart rate and your cardiovascular system working hard.
This exertion leads to high-calorie burn during the activity,” explains Smith. “If you want to speed up your rate to the 500-calorie mark, add hills or intervals.” She recommends pushing through short but near maximal-effort intervals interspersed in your steady-state run. This will increase the workout's efficiency and get you to that 500-calorie mark closer to 30 minutes.
“Cycling is another cardio-heavy modality that serves to raise your heart rate and crush some serious calories in a short period of time,” notes Smith. “A 150-pound person can expect to burn around 250 calories per 30 minutes of moderate-intensity work, which means they would need to spend an hour cycling to hit the 500-calorie mark.”
She says you can reduce this time by increasing the intensity by pedaling at a higher cadence or upping the resistance (either by using a more complex gear or heading uphill). “The faster you move the pedals and the higher the resistance, the more your body will need to work, which means that your body will expend more energy and burn more calories faster,” says Smith.
Spinning and indoor bike workouts also work well, and many apps and streaming platforms offer interval-based workouts to help ensure you’re pushing yourself. “If you want to gauge your work accurately and calculate your total calorie burn most effectively, a system that uses your individual heart rate, like MYX Fitness, is going to be the most accurate and most tailored to your body’s actual output,” notes Smith.
“When performing a HIIT workout, you’re giving each exercise all you have for a specified amount of time, maxing out your energy expenditure. These short, intense bouts of work help you burn more calories in less time.”
She says HIIT-style workouts top her list of favorite calorie-torching workouts, with challenging exercises like:
“With HIIT, the goal is to work hard but also recover hard. So during the movement, you’re giving it 100% of your effort which means that you should be breathless and in need of a recovery before being able to repeat the movement or move onto the next,” explains Smith.
“Your recovery can be short, but it should be full (stopping completely before beginning again).”
She recommends working in a 1:1 or 2:1 ratio for your HIIT workouts, meaning that your hard intervals are either the same length as your rest period (e.g., 30 secs of work and 30 secs recovery) or your work intervals are twice as long as the rest (e.g., 60 secs work and 30 secs recovery). Calorie expenditure increases as intensity increases.
Smith says, “You should be striving to [hit] 70-90% of your maximal heart rate during HIIT activities.”
Though it isn't always the first activity that comes to mind with burning calories, fitness boxing can actually pack quite a powerful punch.
“Recently, boxing has seen more recognition in the fitness industry for being the calorie-burning powerhouse that it is. It’s a physically demanding workout that revs your heart rate and gets your whole body in on the action,” shares Smith. “As a bonus, many people find this to be one of the best ways to release stress and let go of any anger or anxiety.” Smith says 45 minutes of moderate- to high-intensity boxing can burn 500 calories.
“The beauty of swimming is that you're working hard, but the work doesn’t present the same physical strain on your body as [higher impact] workouts do,” notes Smith. “Swimming to burn calories can almost feel like you’re cheating the system, but the truth is, your body is working hard in the water, exerting a ton of energy.”
Because swimming is non-weightbearing, it’s a great cardio option for those with joint pain. Smith says you can burn 500 calories in about an hour of vigorous lap swimming. Nevertheless, a more recreational pace will lower your expenditure rate to about 300-350 per hour for someone weighing 150 pounds. Adding intervals will increase the intensity and efficiency of the workout.
Yoga has many benefits, from increasing strength, flexibility, and balance to reducing stress and anxiety. But, it’s not typically the most efficient workout for burning calories, so if you want to burn 500 calories, you’ll have to spend considerably more time on the yoga mat than you would if you were doing a more strenuous workout like running or cycling.
With that said, Smith says it’s possible to burn 500 calories doing yoga, especially if you choose a more challenging modality. “Hot yoga has been proven to burn more calories than a non-heated yoga class because your body is working harder to regulate due to the high temperatures,” She adds that Vinyasa is also a good option.
These varieties can potentially burn 500 calories in an hour or so. “For classic Hatha yoga, you would need to spend a couple of hours or more to see that kind of burn. To ensure you’re burning the most calories, add some challenging bodyweight movements like lunges, jumps, and pushups,” Smith advises.
“Pilates is an amazing way to tone and tighten the small muscles in your body, but it isn’t typically a high calorie burner due to the fact that most movements are slow and controlled as opposed to explosive and intense,” explains Smith. “But, that doesn’t mean that you’re not burning calories! You can reach the 500-calorie point doing moderate-intensity Pilates within 90-120 minutes or so.”
If you don’t have two hours to work out, you can accelerate your calorie burn by throwing in bursts of cardio-like jumps. Smith also has another tip: “If you want to really ramp up your calorie burn, try a Pilates class that uses a reformer—you’ll get your heart rate up quickly and reach your 500-calorie burn in less time than traditional Pilates.”
When most think of burning calories, we think of cardio exercises that spike our heart rate and leave us sweaty. Because of this, weight training has traditionally been a very underrated form of exercise for calorie burning. But weight training as an activity does burn calories (500 calories in two hours or so), and the real magic in the metabolic benefit comes from the fact that it helps build lean muscle.
“The more muscle you have on your frame, the higher your metabolism and the more calories you burn throughout the day naturally, even when the workout is done,” explains Smith. “If you want to speed up your calorie burn during your weight training workout, add in some weighted jumps like jump squats or jumping lunges.” Circuit training also keeps your heart rate up and will accelerate your calorie burn.
The world of dance is vast, and as the styles and intensities vary significantly, so does the potential calorie burn. Smith says that depending on the type of dancing you’re performing, you can burn anywhere from 100-500 calories in an hour, with most ballroom dances burning about 250 calories in an hour for a 150-pound person.
A slow dance or waltz will burn far fewer calories than a high-intensity option like hip-hop or salsa. “If you want to dance for exercise and your goal is to burn 500 calories, I recommend that you choose a form of high-intensity dancing like a hip hop dance routine or one that includes movements that challenge and exhaust your muscles,” shares Smith.
Though vacuuming, cleaning the bathtub, raking leaves, or doing other chores around the house and yard are not typically our favorite ways to spend time, we can sweep, mop, and mow a little happier knowing we are burning calories while cleaning up. After all, whenever you’re moving your body and expending energy, you’re burning calories, although the exact amount will depend on your body and activity.
“For an average 150-pound person, you would need to spend about 2.5 hours doing housework to burn 500 calories,” shares Smith. “There’s a good chance that the thought of cleaning for 2.5 hours is a little daunting, so you can find ways to ramp up your burn. I like to make it a game by adding in a few extra trips up and down the stairs or stopping and doing “X” number of squats every 15 minutes.”
Smith says that yard work like raking and mowing tends to be more efficient calorie-burning chores, especially if you move dirt, sand, and stones. According to Smith, someone weighing 150 pounds can potentially burn 500 calories in 60-90 minutes.
The good news is that no matter how you exercise, you can burn 500 calories. Smith explains, “You can increase your calorie burn during a workout by limiting your rest times and aiming to always stay in motion. Some examples can include using supersets, adding cardio bursts between sets, and restrict your rest time between movements.
You can ramp up your burn for cardio-based workouts by adding intervals, hills, HIIT segments, and overall increasing your speed and exertion.”
Smith says that the most important thing when exercising for weight loss and burning calories is consistency over time, ultimately dictating your results. It’s also valuable to remember that plenty of physical and mental benefits of exercise have nothing to do with calories or weight management.
“By focusing more on staying consistent, enjoying the movement you choose, eating a healthy, well-balanced diet, and focusing on progressing (getting stronger and/or faster), you’re naturally going to see a shift in your body,” shares Smith. “Also, if you love what you’re doing and you’re working hard, reaching that 500-calorie burn goal during your workout will come easily!”
The time it takes to burn 500 calories depends on several factors, including the exercise you choose, your weight, and how intensely you work out. For example, a 155-pound person burns about 300 calories an hour walking.
To burn 500 calories, this person must walk for about 1 hour and 40 minutes. If, instead, they jogged at a moderate pace, they would burn 500 calories in about 46 minutes. They would only need to jog for about 27 minutes if they ran at a high intensity.
Some exercises, like running, are particularly efficient at burning 500 calories in a short amount of time. Below, we break down the average times individuals burn 500 calories for various activities.
Running can help you burn 500 calories in a short amount of time. The table below gives you an average time to burn 500 calories depending on how fast you run. Maintaining your speed on a treadmill versus outdoor running is easier, so these times could vary slightly.
The amount of running in the distance you would need to cover to burn 500 calories is around 3 miles or 5km. Yet, running on a treadmill is more straightforward than outdoors if you are looking for a faster time. To discover the average time to run 3 miles for your age and gender, read this post.The amount of incline you run on also increases or decreases the number of calories you burn. So, to make it even more challenging, consider running on an incline, but you won’t need to run as many miles to achieve your 500-calorie target.
On average, it takes between 51 and 31 minutes to burn 500 calories from jogging. A person who weighs 180 lbs would need to jog for 46 minutes to burn 500 calories, but an individual who weighs 220 lbs would only need to jog for 39 minutes. The time it takes to burn 500 calories from jogging depends on weight, intensity, and duration. The heavier you are, the shorter it will take to burn 500 calories because you have more mass that needs to be moved, so you burn more calories.Similarly, the higher the intensity of your jog, the less time it will take to burn 500 calories. But the average speed for a jog is around 6kph or 3.7mph. Anything slower would be considered a swift walk, and anything over 7kph is considered a run.
The table below gives you the time to jog to burn 500 calories, depending on your weight.
Suppose you’ve been to a group fitness class where everyone’s heart rates and estimated calorie burns are displayed on a screen. In that case, these statistics vary significantly from person to person.
You’ve probably also noticed that men tend to burn more calories than women. But have you ever wondered why people burn calories at such different rates, even during the same workout? The truth is that metabolism—an umbrella term for all the processes in your body that break down nutrients for energy, fuel growth, and more—is far from simple.
“There is a constant ebb and flow of reactions that build or repair our body (anabolism) and reactions that break down food and energy stores for fuel (catabolism),” says Anya Rosen, RD, a functional medicine practitioner based in New York City. “It is an extremely complex topic that is very challenging to research,” she adds.
Various factors play into how fast or slow you’re burning calories at any given time. Here are the six experts who say they significantly impact how many calories you burn while working out.
“Generally, the more you weigh, the more calories you’ll burn per session,” says Kyle Gonzalez, CSCS, the Los Angeles-based head of content for Momentus, a supplement company. “Calories are just a measure of energy, so the more you weigh, the more energy it takes to move your body.” Put differently, of two people with different weights, the one who weighs more will burn more calories because they have a more significant energy expenditure when moving.People with larger bodies also tend to have larger internal organs, such as the:
This significantly affects how many calories are burned during exercise and at rest because these organs and their processes require energy. One study found that up to 43 percent of the variation in total calorie burn between people could be explained by differences in the size of their internal organs.
This is one of many reasons that weight loss is so complicated—your body burns fewer calories as your weight decreases, which can lead to a weight loss plateau or even regaining weight. That said, it’s not the only reason. A review explains that weight loss can also trigger other changes in your body's functions. As you lose weight, hormones make you feel hungry and less complete. If you’re looking to lose weight and have hit a plateau, consider working with a registered dietitian specializing in weight loss who can help you meet your goal healthily and sustainably. Find one at the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
Also, keep in mind that exercise is a boon for overall health regardless of whether you lose weight. A review published in 2021 suggested that while increased exercise doesn’t typically lead to long-term weight loss, improved cardiorespiratory fitness is associated with better health and a lower risk of premature death, regardless of weight.
Here’s where things get a little bit trickier. Someone with more muscle mass will burn more calories than someone who weighs the same but has less muscle. “Muscle tissue burns more calories than fat tissue,” says Jenaed Brodell, RD, a London-based private practice sports nutritionist. During exercise, having more muscle mass will increase your total calorie burn because your body needs to produce more energy to support the increased rate at which your muscles contract. To enhance your calorie burn, consider stepping up your strength-training game.
“Generally, men burn more calories at rest and during exercise than women,” Gonzalez says. But there’s nothing magic about why this is because men tend to be larger than women, and they have more muscle mass than women of the same age and weight. “Males generally burn 5 to 10 percent more calories than females at rest, and this percentage usually increases with exercise,” Gonzalez says.
And while women can undoubtedly add muscle mass through strength training, physiological differences mean that, in general, women can’t be as lean as men. “Women are genetically predisposed to lay down more fat to support hormone production and childbearing,” Brodell explains. The American Heart Association says body fat is essential for storing energy, absorbing nutrients, supporting cell function, protecting internal organs, and producing hormones.The American Council on Exercise (ACE) says that men need at least 2 to 5 percent body fat to support life, while women need a minimum of 10 to 13 percent. But these numbers are just the bare minimum for your body to function and should not be considered a weight loss goal.
While there’s no official recommendation for optimal body fat percentage, one estimate from Human Kinetics gives a range of “good” to “acceptable” as 11 to 20 percent for men and 16 to 30 percent for women. That said, the relationship between health and body fat is complex and not perfectly understood. “The bottom line is that men and women should focus on building muscle and improving cardiovascular health with a well-balanced cardio and strength-training program,” Gonzalez says.
“As we age, we tend to lose muscle mass,” Brodell says. “After age 30, you begin to lose as much as 3 to 5 percent of your muscle mass per decade.” The reasons for this aren’t perfectly understood. Still, one review explains that it’s likely because your body becomes more resistant to hormones promoting the protein synthesis key to muscle maintenance.
This loss of muscle mass lowers your metabolic rate, the speed at which you burn calories at rest and during exercise. A study published in 2021 made headlines for its findings that metabolic rate may not decline throughout adulthood but rather that it plateaus between the ages of 20 and 60 and then begins its decline. But this doesn’t necessarily mean everyone’s calorie burn stays constant through adulthood.
“This study on daily energy expenditure through the human life course is interesting, but it is not necessarily definitive proof that our understanding of metabolism is wrong,” Rosen says, adding that it’s impossible to quantify metabolism ideally. Also, aging is accompanied by multiple changes in human physiology, not all of which may have been adjusted for, even by expert eyes, she says. While you can’t stop your body from aging, you can preserve or even increase your muscle mass with regular strength training, Gonzalez says. “Strength training can help you increase your resting metabolic rate, which helps you burn more calories at rest over time.”
The more you do a specific type of workout, the easier it seems. That’s not in your head — Gonzalez explains that your body adapts to do things more easily over time. Overall, this is a good thing. It means that you can run faster or for longer with practice, and your muscles will be able to lift heavier weights with proper training. But it also affects your calorie burn. “As your body adapts to training, you will burn less calories with the same workouts,” Gonzalez says. “From your lungs to your muscles to your heart to your brain, your body becomes more efficient as you become more fit.”
That’s why a newbie might burn significantly more calories than someone doing the same workout for years. It’s also why changing your workout routine (such as switching the time of day you work out or the type or order of exercises) can increase your fitness level and potentially enhance your calorie burn.
It’s also possible that two people doing the same workout are burning different calories because they’re not doing the same workout. Brodell says that exercising at a high intensity, meaning you’re breathing heavily and can’t carry on a conversation, can burn twice as many calories in the same amount of time as exercising at a low intensity.
And just because you’re covering the same distance as someone else or going through the same motions doesn’t mean that the two of you are working out at the same intensity.
The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) says that walking and running delivers many of the same benefits when it comes to lowering blood pressure and reducing your risk of chronic conditions like heart disease and type 2 diabetes. One study found that adults who walked 1 mile burned roughly 89 calories, whereas adults who ran that mile burned around 113 calories. A target of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity, or 75 minutes of high-intensity, per week is enough to yield many health benefits, including:
Incorporating higher-intensity exercise into your routine will boost your calorie burn and magnify these benefits even further. To increase the intensity of your workouts, ACE recommends increasing your speed, range of motion, or the amount of weight you’re using for strength-training exercises.
High-intensity interval training (HIIT) can also effectively and efficiently increase workout intensity and calorie expenditure.
Exercise has countless benefits beyond burning calories, so finding enjoyable and sustainable movement types is the most important thing. “The type of exercise that is better for a person ultimately depends on that person’s goals, physical fitness, and capabilities,” Brodell says.
If you sit most of the day, one of the best things you can do to amp up your calorie burn is to take more breaks to walk around. Set a timer for 30 to 60 minutes when at work or home. When the timer goes off, get up and move.
You can take a short walk around your home or office or do light stretches before sitting back down. At home, when it’s time for a break, you can walk up and down the stairs if you have them or march in place to get your heart rate up. When you come home from work and relax by watching television, during commercial breaks, do sit-ups, push-ups, squats, jump rope, etc., to add in some extra calorie burn.
If working out 60 or more minutes at a time isn’t conducive to your schedule, can you do 30 minutes of exercise in the morning and late afternoon? For instance, when you wake up, you can perform a quick metabolic workout that boosts your calorie burn and prepares your body for the day.
Then, later in the day, you can do another short workout to enhance your calorie burn further and improve your mood. By breaking up your workouts, you are not only making them more manageable, but you are also making them more enjoyable.
You can be creative with putting together daily exercises that suit your schedule. For instance, you may have a hectic day where you can’t fit in a workout. Yet, if you think outside the box, you may be able to do some exercises between tasks or even during breaks.
Say you’re working on a deadline for a project. Every time you achieve a small goal, you could reward yourself by doing a few exercises before returning to work. Not only will this help keep you focused on your project, but it will also enhance your calorie burn and reduce your stress levels.
Even if you already exercise most days, can you try to either exercise longer or change your exercise intensity? Changing your intensity or time length can bump up your calorie burn without doing anything drastic. For instance, if you typically perform steady-state cardio, try interval training instead. This type of training alternates between low and high-intensity exercise and can drastically improve your fitness levels while burning more calories in a shorter time.
Adding variety to your routine can keep you motivated and enjoy your workouts instead of doing the same thing every time. You can change the duration, intensity, frequency, or type of exercise to improve your overall fitness while enhancing calorie burn.
For instance, if you typically perform steady-state cardio on the treadmill, try an elliptical machine, rowing, or swimming instead. These exercises will give you a break from the monotony of your routine, work different muscle groups, and improve your overall fitness.
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