Free · Cycling calculators 🚴‍♀️

Cycling Energy from MET or Power

Compare a historically scoped MET estimate with a fixed-efficiency power-based energy model.

  • Formula & worked example
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Calculator inputs

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How to use this calculator

  1. Enter the known values in the units shown. Results update as you type.
  2. Where results are editable, change one to solve backwards. Lock a value to hold it fixed.
  3. Use the worked example to check the method. Reset restores the starting fields.

Private by default

Inputs and results stay in this browser tab. Bookify does not upload or store the values you enter.

Formula and method

At 6 MET, 80 kg and one hour, the historical gross-energy model gives 504 kcal.

MET kcal = minutes × MET × 3.5 × kg/200; power kcal = watts × seconds/(4180 × 0.24); energy-equivalent kg = kcal/7700.

Worked example

Enter these known values and leave the other values blank.

Activity
Bicycling 10-11.9 mph (16-18.9 km/h), leisure slow, light effort
Your weight
80 kg
Time of activity
1 hrs
MET
6
Energy burned
504 kcal
Energy-equivalent mass at 7700 kcal/kg
0.065 kg

Assumptions and limitations

  • Activity presets use the 2011 Adult Compendium. The separate power route assumes 24% gross mechanical efficiency and approximately 4.18 kJ per kcal; actual cycling efficiency varies and is not inferred from the controls. The 7700 kcal/kg result is an energy-equivalence calculation, not predicted weight loss or a diet plan. Gross MET energy includes resting expenditure. The captured days selector means a 16-hour activity day; it is preserved and explicitly labelled, rather than silently treated as a 24-hour calendar day.
  • Clear an unknown before solving an available inverse branch, and lock independent known values when comparing measurements. Use compatible units; a one-way score or lookup does not supply an inverse.

Common questions

What does this result represent?

Activity presets use the 2011 Adult Compendium. The separate power route assumes 24% gross mechanical efficiency and approximately 4.18 kJ per kcal; actual cycling efficiency varies and is not inferred from the controls. The 7700 kcal/kg result is an energy-equivalence calculation, not predicted weight loss or a diet plan. Gross MET energy includes resting expenditure.

Can I work backward from an answer?

Where the captured equation supplies an inverse, clear the unknown and enter independent known values. Rounded scores, one-way outputs and fixed lookup choices do not uniquely recover inputs.

References

Zero time or power gives zero modeled energy and zero energy-equivalent mass; negative magnitudes are invalid. Kilocalories per hour use the exact thermochemical kilocalorie of 4184 joules. Use exact thermochemical kilocalorie power conversions: 4184 J per kcal, 60 seconds per minute and 3600 seconds per hour; eliminate inconsistent rounded rate factors. The power unit uses the International Table BTU per hour consistently with the reviewed energy convention. Mechanical horsepower uses exactly 550 foot-pounds-force per second instead of a rounded factor.

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