The Best Exercises for Weight Loss, Ranked by Calories Burned
Every exercise burns calories, but they are not equal: an hour of running burns roughly twice as many calories as an hour of brisk walking, and three times as many as an hour of gentle yoga. If time is limited, the ranking matters — but only up to a point, because the best exercise for weight loss is the one you will still be doing in six months.
This guide ranks the common exercises by calories burned per hour at 80 kg, using MET values from the 2011 Compendium of Physical Activities, and then explains why the ranking is not the whole story: injury risk, muscle preservation, enjoyment and the way each exercise fits into a week all change the answer. Use the numbers to choose, and the reasoning to stick with the choice.
Use the calculator
Start with your own numbers: try our running calorie calculator, step calorie calculator to work out your figures before applying anything on this page. The worked examples below use round numbers so you can follow the maths; the calculators use your real weight, height, age and goal.
Related reading: Running for Weight Loss — How to Start and What to Expect, Strength Training for Weight Loss — Why Lifting Beats Cardio Alone, How Many Steps a Day to Lose Weight? The Real Numbers. You can also browse the full guides section for the rest of the series.
The key points
Running and cycling top the list for most people. At 80 kg, running at 6 mph burns about 784 kcal an hour (9.8 MET) and cycling at 14–16 mph burns about 800 kcal an hour (10 MET). Fast freestyle swimming is similar at about 824 kcal an hour (10.3 MET). These are the most time-efficient options — but they are also the most demanding, and the injury and dropout rates are higher than for gentler options.
Walking is the most underrated fat-loss exercise. Brisk walking at 3.5 mph burns about 344 kcal an hour at 80 kg (4.3 MET) — half what running burns — but it can be done for twice as long, every day, with almost no injury risk and no recovery cost. An hour of walking a day, five days a week, burns about 1,720 kcal a week, which is a third of a typical deficit on its own.
Strength training earns its place by preserving muscle, not by burning calories. A circuit session burns about 640 kcal an hour at 80 kg (8 MET), but a slower lifting session burns closer to 300–400 kcal an hour. Judge it on what it protects — muscle, strength and metabolism — rather than on the calorie figure, and keep it in the week even though it ranks below running on burn alone.
High-intensity intervals burn more per minute but less per week. A hard interval session can reach 12 MET, or about 960 kcal an hour at 80 kg — the highest figure on this page. But intervals can only be done for 20–30 minutes and only once or twice a week, so the weekly total is smaller than steady running or walking. Use intervals as a spice, not the main dish.
The ranking changes with your weight. Calories scale with body weight: a 100 kg person burns 25% more per hour than an 80 kg person doing the same activity, and a 60 kg person burns 25% less. That is fair in a sense — heavier bodies do more work — and it means the ranking stays the same but the absolute numbers shift. Use the formula below with your own weight rather than memorising the table.
Enjoyment beats efficiency over six months. The difference between the best and the fifth-best exercise is about 200 kcal an hour — less than a sandwich. The difference between an exercise you do four times a week and one you quit after three weeks is thousands of calories. Pick from the top half of the ranking, but pick the one you actually like.
At a glance
| Exercise | MET* | kcal per hour at 80 kg | kcal per hour at 65 kg | Practical note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Running, 6 mph | 9.8 | 784 | 637 | Most time-efficient; hardest on joints |
| Cycling, 14–16 mph | 10.0 | 800 | 650 | Low impact; needs a bike and roads |
| Swimming, freestyle fast | 10.3 | 824 | 670 | Full body; technique matters a lot |
| Jump rope, moderate | 11.8 | 944 | 767 | Very high burn; hard to sustain long |
| Rowing ergometer, vigorous | 8.5 | 680 | 553 | Full body; low impact |
| Strength circuit | 8.0 | 640 | 520 | Preserves muscle; the real value |
| Brisk walking, 3.5 mph | 4.3 | 344 | 280 | Do it daily; almost no injury risk |
| Yoga, moderate | 3.0 | 240 | 195 | Flexibility and stress; low burn |
*MET values from the 2011 Compendium of Physical Activities (Ainsworth et al.). Jump rope and rowing figures are for sustained effort at the stated intensity; beginners will be lower.
The formula behind it
Every figure in the table comes from one formula, using MET values from the Compendium of Physical Activities (Ainsworth et al., 2011):
Calories per hour = MET × weight (kg)
Worked example — running at 6 mph (9.8 MET) for 45 minutes at 80 kg: 9.8 × 80 × 0.75 hours = 588 kcal. The same run at 65 kg burns 9.8 × 65 × 0.75 = 478 kcal. And brisk walking at 3.5 mph (4.3 MET) for an hour at 80 kg burns 4.3 × 80 = 344 kcal — which is why walking an hour a day is worth roughly 2,400 kcal a week, or about a third of a kilogram of fat.
To put exercise in context, compare it with your total day using Mifflin-St Jeor (Mifflin et al., 1990): a 30-year-old man, 85 kg, 180 cm, moderately active has a BMR of 850 + 1,125 − 150 + 5 = 1,830 kcal and a TDEE of about 2,837 kcal. A 500 kcal deficit gives a 2,337 kcal target — above the 1,500 kcal floor for men — and an hour of running covers more than the whole deficit for that day, while an hour of walking covers about two-thirds of it.
Your plan, step by step
- Pick one high-burn exercise you enjoy (running, cycling or swimming) and one low-impact one (walking) — do the first 2–3 times a week, the second daily.
- Add two full-body strength sessions a week to protect muscle, even though they rank lower on calories.
- Start at half the duration in the table and add about 10% a week; soreness that lasts more than 3 days means you added too much.
- Count exercise as a bonus on top of a food deficit, not as calories to eat back in full.
- Re-check the numbers at your new weight every 4–5 kg lost — the same exercise burns fewer calories as you get lighter.
How to use this guide
Use the ranking to build a week, not to pick a single exercise. A practical fat-loss week at 80 kg might be: three 40-minute runs (about 1,570 kcal), two 30-minute strength sessions (about 300 kcal), and an hour of walking on the other days (about 1,720 kcal) — roughly 3,600 kcal a week from activity, or about half a kilogram of fat when combined with a modest food deficit. That week is sustainable because no single session is punishing.
Watch for the trap of choosing the highest-burn exercise and then quitting it: a month of running you hate burns fewer calories than six months of cycling you enjoy. If an exercise causes joint pain, boredom or dread, switch to the next one down the ranking rather than stopping altogether — the difference between ranks is small, and the difference between moving and not moving is everything.
What this guide does NOT tell you
MET values are population averages and the table assumes sustained effort at the stated intensity — a leisurely cycle at 10 mph is about 6.8 MET, not 10, and a swim with long rests between lengths is far below 10.3 MET. Your fitness, technique and the environment all shift the real number by 10–30%, so treat the table as a ranking and a guide, not a personal measurement. Watches and machines use the same averages and carry the same error.
This guide is general information, not medical advice, and it cannot judge which exercises are safe for you. Running, jumping and heavy lifting stress joints and the heart more than walking or swimming, so anyone with a heart condition, joint problems, high blood pressure or a long period of inactivity should check with a clinician before starting the higher-intensity options. Pain that is sharp, in a joint, or that does not settle within a few days is a signal to stop and get checked.
Frequently asked questions
Which exercise burns the most calories?
Per hour, jump rope and hard running are among the highest — around 944 kcal an hour at 80 kg for moderate rope jumping (11.8 MET) and 784 kcal for running at 6 mph (9.8 MET). But per week, the winner is usually the exercise you can do longest and most often: an hour of brisk walking daily burns more in a week than two short interval sessions. Intensity wins per minute; consistency wins per month.
Is walking enough for weight loss?
Yes, if the food side is right. An hour of brisk walking burns about 344 kcal at 80 kg, and an hour a day, five days a week, is about 1,720 kcal a week — roughly a third of a typical deficit. Combined with a 300 kcal food deficit, that produces about 0.5 kg a week. Walking alone, with no change to food, rarely produces much loss, because it is easy to eat back 300 kcal without noticing.
Does swimming help you lose weight?
Yes, and it is one of the best options for people with joint problems, because the water supports body weight. Fast freestyle burns about 824 kcal an hour at 80 kg (10.3 MET), but casual swimming with rests is far lower — often 300–400 kcal an hour. The practical issue is appetite: many people feel very hungry after swimming, so the food side needs more attention than with running or cycling.
How many calories does cycling burn?
It depends heavily on speed: leisurely cycling at 10 mph is about 6.8 MET (544 kcal an hour at 80 kg), while 14–16 mph is about 10 MET (800 kcal an hour). Hills, wind and the bike itself change the figure further. Cycling is joint-friendly and easy to sustain for an hour or more, which is why its weekly total is often higher than running for the same person.
Should I do cardio or weights first for fat loss?
Both, in that order of priority for results: weights to protect muscle, cardio to add calorie burn. If you must choose one session, choose the weights — losing muscle while dieting lowers metabolism and makes keeping the weight off harder. In practice, two lifting sessions plus two to three cardio sessions a week beats either one alone, and the two do not interfere with each other if the cardio is easy or kept to separate days.
Estimates only, not medical advice. Minimum safe intakes: 1,200 kcal/day women, 1,500 kcal/day men — consult a healthcare professional before a very-low-calorie diet.