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Calories Burned Playing Video Games | Calculator & Formula

LAST UPDATE: September 24th, 2020

The average person burns 75-100 calories per hour sitting playing a video or computer game. “Active” games such as Wii Fit or a dance game involving physical movement will burn far more calories.

Calculator

How many calories are burned playing video games?

Formula

Calories burned per minute = (MET x body weight in Kg x 3.5) ÷ 200

“MET” is a measurement of the energy cost of physical activity for a period of time. You can find an activity’s MET on the chart above.

A task with a MET of 1 is roughly equal to a person’s energy expenditure from sitting still at room temperature not actively digesting food.

A task with a MET of 2 uses twice as much energy as a task with a MET of 1. A task with a MET of 10 uses 10 times as much energy as a task with a MET of 1.

MET values “do not estimate the energy cost of physical activity in individuals in ways that account for differences in body mass, adiposity, age, sex, efficiency of movement, geographic and environmental conditions in which the activities are performed. Thus, individual differences in energy expenditure for the same activity can be large and the true energy cost for an individual may or may not be close to the stated mean MET level as presented in the Compendium.” (as quoted from the main page of the Compendium of Physical Activities).

Example

A person weighs 180 pounds (81.65kg) and plays a light effort video game (such as a Wii Fit) (a task that has a MET value of 2.3) for 1 hour (60 minutes).

Calories Burned from a light effort video game (per minute) = (2.3 x 81.65 x 3.5) ÷ 200 = 3.29

Calories Burned from a light effort video game (for 60 minutes) = 3.29 x 60 = 197

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