How many calories does 3,000 steps burn?

The short answer

About 130 calories, for an adult of average height who weighs 70 kg (154 lb). Your weight changes it more than anything else: about 100 calories at 55 kg (121 lb) and about 180 at 100 kg (220 lb). 3,000 steps is about 2.1 km, or 1.3 miles, for an adult of average height, and about 25 minutes of walking at a normal pace.

3,000 steps, calories by body weight

Body weight	Calories burned
55 kg (121 lb)	about 100 kcal
70 kg (154 lb)	about 130 kcal
85 kg (187 lb)	about 150 kcal
100 kg (220 lb)	about 180 kcal

For an adult of average height, about 1.7 m (5 ft 7 in), on level ground. The figures come from a model of walking energy built on height, weight and speed, which tested within a few percent of measured values.

Does walking faster burn more?

Barely, for the same 3,000 steps. A brisk walk burns calories faster than a stroll, but it also gets you through the steps sooner, so the total comes out almost the same: for a 70 kg adult, about 130 calories whether you stroll or walk briskly. What changes the total is weight, hills, and how many steps you take, not how quickly.

Why your watch may show less

These are total calories, including what your body burns anyway just by being alive. Apple Watch shows less, about 90 for the same 3,000 steps at 70 kg, because its Move ring counts only the calories on top of that.

Where 3,000 steps sits

Three thousand steps is roughly what 30 minutes of brisk walking adds to a day. A review of step targets (Tudor-Locke and colleagues, 2011) used a brisk cadence of about 100 steps a minute to translate 30 minutes of moderate walking into about 3,000 steps, on top of the steps of daily life.

Your own number

The walking calories calculator takes your weight, your height and your steps, and how many miles is 3,000 steps has the distance and time for every height. For other step counts, see calories per 1,000 steps.

A reason to walk today

Most of us know we should walk more and still skip it, because “go for a walk” has no finish line. reTrek gives you one: pick a famous route, like the Camino de Santiago or the Inca Trail, and every walk moves you further along it, with a short film about the place waiting at each milestone. The walk you would have skipped becomes the one that gets you to the next milestone.

At 3,000 steps a day, Lukla to Everest Base Camp takes about 27 days. Everest Base Camp is free. Get reTrek.