How many calories do you burn walking 5 miles?

The short answer

About 480 calories, for an adult of average height who weighs 70 kg (154 lb). Your weight changes it more than anything else: about 380 calories at 55 kg (121 lb) and about 680 at 100 kg (220 lb). Five miles is 8 km, about 11,400 steps for an adult of average height, and about an hour and 37 minutes at a normal pace.

Calories for 5 miles, by body weight

Body weight	Calories for 5 miles
55 kg (121 lb)	about 380 kcal
70 kg (154 lb)	about 480 kcal
85 kg (187 lb)	about 580 kcal
100 kg (220 lb)	about 680 kcal

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

Does pace matter?

Hardly, on the flat. Walking briskly burns calories faster, but you finish sooner, so the total comes out almost the same: for a 70 kg adult, about 490 calories at a stroll of 4 km/h and 480 at a brisk 6 km/h. If you want to burn more on the same walk, the levers are distance and hills, not speed.

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 360 for 5 miles at 70 kg, because its Move ring counts only the calories on top of that.

Your own number

The walking calories calculator works it out for your weight, height and distance, and how long it takes to walk 5 miles has the steps and times. For a single mile, see calories per mile.

Walking with a finish line

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. You stop looking for a spare moment to walk and start walking to reach the next milestone.

Everest Base Camp is free. Get reTrek.