What are MET Values?
Simply put, MET or metabolic equivalent, is one way to estimate how many calories are burned during activity. 1 MET is generally considered to be the rate at which a person burns calories at rest. Calculating caloric expenditure from MET values is fairly straight forward.
(MET Value) x (Weight in Kilograms) x (Hours)
Sitting around watching television has a MET value of 1. So, how many calories would you expend just relaxing watching your favorite TV show for an hour? To make it simple, we will use 100 kilograms (kg) for weight as this is an easy number to work with (100 kg is approximately 220 pounds. To figure your weight in kg, simply divide your weight in pounds by 2.2).
Calculating how many calories you expended watching TV for an hour looks like this.
1 MET x 100 kg x 1 hour = 100 calories
If you have dogs, walking the dog has a MET value of 3.0. That is assuming you are actually walking the dog instead of being walked by the dog :) Anyway, using the same equation, time and body weight above, the caloric expenditure for an hour of dog walking would be,
3 MET x 100 kg x 1 hour = 300 calories
In other words, walking the dog expends 3 times as many calories per unit of time than sitting around watching TV.
One more example.
Let's pick something obscure like snow shoeing. Snow shoeing has a MET value of 8.0. So last weekend you spent two hour and fifteen minutes snow shoeing (this would equal 2.25 hours). For this example we will use 75 kg for weight. Calculating caloric expenditure for this example would look like this,
8.0 MET x 75 kg x 2.25 hours = one second let me get my calculator, ah ok = 1350 calories
About now you may be wondering where you can find MET values :)
Where Do I Find MET Values?
The Compendium of Physical Activities has MET values for more than 600 different activities. There is a chance that you may participate in an activity that is not listed in the Compendium of Physical Activities. However, if you can't find the exact activity, there is a good chance you will find one similar to it. Searching the web, you can find MET values for activities not listed in the Compendium of Physical Activities, but there is often no way to guarantee their accuracy.
Due to the fact that most individuals will never perform a number of the activities listed in the Compendium of Physical Activities, "moving an icehouse" being one example of this, ObesityHelp has only included the most common activities. We have provided the functionality for you to add custom activities of your own if we currently do not have everything you need.
Click here to download and view the Compendium of Physical Activities.
Just an Estimate!
MET values will provide you with an estimate of caloric expenditure. The caloric expenditure values obtained using MET values should be relatively close to actual calories burned, but MET values do not account for variations in body composition, efficiency of movement, and a number of other factors. This is one reason why, if you have a more accurate measure of calories burned, we allow you to override the MET value calculation and manually enter calories burned.
If you have any comments, please leave them below.