How many calories does 5,000 steps burn?

The short answer

About 210 calories, for an adult of average height who weighs 70 kg (154 lb). Your weight changes it more than anything else: about 160 calories at 55 kg (121 lb) and about 300 at 100 kg (220 lb). 5,000 steps is about 3.5 km, or 2.2 miles, for an adult of average height, and about 42 minutes of walking at a normal pace.

5,000 steps, calories by body weight

Body weight	Calories burned
55 kg (121 lb)	about 160 kcal
70 kg (154 lb)	about 210 kcal
85 kg (187 lb)	about 250 kcal
100 kg (220 lb)	about 300 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 5,000 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 220 calories at a stroll and 210 at a brisk walk. 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 160 for the same 5,000 steps at 70 kg, because its Move ring counts only the calories on top of that.

Where 5,000 steps sits

In the step tiers used in research, under 5,000 steps a day is “sedentary” and 5,000 to 7,499 is “low active”, so 5,000 is the line where studies stop describing you as inactive.

Your own number

The walking calories calculator takes your weight, your height and your steps, and how many miles is 5,000 steps has the distance and time for every height. For other step counts, see calories per 1,000 steps.

Walking with a finish line

Walking is easy to skip when it leads nowhere in particular. reTrek gives your walks a finish line: 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. Instead of fitting in a walk for its own sake, you walk to reach the next milestone.

At 5,000 steps a day, Lukla to Everest Base Camp takes about 16 days. Everest Base Camp is free. Get reTrek.