Free tool
Weighted vest walking calorie calculator
Pandolf equation plus the modern under-prediction correction, simplified for flat weighted-vest walks.
Total burn
188
kcal over 30 min (6.3 kcal/min)
- Raw Pandolf
- 159 kcal
- With correction
- 188 kcal
- Unloaded baseline
- 147 kcal
- Load uplift
- +8%
- MET-only estimate
- 167 kcal
- vs your watch (likely)
- +13%
The MET-only estimate is what most fitness watches and apps use when they don't know you're carrying load. The Pandolf number adds the vest load explicitly.
Buy it back
Open the CalBurndown app to log 188 kcal and see what to walk, ruck, or stand to stay on budget.
Formula & assumptions
The Pandolf equation predicts metabolic rate (in watts) for a person walking with an external load:
M (W) = 1.5·W
+ 2.0·(W + L)·(L / W)²
+ η·(W + L)·(1.5·V² + 0.35·V·G)Where W = body weight (kg), L = load (kg), V = walking speed (m/s), G = grade (%), and η = terrain factor (1.0 pavement → 1.8 swamp/snow).
Pandolf treats a weighted vest the same as any other carried load: load is load in the equation. We default to 0% grade and pavement because that matches most vest walking.
We convert watts to kcal/min via kcal/min = W × 60 / 4184, then multiply by duration. The optional ×1.18 factor compensates for the consistent under-prediction modern validation studies have found in the raw 1977 formula.
The MET comparison uses speed-interpolated walking METs from the Compendium of Physical Activities, applied to your combined body + vest mass.
References
Pandolf, K. B., Givoni, B., & Goldman, R. F. (1977). Predicting energy expenditure with loads while standing or walking very slowly. Journal of Applied Physiology, 43(4), 577–581.
Ainsworth, B. E. et al. (2011). Compendium of Physical Activities: a second update of codes and MET values. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 43(8), 1575–1581.