You plan to lose weight, but you don’t know how to calculate how many burned calories (kcal/min) you can get per workout? Don’t worry a second because you can easily calculate how many calories you lose while doing a particular exercise with our Stairs Calorie Calculator. Our calculator is very easy and practical, and all you have to do is select a type of activity, your current body weight, and the duration of the activity. Then, our calculator will apply the formula for calories burned and give you the number of total calories (kcal) that you will burn after the workout.

Check out this category if you need more sports-related calculators. Furthermore, we suggest you to check out this Heart Score Calculator as well, or if you are a baseball fan, there are WHIP and ERA posts where you can learn interesting things.

Take a look other related calculators, such as:

Metabolic Equivalent of Task (MET) – What is?

Metabolic equivalent of task (MET) is a unit of measurement that we use to calculate the intensity of particular activities or exercises. It represents how much energy an individual expends, relative to the individual’s mass, while performing some action.

If you are sitting and you are not in any motion (still), it is considered, by the convention, sitting has a value of 1 METs. Whereas, if you are slowly walking, it has a value of 4 METs.

Stairs Calorie Formula

Now, you are probably interested in the formula that calculates how many burned calories (kcal) we get while doing something or performing a movement. One of the problems you may think of is that each is different, so do we need a different formula? The answer is NO. We have a general formula for calculating how many calories a person burned. Therefore, this formula is not only limited to measuring calories burned while climbing stairs, as its name may indicate to you.

kcal/min = \frac {MET \times Body \; Weight_{kg} \times 3.5} {200}

Where kcal/min are calories burned per minute.

Type of Activity – MET score

As we previously emphasized, every activity is different, thus it has a different MET score. You will find the value of MET for some common daily activities in the table below.

Activities METs value
Sleeping0.95
Watching television1.0
Writing, desk work, typing1.3
Walking, household2.0
Walking, 2.0 mph (3.2 km/h)2.8
Walking the dog3.0
Walking, 2.8 – 3.2 mph (4.5 – 5.1 km/h), level, moderate pace3.5
Calisthenics (e.g., push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, lunges), moderate effort3.8
Yard work, general, moderate effort4.0
Mowing lawn, general5.5
Bicycling, leisure, 9.4 mph (15.1 km/h)5.8
Swimming laps, freestyle, light or moderate effort5.8
Jogging, general7.0
Snow shoveling, by hand, vigorous effort7.5
Running, 5 mph (8.0 km/h)8.3
Stair-treadmill ergometer, general9.0
Swimming laps, freestyle, fast, vigorous effort9.8
Running, 8 mph (12.9 km/h)11.8

Calories per step and per flight of stairs

When you walk and climb a step or a stair, we can express how many calories a person burns per step stairs based on this number. On the other hand, if we climb several stairs (set of many stairs), we can express that as calories burned per flight of stairs.

stairs calories burned

It is claimed that an average person burns approximately half of the calorie or a calorie for each normally sized flight of stairs. Whereas, for each step or climbing a stair, an average person burns around 0.17 calories.

Stairs Workout – Preparations

Having a strong will and being ambitious about how many calories you set to burn per stairs workout is not the only thing you need to think about. However, to have an as safe and effective workout as it should be, you need not skip the preparation part for health purposes.

stairs workout

Check out these recommendations:

  • Use convenient and comfortable equipment (stable shoes with soft heel area).
  • Keep your neck and shoulders straight all the time.
  • Never skip the warm-up.
  • Talk to your doctor before the workout if you have some health issues.

Is stair climbing good for weight loss?

When you mention “weight loss” many people associate it with gym, running, or outdoor activities. However, have you ever heard before that you can lose weight just by climbing stairs inside of your house without any side equipment? Well, it is more than possible, and you will be blown away by the results. Running or walking is not even close to climbing stairs regarding calories burned. In addition, climbing stairs engages and involves all the abdominal muscles, and there is less chance of injuring your knee, leg and ankle.

At what age do stairs become difficult?

The range or the exact age at which climbing stairs, running, or even light walking becomes difficult is considered 60. One of the key reasons people at 60 start feeling impossible to climb stairs or walk is lack of exercise and mobility health issues. Older people who barely walk or perform any activities daily will more likely experience this type of issue. Therefore, the less movement older people make, the more intensive obstacles they will have while climbing a stair or walking.

How to get a flat stomach from climbing stairs?

climbing stairs - weight loss

Believe me or not, you can flatten your stomach just by climbing stairs at home. First, do a simple workout every day, climbing one stair at a time, and then increase the number accordingly if you feel you can handle more. After some time, you can replace stairs climbing with running along the stairs one or more at a time. However, the faster you run or, the more stairs you run at a time, the more calories burned. In other words, you will flatten your stomach faster if you choose a higher workout speed.

Stairs Calorie Calculator – How to Use?

Our Stairs Calorie Calculator is very easy and handy to use. First, select the activity that you are about to do. You can choose from 5 different activities that our calculator offers:

  • Stair climbing (slow)
  • Stair climbing (fast)
  • Climbing a ladder
  • Descending stairs
  • Carrying load upstairs

Secondly, enter your current body weight (in kg or pounds). Then, Stairs Calorie Calculator will show you the burned rate (kcal/minutes). So, if you want to know how many calories you will burn in total, enter for how long you plan to do the workout.

Stairs Calorie Calculator – Example

Let’s use our Stairs Calorie Calculator in the example below and practically show you how it works.

Scenario: Your body weight is 90 kg (198.416 pounds), and you want to carry the load of 7-11 kg upstairs for 2 hours. What is the number of burned calories in total?

Our calculator will show you the burned calories stats:

  • 9.45 kcal/minute
  • 1134 kcal in total

FAQ

How many stairs does it take to burn 100 calories?

On average, it takes approximately 2650-3150 steps to burn 100 calories. However, if you need the ratio for a specific person, you can use our calculator for it.

How many stairs is a good workout?

Every good workout includes an effective pre-workout (warm-up). So, never skip warm-ups first. Secondly, aim for about 35 to 40 minutes of effective stairs climbing, getting your heart rate up. As a result, you will maximize the power of your muscles and burn a higher number of calories (kcal/minute). However, do not forget to cool your muscles after the workout in order to prevent any unwanted injuries or issues.

Does climbing stairs damage knees?

Climbing stairs is the best exercise for your knees and weight loss. It does not put heavy pressure on your knees because it’s more strength-oriented. However, descending stairs may cause some knee injuries if you are not careful enough.

Is walking or climbing stairs better?

Climbing stairs is proven to be a far better and more effective exercise for burning calories than walking.

How many calories does climbing stairs burn?

You can calculate how many calories you burn per activity using the following formula of our Stairs Calorie Calculator :

Calories Burned Per Minutes (kcal/minute) = (MET \times body weight in kg \times 3.5) \div 200

Calories Burned Ratio depends on:
MET value of a particular activity 
An individual’s body weight (in kg or pounds)

How many flights of stairs burn 500 calories?

This question is quite general, and all you can get is an approximate answer. Generally, if we consider that an average flight of stairs has around 20 steps, for each stair you climb, you lose around 15 calories and 5 calories for climbing down the flight.