Skeleton calculator
Put your weight, minutes and MET value in: 175 lb, 45 minutes at MET 6 burns 357.2 kcal — 476.27 kcal an hour, 7.94 kcal a minute.
★ SPORTS · WINTER · CALORIES
On the defaults — 175 lb, 45 minutes at MET 6 — skeleton burns 357.2 kcal, 476.27 kcal an hour, 7.94 kcal a minute. This is the skeleton calories tool: weight in kilograms times the MET value is the hourly burn, and the hourly burn times the minutes on the run is the total — a run guessed from the clock alone tells you nothing until the weight and the effort behind it are known.
Put your weight, minutes and MET value in: 175 lb, 45 minutes at MET 6 burns 357.2 kcal — 476.27 kcal an hour, 7.94 kcal a minute.
It means a 175 lb rider in a 45-minute skeleton session at MET 6 burns three hundred and fifty-seven kilocalories, which is 476.27 kcal an hour and 7.94 kcal a minute. The weight sets how much body the run has to move, the MET value sets how hard the moving is, and the minutes set how long it goes on: one more minute adds 7.94 kcal at the default pace, and a harder session adds kilocalories to every minute without the clock moving at all. The only judgement is the MET value itself — a gentle ride down the track and a full training session are not the same outing, and the effort actually spent is the only honest source for it.
| Output | Formula | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Weight in kg | weight × 0.45359237 | 79.38 kg — 175 × 0.45359237. |
| Per hour | MET × weight in kg | 476.27 kcal — 6 × 79.38. |
| Total | per hour × minutes ÷ 60 | 357.2 kcal — 476.27 × 45 ÷ 60. |
| Per minute | total ÷ minutes | 7.94 kcal — 357.2 ÷ 45. |
First, check the minutes honestly: 45 minutes must be minutes actually skeleton racing, not minutes spent queuing for the sled, watching other runs, or warming up inside — a minute counted that was spent in the queue adds 7.94 kcal that was never burned. Second, check the weight against the rider: 175 lb must be the rider actually on the sled, not an average across a mixed crew of adults and juniors — weight scales every minute, so mixing riders breaks the total. Third, check the MET value against the session: MET 6 must be the session actually raced, not a gentle ride scored as a workout — the sprint start, hard steering, and bracing through corners all lift the effort, while lying still as a passenger lowers it.
175 lb, 45 minutes, MET 6. Kilograms: 175 × 0.45359237 = 79.38 kg. Per hour: 6 × 79.38 = 476.27 kcal. Total: 476.27 × 45 ÷ 60 = 357.2 kcal. Per minute: 357.2 ÷ 45 = 7.94 kcal. In practice that means three quarters of an hour of skeleton burns about as much as a brisk half-hour walk, and the 476.27 kcal per-hour figure is the one to set against other winter sports, since one hour is the unit every activity shares.
At 30 minutes instead of 45, the total falls to 238.14 kcal — 476.27 kcal an hour, 7.94 kcal a minute. At 60 minutes instead of 45, the total rises to 476.27 kcal — 476.27 kcal an hour, 7.94 kcal a minute. At MET 8 instead of 6, the total rises to 476.27 kcal — 635.03 kcal an hour, 10.58 kcal a minute. At 200 lb instead of 175, the total rises to 408.23 kcal — 90.72 kg, 544.31 kcal an hour, 9.07 kcal a minute.
The minutes behind 357.2 kcal are 45: at 30 minutes the total is 238.14 kcal; at 60 minutes it is 476.27 kcal. The MET behind 357.2 kcal is 6: at MET 5 the total is 297.67 kcal; at MET 8 it is 476.27 kcal — the MET value never touches the minutes, only how hard each minute is.
The defaults assume 175 lb, 45 minutes, and MET 6, for one rider in a proper session. They do not assume track length, ice conditions, temperature, clothing weight, or waiting time between runs — so treat 357.2 kcal as the planning burn for 45 minutes at MET 6, and check it against the session actually raced before logging it as exact.
The arithmetic is exact for the inputs entered; the judgement is the minutes actually raced, the true weight, and the true MET value for that session. Real sessions vary with track, ice, and how much sprinting the run layout forces — so treat 357.2 kcal as the planning burn for 175 lb, 45 minutes at MET 6, and check it against the session before logging it as exact.
Bright Side Kit, “Skeleton Calories Calculator: 175 lb, 45 Min, 357.2 kcal”, https://brightoolbox.com/skeleton-calories-calculator/, accessed 3 November 2026. Students and researchers: cite the calculator name, the page URL and the date you used it, and quote the defaults (175 lb, 45 minutes, MET 6) so the result can be checked.
357.2 kcal on the defaults: 175 lb, 45 minutes at MET 6 — 476.27 kcal an hour.
476.27 kcal an hour on the defaults: MET 6 × 79.38 kg.
7.94 kcal a minute on the defaults: 357.2 kcal ÷ 45 minutes.
Because it scales every minute: at MET 8 the same 45 minutes burn 476.27 kcal, while at MET 5 they burn 297.67 kcal.
Race longer or harder: 60 minutes burns 476.27 kcal, and a MET 8 session burns 476.27 kcal in 45 minutes.
Only if it is part of the session: sprinting and bracing are real effort, but minutes spent standing in the queue are not racing minutes.