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Gardening calories

Deebautista
Deebautista Posts: 51 Member
edited January 20 in Fitness and Exercise
I have been digging holes and hoeing and raking and dragging big pots from here to there...that HAS to be worth more than 314 calories! Still have a couple more hours to go. :)

Replies

  • phjorg
    phjorg Posts: 252 Member
    yes and no. there is burn of course, but its lots of stop/start and uses smaller muscle groups like arms vs legs for running. so calorie burn is not near what it would be from pure cardio. you subtract your bmr of 2-3 cal/min you can prob expect a good 1-4 cal/min from gardening exercise depending on intensity.
  • Deebautista
    Deebautista Posts: 51 Member
    Thanks, great info! I guess I was gauging it by my red, sweaty face and how achey I was last night after doing about three hours of yard work.
  • charovnitza
    charovnitza Posts: 689
    I know how you feel. Yesterday I raked all the debris, leftover leaves, and winter crud from my lawn and flower beds for 2 1/2 hours. Over 700 cals, not bad (raking lawn). But today, I dug out 3 large rose bushes, with big tap roots for 1 1/2 hours, and it was just over 490 cals. Seemed like it should be more, but I guess not...
  • singer201
    singer201 Posts: 563 Member
    The "gardening" calorie count HAS to be a generalization, but it does come out to a bit more per hour than heavy, vigorous cleaning, and the less fit we are, the more we burn doing it. The best thing about gardening is that you can usually see the results of your exercise in how nice the yard looks (which gives me a boost), and the continuous low-intensity moving required is good for the body.
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