Using a mattock/raking soil/shoveling - how many calories?

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pretentiouskate
pretentiouskate Posts: 186
in Fitness and Exercise
I'm working on putting in a raised bed for a garden - which involves moving a six-foot high pile of dirt, smoothing it out, and chopping the beginnings of trees out of it. I had tracked it as general gardening but my boyfriend argued that it seemed more like shoveling.

What should I log this as? I do it for 20 minutes and am sweating, out of breath, and achy - this is way more intense than anything else I've done, including things like walking, Just Dance 2, or the 30 Day Shred.

HELP!

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  • MochaMixAZ
    MochaMixAZ Posts: 844 Member
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    The best way to track is a heart rate monitor. Short of that, it's almost impossible to tell. I just finished some gardening myself: lugging around potting soil bags, repotting, digging, etc. I did it for about 60 minutes and burned about 500 calories... but I'm 6'0'', 250+, etc... so it's tough to compare. But maybe that will give you a ballpark. AND no matter what - great job and activity!
  • genielross
    genielross Posts: 20 Member
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    I use this website for approximate calories burned.

    http://www.caloriesperhour.com/index_burn.php
  • pretentiouskate
    pretentiouskate Posts: 186
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    The best way to track is a heart rate monitor. Short of that, it's almost impossible to tell. I just finished some gardening myself: lugging around potting soil bags, repotting, digging, etc. I did it for about 60 minutes and burned about 500 calories... but I'm 6'0'', 250+, etc... so it's tough to compare. But maybe that will give you a ballpark. AND no matter what - great job and activity!

    I realize about the HRM, but at the moment one isn't in our budget. I think I'm going to categorize what I'm doing right now as shoveling - and then use the gardening activity listed in the database for the rest.

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