Gardening Question

hilsidney
hilsidney Posts: 93 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Two days this week I worked in the garden, digging out new beds, hauling soil, framing the beds with brick, etc. Each time I worked a little over two hours. When i put 2 hours of gardening into the exercise calculator it has me burning 599 calories. Is that possible? I mean, it is labor intensive, but 599 calories seems like a lot. It was quite fun though. I ate back some but not all of the exercise calories one of the days just in case, but the other time I did.... I was famished!

Replies

  • Rosemarose
    Rosemarose Posts: 69 Member
    Sounds about right. I burned 330 calories a couple of weeks ago in an hour. I had my heart rate monitor on the whole time because I knew it would be hard work and I was curious to see what I really burned.
  • neurochamp
    neurochamp Posts: 261 Member
    It really depends on what exactly you mean by "gardening". For example, when I am turning over soil and actually doing a lot of digging and planting, and it's hot and sunny outside, I can *easily* burn over 300-400 calories in an hour. But when I'm doing some basic weeding, watering, and other miscellaneous garden-tending, I'm lucky to burn more than 100 calories in an hour.

    Bottom line: gardening is super variable as far as calorie burn goes. Like with most other stuff on MFP, your best bet is to use a heart-rate monitor so you know *your* burn (not some random estimate from the exercise database)
  • Laurej
    Laurej Posts: 227
    It really depends on what exactly you mean by "gardening". For example, when I am turning over soil and actually doing a lot of digging and planting, and it's hot and sunny outside, I can *easily* burn over 300-400 calories in an hour. But when I'm doing some basic weeding, watering, and other miscellaneous garden-tending, I'm lucky to burn more than 100 calories in an hour.

    Bottom line: gardening is super variable as far as calorie burn goes. Like with most other stuff on MFP, your best bet is to use a heart-rate monitor so you know *your* burn (not some random estimate from the exercise database)

    great advice! :)
  • hilsidney
    hilsidney Posts: 93 Member
    Thanks everyone! For some reason it never occurred to me to wear my HRM. :)
  • jenngi620
    jenngi620 Posts: 51
    I don't know about you all, but even when I intend to have an "easy" day gardening it is back breaking work. The hose ends up with holes that I need to plug, the stakes pull up and I need to pound them back in, the seeds I just bought are at the other end of the world, and when I finish the round trip I remember that I need to go back to the house to pee..... Its not cardio for the most part, but definatly endurance work. I also try to use some burn I'm pretty confident with to gauge how reasonable the estimates are. For example, I know a slow jog for 20 min burns in the 200cal range. Therefore just standing up and moving around could reasonably burn upwards of 300cal an hour.
  • hilsidney
    hilsidney Posts: 93 Member
    That's true! I'm so sore today I can barely walk from all of the squatting down, lifting/carrying bricks, digging and pulling! Ouch! I still have at least a couple more hours worth left too! It is hard work.

Categories