I must've burned TONS of calories waiting in line 5 hours to see Tori Spelling!
My laundry room is downstairs. My bedroom (where the laundry hampers are) is upstairs. I do laundry on the weekends, meaning, by the time I get around to it, there’s tons of it to be done. Walking up and down the stairs with a HUGE lazy-man’s-load basket full of laundry and a little dog under my feet can get old. The thing I always tell myself when I am doing it is that I’m burning calories! A small amount, perhaps, but after going down with 6 loads of dirty laundry and coming up with 6 loads of clean laundry, I feel like I’ve achieved more than clean clothes–a mini (very, very mini) leg work out! 
Wondering about the actual calories burned every weekend got to be old so I decided I turn to my trusty all-knowing friend Internet and ask: “How many calories does a person burn completing everyday tasks?” It’s like Discovery Health read my mind, because they wrote an article titled “20 Everyday Activies and the Calories They Burn” Wow. That makes research easy, doesn’t it? So before you guys go thinkin’ I’m a mathematician and a genius, know that I got these facts from the Discovery Health article. Here they are (in my own, less text-book sounding words):
- Shoppping. (This makes me very happy!) Pushing a shopping cart around a grocery store for an hour burns 243 calories. If you bag your own, carry them out and unload them all on your own, you’ll burn nearly 40 more. (Oh fooey, I thought this meant clothes shopping! But hey, according to some people, you can burn nearly 235 calories an hour while you walk around the mall and stand in line.. Umm, shopping, anyone?)
- Brushing Your Teeth. Well, I brush mine so they don’t fall out and so I don’t smell, but I guess another upside to brushing your teeth is that after two minutes of brushing (the suggested time per brush session according to the ADA) you burn 5.7 calories. (I know, I know, silly but it’s kinda fun to know
) - Polish Your Furniture! I love to do this, because the smell of lemon makes me happy. But now I like it just a bit more. Why? Because 30 minutes of polishing your furniture (dusting, too) burns 80 calories. I knew moving my arm all around and breaking a sweat was cool, I just didn’t know why!
- Smooching. I wouldn’t have guessed this one burns as much as it does, but 30 minutes of kissing burns 36 calories. That’s two Crystal Light Popsicles! And hey, kissing can sometimes lead to a higher calorie burning activity, too.. heh
- Ironing Your Clothes (or Your Significant Other’s). 30 minutes of ironing burns 76.5 calories. Now, I don’t iron that often, but when I do, I go on a rampage and iron everything! And for those of you who iron, too, you know that you really earn those burned calories! So next time you iron, live it up because you’re burning almost 100 calories! (I round up )
- Painting! After completely remodeling almost every single room in our house last year, I knew painting was very hard. So it was a nice surprise to read that painting for 3 hours burns 1,026 calories. Wow! And strengthens your arms and abs, might I add!
- Laundry. Ahh, the moment all us laundry-doers have been waiting for. 30 minutes of folding clothes burns 72 calories. They don’t say how many calories a ton of trips up and down the stairs burns, but I’m going to guess 2,000, or however much is in a massive bowl of ice cream with cherries.
- Picking Up Garbage (Whhaaa?). I love the town I live in and I’ve volunteered to assemble playgrounds and paint elementary schools but a girl has her limits. I don’t think I’m gonna go convict and pick up trash. But if you want to, 4 hours of picking up trash burns 1,800 calories. Another perk? Beautifying your community. And getting street cred.
- Mopping! After just 30 minutes of mopping floors, you will burn 153 calories.
- Mowing the Lawn. This is hard work but well worth it! An hour of mowing the grass burns 324 calories. Fire the lawn boy (if you have one) because not only is mowing the lawn kind of therapeutic (clears my head!) but burns a lot of calories.
- Playing Cards. If you can avoid all the nomtastic chips & dip and peanuts & beer, 3 hours of playing cards can burn 351 calories. If you can play cards for 3 hours, you could walk away 353 calories lighter and slightly richer, too! (Or… we won’t go there!)
- Cooking Dinner. Preparing a main meal like dinner can mean you are in the kitchen for 30 minutes (or more). Here’s something nice about being the cook: you burn 74 calories for every half hour of cooking.
- Moving. It really, really sucks but you can burn 504 calories for every hour you’re moving. For as tired as I feel after I move, I definitely expected more calories to be burned! Who’s with me?!
- Shoveling Snow. Uhhh, I live in Central California where–in my lifetime–I’ve yet to see snow at my house more than once, so I don’t think is applies to me. But for the rest of you: 30 minutes of shoveling snow burns 202.5 calories.
- Sweeping. This goes hand-in-hand with #9: 10 minutes of sweeping burns 28 calories and if you mop afterward? You can burn 181 calories.
- Vacuuming. This is one of my favorite things to do because my Dyson (wedding gift, I’m not rich!) is amazing and leaves me feeling like my carpet is brand new! And guess what? 20 minutes burns 56 calories. Ahh, that’s nice to hear!
- Wash Your Whip! Ok, no one calls their car a “whip” but I like it And if you wash your car yourself it will burn 102 calories.
- Sleeping. Whhaaat?? Naps burn calories? Um, yeah, but not quite. 8 hours of quality sleep burn 360 calories. I heard if you dream about exercising you burn more? Just kidding. It wouldn’t matter anyway, since all I dream about is Ryan Reynolds and new shoes.
- Gardening. Put your green thumb to work and you can burn 648 calories for just two hours of gardening. I’m thinking I need to do wayy more yard work, now!
- TV. One hour in front of the tube burns 72 calories. I don’t think it matters if you’re eating chips and drinking soda, though. Just a thought!
There you have it! Everyday tasks and what we burn while we’re doing them. I was surprised by a few, like kissing and playing cards, but others I felt were par for the course. I think I am going to step up my yard work game, now, seeing how much calories are burned!
Are there any tasks you do on a daily basis that burn a lot of calories?? (excluding Working out!)
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