For those reluctant to do their household chores, the knowledge that you might burn a significant amount of calories might just be the motivation you need.
Boredom is more often than not associated with cleaning and DIY, however the vigorous exercise that goes into it is often forgotten. A jog or spin class is not the only way to burn calories and lose weight, after all.
The UK home improvement service Plentific rounded up how many calories you burn each hour from doing the following chores based on an adult’s weight of 68kg.
Cleaning
For light cleaning jobs like dusting or hanging up clothes, you can burn 171 calories in an hour. So if you add in some more strenuous cleaning methods like vacuuming, you can burn even more. The amount of calories burnt cleaning are therefore equivalent to almost four Romany Creams.
Sweeping
Brushing away the dust on the kitchen floor or leaves outside on the patio for one hour can result in 269 calo- ries being burnt, meaning just 30 minutes of sweeping will burn 135 calories – almost as much as a can of Coke.
While re-organising the furniture in your home is often an arduous task, the benefits, in addition to rejuvenating the feng shui, are evident by burning 408 calories. Therefore, one hour of furniture moving would be similar to playing 50 minutes of tennis.
Gardening
When the weather allows, putting on your gloves and getting your fingers green can burn 339 calories. Similarly, pushing around a lawn mower for an hour burns 376 calories – more than two bottles of the beer Stella Artois.
P ainting a room
If a New Year’s resolution was to freshen up the home with some redecorating, you’ll be pleased to know that it burns 306 calories.
If this is a longer job, which it often is, and takes four hours that is 1 200 calories burnt on painting walls – the same as two Big Macs. – The Independent