We love gardening, and we love food. Gardening can provide us with food, but it can also allow us to burn the calories that we consume from the snack cupboard. Rarely is there an activity we enjoy, and it is beneficial to our health, so let’s celebrate by exploring the number of calories you can burn while gardening.
Cleaning the patio
If you are looking for a gentle calorie burn, you can begin with cleaning the patio. Brushing and washing down the patio can burn up to 150 calories in an hour, which is a decent starting point.
Planting and weeding
Before we get into the big hitters, we will start with activities we love most in the garden. The touches we put into our garden offer those finishing flourishes and offer us the most enjoyment. Planting your flowers and shrubs and keeping your beds and borders free of weeds can burn between 200 and 400 calories.
Think about all that kneeling and getting up; it is perfect for toning the thighs.
If you wonder what treat you can eat, thanks to your efforts in the garden, try eating peanut butter and banana toastie. It will boost your energy; it is delicious, and it sits neatly in the 200 – 400 calorie window you will be burning.
Be aware that sowing seeds in your greenhouse don’t count here. You are looking at 50 calories an hour here, which is about what you could burn watching television.
Mowing the lawn
Mowing the lawn might seem like a gentler activity in the garden, but you still burn off the calories – unless, of course, it is a ride-on mower, and that is slightly different. If you push your mower up and down for an hour, you will burn off a couple of hundred calories. Emptying the mower and treating the lawn will burn a little more off too.
While the calorie burn is low here, you will do it regularly over the spring and summer months. It might be a slow burn, but it is good regular exercise.
If you want to double the calorie burn, find yourself a manual mower that requires you to push it along.
Cutting through the grass with a manual mower takes a good degree of effort, and the calories burn away.
Assembling garden furniture
Assembling your garden furniture not only increases your chance of swearing aggressively, but also helps you to burn 275 calories per hour. As most flat-packed furniture can take the best part of a whole afternoon, and sometimes in the evening, to complete, you are going to burn off lots of calories! You will be glad to know that the much-needed alcoholic drink you need after this experience is only, on average, 300 calories.
Raking and bagging leaves and other detritus
Keeping your garden clear of debris can sometimes feel like an endless task. While raking leaves offers excellent brown stuff for your composting to mix with the green, you can feel like you are on a treadmill.
Fortunately, this treadmill can burn up to 450 calories every hour of activity.
So, not only do you clear your garden produce great compost to dig into your borders, but you exercise too. It seems so much more sensible than running on a treadmill in a gym.
The average calorie count for a piece of cake is about 300 calories. So, once you have finished tidying the garden, you are free to settle down to some sweet delights.
Digging
If you are looking at landscaping, moving rocks, or generally moving dirt,
you will be burning off a massive 600 calories per hour of labour.
Not only are you getting in some serious cardio work here, but you will be strengthening those muscles too. The best thing about landscaping in a garden as exercise is that the product of your labour is dramatic. Imagine going to your allotment and digging it over ready for your potatoes. After a couple of hours of digging and you have surpassed the calorie burn of a gym workout, your soil is looking in stellar condition.
Conclusion
What is clear is that you don’t need to go to the gym, and you can get all the exercise you need in your garden and with the added incentive of a beautiful space. All that effort not only results in a slimmer waist and more toned muscles, but also a display of flowers, a neat lawn, and lots of products that you can serve for your lunch.
Author Bio
This article was created by professional gardener, Ryan Jenkins who has been working in the gardening industry for over 25 years. He uses his vast wealth of knowledge to produce engaging gardening content for the Sefton Meadows blog.
