Every move you make contributes to your overall daily calorie burn. Calories burned per hour varies from activity to activity and person to person. Use a calorie burn calculator like the one found at Discovery Health to get a better estimate of the number of calories you burn performing the activities you participate in each day.
Vigorous-Intensity Activities
According to the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, vigorous intensity activities are those that burn more than 350 calories per hour. Vigorous activities are beneficial because they often have a greater effect on body composition than less strenuous activities, even though the cardiovascular benefits are typically the same. According to Discovery Health, a 150-pound individual can burn approximately these calories when performing the following vigorous activities:
Racquetball, 588 calories
Jogging at 6 miles per hour, 654 calories
Playing basketball, 450 calories
Rock climbing, 748 calories
Snowboarding, 428 calories
Moderate-Intensity Activities
The American College of Sports Medicine recommends that adults receive at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical exercise at least five days a week. Moderate-intensity exercise raises your heart rate and increases your breathing frequency, but you should still be able to carry on a conversation fairly easily. The following calorie burns were calculated using Discovery Health's calculator and are based on a 150-pound individual. These moderate-intensity activities burn between 150 to 350 calories each hour:
Walking at 3 miles per hour, 224 calories
Recreational volleyball, 204 calories
Table tennis, 272 calories
Recreational badminton, 306 calories
Horseback riding, 272 calories
Household Chores
Cleaning, cooking, gardening and washing the car are big contributors to your overall calorie burn. The following amounts were calculated on Discovery Health and are based on a 150-pound individual performing chores for an hour:
General yard work, 340 calories
Moderate household cleaning, 238 calories
Washing the car, 306 calories
Scrubbing the bathroom or kitchen, 258 calories
Preparing food, 170 calories
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