Walking up stairs burns more calories than walking down a flat hallway because you must hoist your body weight from one stair to the next. Climbing stairs works your glutes, hamstrings, quadriceps and calves.
By Time
A 150 lb. person burns about nine calories per minute climbing stairs. That works out to roughly 0.18 calories per lb. of body weight.
By Steps
A 150 lb. person burns about five calories per flight of stairs, according to the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services. To put this in perspective, you would have to climb the Empire State Building about seven times to burn 1 lb. of fat.
Variables
Your body weight isn’t the only factor that affects your calorie burn on stairs. Your fitness level and pace affect how efficient your body is at conserving calories, with fitter people and slower paces burning fewer calories per floor. Also, longer flights and taller steps require more calories to ascend.
Potential
A 150 lb. person who walks up three flights of stairs six times a day can burn 32,850 calories in a year. That’s enough to lose more than 9 pounds in one year, just by skipping the elevator.
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