What Are The Average Calories Burned Per Hour?

The average calories you burn per hour depends on what you're doing. Exercising obviously increases the number of calories you burn, but your lifestyle at home and work can be a larger factor. Essentially, an active lifestyle can be your best informal exercise. It's also important to understand why some people burn calories more easily than others.

Explanation

You lose 1 lb. when you burn 3,500 calories more than you eat. This makes losing weight difficult because the most strenuous exercises burn 1,000 to 1,500 calories per hour, with heavier people burning more. In addition, you should eat 1,600 to 2,400 calories daily if you want the energy for an active lifestyle, according to The Merck Manual of Medical Information.

Women's complaints about having more difficulty losing weight than men are scientifically accurate because muscle burns more calories than fat. The average woman has about twice the percentage of body fat and about half the percentage of lean muscle mass as the average man.

Sedentary Lifestyle

A sedentary person's average calories burned per hour is low. Sleeping burns only 46 calories per hour in the average 155-lb. person. Watching television burns 56 calories per hour, reading and sitting burns 84 and standing in line burns 94. People who weigh 125 lbs. burn roughly 10 to 20 fewer calories per hour than 155-lb. people, while people who weigh 185 lbs. burn about 10 to 20 more calories.

Losing weight is more difficult if you have a sedentary job. Computer work burns 102 calories per hour in a 155-lb. person, while light office work and truck driving burn 112 and 148, respectively.

Active Lifestyle

You can increase your average calories burned per hour significantly without formal exercise. For example, gardening and weeding burn 334 and 344 calories per hour if you weigh 155 lbs. A 155-lb. person burns an average 372 calories per hour painting outside, 446 calories hourly doing roofing and carpentry work and 298 calories hourly raking lawns. There are also calorie-burning activities you can do daily. Playing with your children, for example, burns 298 to 372 calories per hour if you weigh 155 lbs.

Formal Exercise

Vigorous exercise burns far more calories per hour than most daily life activities. Running and bicycling at fast speeds can burn more than 1,000 calories per hour. That might be an unreasonable expectation if you've been sedentary, but swimming at any speed burns 596 to 818 calories per hour if you weigh 155 lbs. Racquetball, rope jumping and martial arts burn 744 calories per hour. Rock climbing, touch football, basketball and hockey burn 596.