How Many Calories Do You Burn Doing Yardwork?

Doing yardwork may not be on your list of exercises to burn calories, but perhaps it should be. Depending on how much you weigh and the type of work you do, you can burn 240 to 448 calories per hour. In general, the more you weigh and the more vigorous the activity, the more calories you burn.

Burn calories while you do yardwork. (Image: George Doyle/Stockbyte/Getty Images)

Calories Burned at 125 Pounds

A person weighing about 125 pounds burns approximately 240 calories an hour doing activities such as raking the lawn, sacking leaves or grass, and planting seedlings or shrubs. Mowing the lawn with a power push mower burns about 270 calories per hour, and pulling weeds burns 278. Chores that burn approximately 300 calories per hour include digging or spading dirt and laying sod or crushed rock. Mowing the lawn with a hand push mower burns 330 calories per hour, and chopping wood burns 360.

Calories Burned at 155 Pounds

If your weight is approximately 155 pounds, activities such as planting seedlings and shrubs, raking the lawn, and sacking leaves or grass should burn about 298 calories per hour. At this weight, mowing with a power push mower for one hour burns 334 calories, pulling weeds burns 344, and digging dirt or laying sod burns about 372. Mowing with a hand push mower burns 410 calories per hour, while chopping wood burns 446.

Calories Burned at 185 Pounds

If you weigh about 185 pounds, planting seedlings and shrubs, raking the lawn, and sacking leaves or grass each burns approximately 356 calories per hour. You should burn about 400 calories per hour mowing with a power push mower, and pulling weeds burns about 410. Burn 444 calories if you lay sod or crushed rock, or dig or spade dirt for an hour. Mow with a hand push mower for an hour to burn 488 calories. Chopping wood burns about 532 calories per hour.

Considerations

The calculations given for the number of calories burned are not exact. It is likely that your weight varies a bit from that used in the calculations, and people typically do not do yardwork at a constant rate. For example, if you rake the lawn more vigorously than another person, you'll burn more calories than that person in the same amount of time. Use the calculations as a guide to help you get a general idea of how many calories you burn doing yardwork.