8 Fun Ways To Burn Calories

When you think of ways to get fit, many people are immediately going to picture going to the gym, or perhaps going jogging.

And while these remain popular options, they are far from being the only way to burn calories and get fitter.

I’ve never been much of a one for exercise (although I have been using my exercise bike every day for over four months now), but I do know that the thought of working out at a gym (not to mention the hassle of getting there and back, etc.) is off-putting.

And as for running of any type, I’ve never enjoyed that, not even when I was a kid.

So, what alternatives are there, where you can do something that’s actually enjoyable for regular folks, rather than the masochists who enjoy pumping iron and the such like?

Well, it turns out there are few options, including ones you might traditionally see more as ways to entertain yourself.

Before I get started with this list, please bear in mind that the calories quoted apply to a 150-pound person doing that activity for one hour.

Dancing

While dancing has never been my thing – not ballroom, not disco – I do accept that it’s incredibly popular with people of all ages, and it’s also another way to get rid of a few calories while you enjoy yourself.

There are clearly many different styles of dancing, some more energetic than others, so you can expect to burn in the region of 204 to 374 calories.

Lawn And Garden

I used to dislike having to do gardening, both as a child when I was co-opted in helping my parents out, and later, as an adult when I had my own house – it’s boring, and, to me, ultimately pointless, because you have to keep on doing it over and over again.

And I still do – which is why I don’t do any. 🙂

However, if I’d been more conscious of my health and weight back then, maybe I would have thought differently because it’s another way to burn calories while doing something that needs doing anyway.

It turns out that pushing a power mower will burn up about 374 calories (and this figure will presumably be higher if you use the older-style non-power mower), and once you’re done with that activity, you can do some weeding, for an additional 306 calories.

And lastly, come autumn time (that’s fall for my American readers), you can rake up the fallen leaves and burn another 292 calories.

Sports

There are so many sporting activities to choose from, but in the USA, it may not surprise you to learn that the two sports which may be the most popular are basketball and (American) football (i.e. not soccer), and these burn 408 and 544 calories respectively.

If you would prefer to partake in other sports, you can probably find the necessary calorie information online.

Trampolining

This has become a bit of a craze in the USA over the past few years, especially with the advent of models that are relatively safe because they have a cage around them to stop you and your children flying off into the bushes, or worse, and causing injuries.

So, not only are these fun to use and play on, they also burn up to 238 calories.

Walking

Even the simple act of walking (e.g. while taking your dog out, or as instead of using your car) can burn up calories.

You could expect to get through about 100 calories for each mile per hour you walk at.

Note that this assumes you are walking on a flat surface – walking uphill can burn a lot more – maybe even an additional 50%.

Water Activities

These may be considered as another type of sport, but again, you have a lot of options to choose from, and one of the major benefits is that many of these are low impact, which can be important if you have some health problems (e.g. arthritic knees).

Let’s start with swimming, which, at a rate of 75 yards per minute, burns through 748 calories.

And even if you slow down a bit and only swim at 50 yards per minute, you’re still going to burn 544 calories.

Then, there is scuba diving, for those who prefer to be below the water’s surface, where you could burn around 476 calories.

Next, there is good old snorkelling, which gets rid of 340 calories.

And lastly, in this section, there is water aerobics, which became popular in the 1990s or so, where you could still burn around 300 calories.

Cross-Country Skiing

One final look at another type of sport, which is actually one of the highest calorie- burning activities per time spent.

Depending on how fast you are going, you can expect to burn anywhere from 476 to 1,122 calories!

Sex

This list would be incomplete without some mention of what many have called “man’s favourite sport” (and I mean that in the broader sense of humans rather than specifically males).

Let’s start with the simple act of kissing, which can burn 68 calories. This may not seem like much, but I think I’d rather spend an hour doing that than an hour doing gardening, even if the calories burned is a lot lower. 🙂

When it gets a bit more serious, and you start making out proper, the calories burned increases to around 460.

Erotic massages are another way to be intimate, but because of their generally gentle nature, you should expect to burn only around 80 calories with this activity. (Still preferable to dancing or gardening, for me, though!)

Next, there is, without wishing to be too coarse, the hand job, which will use up about 100 calories, and oral sex, which can burn up to 200 calories.

And lastly, the big one – actually having sex. Studies have been conducted on this, and on average, women burn off about 150 calories, while the figure for men is closer to 220.

These numbers will vary, of course, depending on how energetic you are, and even what position you adopt.

Also, remember that all of the calories quoted above are for one entire hour’s of activity – and maybe I’m projecting here, but a solid hour of sex (not the kissing and foreplay) may not be that common, which is why the studies only measured the calories burned over a 25-minute period.

What Do The Above Numbers Mean?

For many people, unless you are on a calorie-controlled diet or work in the sports and fitness industry, those calorie numbers mentioned above may not mean very much.

So, to help you put them in perspective, let’s compare those to how many calories are contained in various foods and drinks (and again, these are typical figures only):

• McDonald’s Big Mac with cheese – 704
• Snicker’s Bar – 273
• Starbucks Grande Caffe Latte made with whole milk – 272
• Can of Coca-Cola – 207
• Glass of wine (3.5 fluid ounces) – 79
• Carrot – 30

With these kinds of numbers, it is easy to see why it’s practically impossible to exercise away a bad diet.

For example, it takes almost two hours of mowing the yard to burn off that Big Mac you had at lunch, not to mention the 340 calories in your medium fries and 207 in your Coca-Cola. And, of course, super-sizing just adds more calories.

It’s also worth bearing in mind that while you might easily mow the lawn or play sports for (at least) an hour, it takes a lot less time than that to stuff a Big Mac down your throat or swig a can of soda.

Conclusion

Speaking, again, about the USA in particular (not that it probably doesn’t apply to other countries too), the average diet is unhealthy (e.g. fast food, fried food, sugary snacks, sodas, laden with artificial ingredients), being overweight or even obese is a growing trend, and people are typically not getting enough exercise, if any at all – and it shows, with over half the population having some form of chronic illness and about one in two people being on at least one prescription drug (with many being on four or more).

We should probably all do more to look after our minds and bodies better – so if you can find an activity you actually enjoy doing that also helps burn off a few of those excess calories, then so much the better.

But as I said above, exercise alone is not going to be the panacea to all your ills – there are other life changes you should likely make such as improving your diet and getting more sleep if you truly want to regain and/or maintain your health.

Additional Resources

These are suggestions for those who wish to delve deeper into any of the above:

1. Trampoline