How Many Calories are Burned by Gardening?

Welcome to the gardening section of DietandFitnessToday where the highest number of calories burned is 358 Calories, for felling trees, large size. This is for an average male weighting 190 pounds (86 Kg). Below is a list of 53 activities based on the general description of gardening, ranging from the highest calorie burn from 'felling trees, large size' which burns 358 calories in 30 minutes through to the activity 'watering lawn or garden, standing or walking' which has the lowest calorie burn of 65 calories in 30 minutes, for a typical adult weighing 190 pounds (86 Kg).

For planting crops or garden, stooping, moderate effort, which is a typical intensity activity under the general description of gardening activities, the average calories burned by a person weighing 190 pounds (86 Kg) in 30 minutes is 185 Calories. In one hour planting crops or garden, stooping, moderate effort will burn 371 Calories.

Summary of Gardening Information and Charts

To help you find the information you need, we first focus on planting crops or garden, stooping, moderate effort which is the most common gardening activity. This is followed by the activities with the highest burn rate which is felling trees, large size, and the lowest which is watering lawn or garden, standing or walking, giving the average calories burned per minute and per hour, along with food calorie equivalents and our new proprietary calories burned score© and calories burned rank©The calorie score gives an indication of the relative burn rate of the gardening activities measured as a percentage score out of 100 for the different gardening activities, where 100% is the maximum calorie burn which we estimate from running at a pace of 4 minutes per mile which is a world class speed for running for 30 mins.

The calorie rank is the rank of the gardening activity compared with all other 800 activities in our database to give an indication of the percentage of activities which have a higher or lower calorie burn. A rank of 1 means it is the highest ranking activity in terms or calorie burn and a rank of 100 means it is the activity with the lowest carlorie burn compared with all other activities.

Effect of Intensity on the Calorie Calculator

Although the above is a typical example for gardening, the calculator we use to determine the calories burnt depends on the intensity, duration and your body weight. At the bottom of the article we have a variety of different intensities which can be personalized based on your weight and the duration of the activities, using our free calculator.

Calorie Score and Calorie Rank for Gardening

At dietandfitnesstoday we have a new proprietary concept of a Calories Burned Score© and Calories Burned Rank©.

Calories Burned in 30 Minutes for a Typical gardening Activity

As we have previously mentioned Planting crops or garden, stooping, moderate effort is a moderate and typical level of intensity for gardening and can be used as a general representative approximate measure for calories burnt by gardening. For this activity in 30 minutes an average man weighing 190 pounds (86 kg) burns 185 Calories, while an average woman weighing 163 pounds (74 kg), in 30 minutes burns 159 Calories.

Calories Per Minute

The calories burned per minute for Planting crops or garden, stooping, moderate effort is 6 Calories per minute, for a typical man and for a typical female is 5 Calories per minute.

Calories Per Hour

The calories lost in one hour is 371 calories for a typical man, and 318 calories in one hour for a typical woman.

How to Burn 100 Calories

To burn 100 calories for a typical male would require 17 minutes of the activity planting crops or garden, stooping, moderate effort and to burn 100 calories with the same gardening activity for a typical female would take 20 minutes.

Score and Rank

Planting crops or garden, stooping, moderate effort has a Calorie Burned Score© of 16.00 out of 100 which means it gives a calorie burn of 16.00 % of the highest realistic calorie burn possible. This activity has a Calorie Burned Rank© of 75.00 out of 100 ie it is in the top 75.00 % of activities in terms of calorie burn. There are in fact 402.00 activities that have a higher calorie burn than planting crops or garden, stooping, moderate effort

Equivalent Activities

The following activities burn the same number of calories as Planting crops or garden, stooping, moderate effort -

• archery, non-hunting
• carpentry, general, moderate effort
• circuit training, moderate effort
• farming, feeding cattle, horses
• farming, hauling water for animals, general hauling water,farming, general hauling water

Comparison with Inactivity

30 mins of inactivity for example just sitting and watching television burns 43 calories for a typical man and 37 calories for a typical woman. Which means Planting crops or garden, stooping, moderate effort burns 4.6 times more calories than the equivalent time of inactivity for an average man and 4.3 times more calories for an average female.

Food Calorie Equivalents

This level of 185 calories burnt by an average man planting crops or garden, stooping, moderate effort is equivalent to 0.3 Big Macs, 0.7 snickers bar, 1.5 Starbucks Grande Skinny Lattes, 0.6 cheeseburgers, 0.6 slices of pizza or 0.5 large blueberry muffins.

For an average female burning 159 calories is equivalent to 0.3 Big Macs, 0.6 snickers bar, 1.3 Starbucks Grande Skinny Lattes, 0.5 cheeseburgers, 0.6 slices of pizza or 0.4 large blueberry muffins.

Weight Loss from Gardening

To answer the question how many pounds will I lose from the activity gardening? Taking this example of planting crops or garden, stooping, moderate effort in 30 minutes, the weight loss for a typical man is a minimum of 0.03 pounds, and a typical woman would lose 0.02 pounds.

Based on 4 sessions per week of planting crops or garden, stooping, moderate effort for a duration of 30 minutes per session, the approximate time taken to lose one pound is 8 weeks for a man and 13 weeks for a woman, assuming no other changes in lifestyle or eating habits.

The same 4 sessions per week of planting crops or garden, stooping, moderate effort for a duration of 30 minutes per session, would lose 1kg in 4 weeks for a man and 5 weeks for a woman.

Gardening Activity with the Highest Calorie Burn

The highest number of calories burned for an average person is achieved by felling trees, large size. For this activity in 30 minutes an average man burns 358 Calories, while an average woman in 30 minutes burns 307 Calories.

This activity of felling trees, large size has a Calories Burned Score© of 34.00 out of 100 which means it gives a calorie burn of 34.00 % of the maximum realistic calorie burn possible. This activity has a Calories Burned Rank© of 48.00 out of 100 ie it is in the top 48.00 % of activities in terms of calorie burn. There are in fact 109.00 activities that have a higher calorie burn than felling trees, large size

Gardening Activity with the Lowest Calorie Burn

The gardening activity with the lowest calories burnt is watering lawn or garden, standing or walking, which for an average man in 30 minutes burns 65 Calories, and for an average woman burns 55 Calories.

This activity of watering lawn or garden, standing or walking has a Calories Burned Score© of 3.50 out of 100 which means it gives a calorie burn of 3.50 % of the maximum realistic calorie burn possible. This activity has a Calories Burned Rank© of 95.00 out of 100 ie it is in the top 95.00 % of activities in terms of calorie burn. There are in fact 782.00 activities that have a higher calorie burn than watering lawn or garden, standing or walking

Average Calories Burned by Gardening

Based on the the list of 53 gardening activities, shown below, the average calories burned for an average male, weighing 190 pounds (86 kg) is 192 Calories for 30 minutes of gardening. The average burnt for an average female, weighing 163 pounds (74 kg) is 165 Calories for 30 minutes of gardening.

Gardening for 30 minutes - Calories Burned Calculator

Calories Burned in 30 minutes of gardening for Average Male (M) and Female (F) (click to personalise).

felling trees, large size - calories  Male=358 kcal, Female=307 kcal.

digging, spading, filling garden, composting, vigorous effort - calories  Male=336 kcal, Female=288 kcal.

shoveling snow, by hand, vigorous effort - calories  Male=323 kcal, Female=277 kcal.

chopping wood, splitting logs, vigorous effort - calories  Male=271 kcal, Female=233 kcal.

clearing brush/land, undergrowth, or ground, hauling branches, wheelbarrow chores, vigorous effort - calories  Male=271 kcal, Female=233 kcal.

laying crushed rock - calories  Male=271 kcal, Female=233 kcal.

mowing lawn, walk, hand mower (Taylor Code 570) - calories  Male=259 kcal, Female=222 kcal.

shovelling snow, by hand (Taylor Code 610) - calories  Male=259 kcal, Female=222 kcal.

yard work, general, vigorous effort - calories  Male=259 kcal, Female=222 kcal.

gardening with heavy power tools, tilling a garden, chain saw - calories  Male=250 kcal, Female=214 kcal.

carrying, loading or stacking wood, loading/unloading or carrying lumber - calories  Male=237 kcal, Female=203 kcal.

mowing lawn, general - calories  Male=237 kcal, Female=203 kcal.

shoveling dirt or mud - calories  Male=237 kcal, Female=203 kcal.

wheelbarrow, pushing garden cart or wheelbarrow - calories  Male=237 kcal, Female=203 kcal.

felling trees, small-medium size - calories  Male=228 kcal, Female=196 kcal.

shoveling snow, by hand, moderate effort - calories  Male=228 kcal, Female=196 kcal.

digging sandbox, shoveling sand - calories  Male=215 kcal, Female=185 kcal.

digging, spading, filling garden, compositing, (Taylor Code 590) - calories  Male=215 kcal, Female=185 kcal.

laying sod - calories  Male=215 kcal, Female=185 kcal.

mowing lawn, walk, power mower, moderate or vigorous effort - calories  Male=215 kcal, Female=185 kcal.

weeding, cultivating garden, using a hoe, moderate-to-vigorous effort - calories  Male=215 kcal, Female=185 kcal.

chopping wood, splitting logs, moderate effort - calories  Male=194 kcal, Female=166 kcal.

mowing lawn, power mower, light or moderate effort (Taylor Code 590) - calories  Male=194 kcal, Female=166 kcal.

picking fruit off trees, gleaning fruits, picking fruits/vegetables, climbing ladder to pick fruit, vigorous effort - calories  Male=194 kcal, Female=166 kcal.

planting trees - calories  Male=194 kcal, Female=166 kcal.

weeding, cultivating garden (Taylor Code 580) - calories  Male=194 kcal, Female=166 kcal.

planting crops or garden, stooping, moderate effort - calories  Male=185 kcal, Female=159 kcal.

planting seedlings, shrub, stooping, moderate effort - calories  Male=185 kcal, Female=159 kcal.

irrigation channels, opening and closing ports - calories  Male=172 kcal, Female=148 kcal.

raking lawn (Taylor Code 600) - calories  Male=172 kcal, Female=148 kcal.

raking roof with snow rake - calories  Male=172 kcal, Female=148 kcal.

sacking grass, leaves - calories  Male=172 kcal, Female=148 kcal.

trimming shrubs or trees, manual cutter - calories  Male=172 kcal, Female=148 kcal.

yard work, general, moderate effort - calories  Male=172 kcal, Female=148 kcal.

general gardening at a moderate effort - calories  Male=164 kcal, Female=140 kcal.

raking lawn or leaves at a moderate effort - calories  Male=164 kcal, Female=140 kcal.

clearing light brush, thinning garden, moderate effort - calories  Male=151 kcal, Female=129 kcal.

digging, spading, filling garden, composting, light-to-moderate effort - calories  Male=151 kcal, Female=129 kcal.

picking fruit off trees, picking fruits/vegetables, moderate effort - calories  Male=151 kcal, Female=129 kcal.

trimming shrubs or trees, power cutter, using leaf blower, edge, moderate effort - calories  Male=151 kcal, Female=129 kcal.

weeding, cultivating garden, light-to-moderate effort - calories  Male=151 kcal, Female=129 kcal.

carrying, loading or stacking wood, loading/unloading or carrying lumber, light-to-moderate effort - calories  Male=142 kcal, Female=122 kcal.

implied walking/standing - picking up yard, light, picking flowers or vegetables - calories  Male=142 kcal, Female=122 kcal.

riding snow blower - calories  Male=129 kcal, Female=111 kcal.

walking, applying fertilizer or seeding a lawn, push applicator - calories  Male=129 kcal, Female=111 kcal.

walking, gathering gardening tools - calories  Male=129 kcal, Female=111 kcal.

yard work, general, light effort - calories  Male=129 kcal, Female=111 kcal.

driving tractor - calories  Male=121 kcal, Female=104 kcal.

mowing lawn, riding mower (Taylor Code 550) - calories  Male=108 kcal, Female=92 kcal.

operating snow blower, walking - calories  Male=108 kcal, Female=92 kcal.

gardening, using containers, older adults > 60 years - calories  Male=99 kcal, Female=85 kcal.

planting, potting, transplanting seedlings or plants, light effort - calories  Male=86 kcal, Female=74 kcal.

watering lawn or garden, standing or walking - calories  Male=65 kcal, Female=55 kcal.

You can browse other common activities from our database, from the links below or visit the compendium at https://sites.google.com/site/compendiumofphysicalactivities/home.