If flipping the channels while hibernating by the fire is your idea of heavy lifting, get outside. Although it might be cold, winter chores, such as trudging through the snow while hanging Christmas lights and shoveling the white stuff out of your driveway, do have benefits. These activities are burning off a few of those holiday indulgences. We asked University Hospitals Case Medical Center clinical dietician Lisa Cimperman for the breakdown on cold-weather caloric burn for a 150-pound individual.
- Just scraping by. No matter how bad the weather gets, says Cimperman, cleaning off your car can't take more than 10 minutes. "The extra calories burned might be 25 to 50," she says. Still, that's an extra piece of candy.
- Drive time. Shoveling snow is a much more lucrative workout in terms of calories. "In one hour, you'll burn about 400 calories," Cimperman says. It's the equivalent of a brisk, 4 mph walk. Pushing a snowblower? You'll still burn around 300 calories. "You get a pretty good burn with both of them," she says.
- Light it up. Cimperman estimates you'll burn about 100 calories per hour at this cumbersome task but notes that it all depends on the decorator. "Different people are more efficient in their activities than others," she explains. "Depending on how much effort you're exerting, the calories might be a little bit higher or lower."
