The average person weighing 180 pounds burns 111-343 calories per hour doing laundry, the calories burn depends on the your weight, intensity and type of activity.
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Doing laundry is a necessary chore that we all must do typically at least once per week. However, did you know that you can actually burn calories while doing this monotonous task? Continue reading to find out how many calories you can expect to burn from doing laundry and other similar activities.
When you think of doing laundry, you may think of throwing clothes into the washing machine or taking them out of the dryer and folding them. But there are many other activities associated with doing laundry that can help to burn a few extra calories in addition to your usual workouts.
While doing laundry alone won’t burn a significant amount of calories, doing laundry in conjunction with other forms of exercise can be very beneficial and help you reach your fitness goals.
Some of the other activities that are related to doing laundry include packing a suitcase, sewing with a machine, washing clothes by hand, and ironing. All these activities contribute to burning calories and can add up throughout the day.
How To Use The Calculator
Using the calculator to determine how many calories you’ll burn while doing laundry is easy and only requires a few steps. To calculate the number of calories that you’ll burn, just input your weight and the time that you’ve spent or plan to spend doing laundry. Then select the specific activity you’re doing and hit CALCULATE.
Using the calculator step-by-step:
- Choose your unit of measurement (pounds or kilograms)
- Enter your weight in the corresponding unit of measurement
- Find the specific golf activity you are doing
- Enter the amount of time that you’re doing laundry for
- Hit CALCULATE
How the Calculator Works
Our calculator uses MET values to give you an accurate estimate of how many calories you can expect to burn while doing laundry and other activities. The higher the MET value, the more calories you will burn.
MET (Metabolic Equivalent of Task)
MET stands for metabolic equivalent of task, and MET values allow us to give you an estimated expenditure of energy for many different activities, such as doing laundry.
A MET value is a ratio between the working metabolic rate and the resting metabolic rate [1], which is the rate of energy that is used relative to the duration of time spent doing things like laundry.
So a MET value of 1 is the equivalent of the amount of energy you expend while at rest, and a MET value of 4 means you are expending 4 times as much energy compared to being at rest.
Almost all activities that you can think of have MET values assigned to them. Some activities with MET values are common, and some are not so common. For example, there are MET values assigned to activities like hunting, painting, and mowing the lawn!
Most activities come with varying levels of intensity and have different MET values assigned to them. For instance, folding clothes has a different MET value than washing clothes by hand.
Formula
The formula that our calculator uses to determine the number of calories burned per minute is (MET x bodyweight in Kg x 3.5) ÷ 200.
Examples
A person weighing 175 pounds will burn approximately 168 calories per hour from folding or hanging clothes. This activity has a MET of 2, which means that it burns 2 times as many calories as you do at rest.
This is what the formula for calculating the calories burned while folding or hanging clothes will look like for a 175-pound individual at a MET value of 2.
- Calories burned (per minute) = (bodyweight in kg x MET x 5) ÷ 200
- Calories burned (per minute) = ( 79.4 x 2 x 5 ) ÷ 200
- Calories burned (per minute) = 8 calories x 60
- Calories burned (per hour) = 168 calories per hour
There are other activities that are similar to doing laundry that have MET values assigned to them. For instance, washing clothes by hand has a MET value of 4, which means you’ll burn double the number of calories than you would from simply folding or hanging clothes.
- Calories burned (per minute) = (bodyweight in kg x MET x 5) ÷ 200
- Calories burned (per minute) = ( 79.4 x 4 x 5 ) ÷ 200
- Calories burned (per minute) = 6 calories x 60
- Calories burned (per hour) = 336 calories per hour
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The Surprising Benefits of Doing Laundry
Doing laundry is certainly not the best way to burn calories, but it’s a great way to get some household chores done while burning a few calories at the same time. While you can certainly hire a cleaning service to do your laundry, it isn’t a very time-consuming task and you can save money and burn some extra calories from doing your own laundry.
Practicing activities like sewing also give you new skills that you can use to make gifts for friends and family as well as make clothes, blankets, and other items for yourself to use.
Another benefit to doing laundry is that you remove bacteria, dirt, fleas, and other harmful things from your clothes and sheets. It’s important to make sure you stay healthy and don’t come in contact with these harmful agents in your laundry, which can help protect you and your family from disease.
Lastly, if you decide to wash your clothes by hand, you can burn just as many calories as doing activities like playing volleyball and speed walking. This means you can lose weight and tone your muscles while building a better and healthier physique.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Which chores burn the most calories?
The chores that burn the most calories are the ones that you’re going to be most active doing. Chores like mopping, vacuuming, decluttering, and shopping for groceries are all examples of activities that keep you active.
While doing laundry might not be the most active chore, it is still a great way to burn some extra calories while getting things done around the house.
Does housework count as exercise?
Any activity where you are actively burning calories counts as exercise. As you know by now, a 175-pound person can expect to burn over 300 calories in one hour just by doing their laundry by hand. Many other activities related to doing laundry help to burn calories as well.
Is it better to do laundry at a laundromat or at home?
If you can afford a washer and dryer, doing laundry at home will be more cost-effective in the long run. However, by doing laundry at a laundromat, you are forced to walk or drive to the laundromat, which can burn some extra calories in the process. If you are looking to burn calories while doing laundry, going to a laundromat is the best option.
What other chores burn calories?
In addition to doing laundry, some other chores that you can do to burn calories include landscaping, deep cleaning your home, and vacuuming. These chores force you to be very active and use different muscle groups frequently.
The Bottom Line
While there are certainly other forms of exercise that are more beneficial, doing laundry is an activity that is a necessary evil. Since everyone needs to do laundry at some point, it’s a good idea to make the most of it and burn as many calories as possible while doing laundry.
Doing laundry and washing your clothes by hand is the best way to burn calories while doing laundry. Also, going to a laundromat is going to burn more calories than you would from doing laundry at home, so you should consider doing laundry like this as opposed to buying an expensive washer and dryer if you’re looking to burn the most calories as possible.
Use our calculator to get an idea of how many calories you can expect to burn while doing laundry, and be sure to check out all the other calculators that we have to offer at Fitness Volt!
References:
- Jetté, M., Sidney, K., & Blümchen, G. (1990). Metabolic equivalents (METS) in exercise testing, exercise prescription, and evaluation of functional capacity. Clinical cardiology, 13(8), 555–565. https://doi.org/10.1002/clc.4960130809
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