Projo Fitness Blog

AP photo / Young Kwak

Most of us around these parts spent our weekend digging out (again and again) from the at least one foot of snowfall we had here starting Friday.

The good news is that if you did have to shovel snow, is a sure way to work up a sweat and burn off some pounds.

According to the Surgeon General's Report on Physical Activity and Health, just 15 minutes of snow shoveling counts as moderate physical activity.

Using this handy calorie calculator from Healthstatus.com, I figured out that I burn about 158 calories when I shovel for 30 minutes -- about the same as the average length and efficiency as a regular workout (like walking on a treadmill).

Thankfully, my friends who moved to South Carolina gave us their old snowblower, so my husband did the heavy lifting with that in this storm. All that was left for me to do was scrape all the ice off my car this morning, when the snow turned to rain and froze up again.

Remember: Snow shoveling can be very taxing on the upper body and heart, so it's good to warm up and follow these other safety precautions posted in the Workouts101 blog.

 Tags  everyday activities snow shovel weather

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