Gardening Calorie Adjustment

[SunsetRunner]

Today I was planting my garden and I was working pretty much non-stop for four hours this evening. Fitbit says gardening doesn't add to my step count but I burned 1012 calories. I was shocked to see so many calories left for dinner and there is no way I could or would eat that much just to be "in the zone" according to Fitbit.

So question one, do you think the calories burned is too high for gardening? 

Question two, what happens when you have a TON of calories left over for the day? I understand that if I'm not hungry I shouldn't be eating all the calories but I want to know if my body actually needs the calories or if it's not really a big deal. 

I'm super new to understanding my body when it comes to nutrition and exercise, so please bare with me! I just wanna learn 🙂

[Trooper · Accepted solution]

To Emchuw

Gardening involves a lot of work. My wife  has a garden and she is constantly moving around the yard with plants, planting, digging, mulching, etc....In the summer time, it can get really hot. So you will burn calories. I myself also have a lot of calories left over that I don't use. I am usually not hungry,and so I am not going to force myself to eat. Over the last few months I have gotten used to eating very small portions.  Because you burn more calories than you took in, your body will start to take the pounds off.  A pound is roughly 3,500 calories. If you have 500 calories left over each day, you can assume that in 7 days you will take off 1 pound of fat. To make sure that I am not depriving my body of nutrients, I take daily vitamins. I don't know how man calories you need a day for your sex, age, height and weight. Your doctor can tell you how many you should be taking in a day. There are several members who have posted really good information on nutrition and excercise. The information is really good!! You should look for their posts. 

[wannabelf]

Bumping an old thread but it IS the season!  I started with fitbit on  Christmas and have done Very well walking. Lost over 20 lbs and working on my last "square" of the BMI chart for getting into Normal range! I just spend an hour digging,pulling weeds,carrying heavy wet straw for mulch and pretty much getting heated up a Lot more than my 3 1/2 months Walking in winter or easy-does-it elliptical (I'm 62 and have taken it easy but steady at 10-14K usually). I was red faced and huffing and puffing like crazy because I had one big job I wasn't willing to quit once I started. I had my fitbit on and am pretty sure it logged twice the steps I actually took. I honestly think I burned That many calories or more though. I'm calling it Even;although some of it was arm-swinging I'm sure. Does that sound right to you folks?  I err on the side of caution for "calories to eat" so that part isn't an issue for me. Just trying to figure if weeding/gardening is 2 to 1 or 3 to 1  for calorie burning? Today I was in "workout" mode not slow. But I never Do workouts so I don't know the burn difference.The beauty of my first intense gardening for the year is that I did Not get sore! Oh my ...it seems like Just walking and my elliptical Really has strengthened my body this last few months! I'll tell ya;a year ago it would have been Aleve for pain and nap time right now. I actually feel Good,just tired! I'm so glad I got a not fun weeding job all done in one "go" and my first intensive of the season didn't Hurt !  

[Dominique]

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@wannabelf wrote:

Just trying to figure if weeding/gardening is 2 to 1 or 3 to 1  for calorie burning? Today I was in "workout" mode not slow.  

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Check the Compendium of Physical Activities referenced in this post. There are a number of activities related to gardening: pick up the one that best matches what you do. Once you have found that activity, you can easily use the corresponding MET to estimate your energy expenditure (calories burned) while performing that activity. See this post for more details.