The average person weighing 180 pounds burns 154-429 calories per hour painting the house, the total calories burned depends on the your weight and the intensity of specific painting activity (e.g., drawing, writing, painting, wallpapering, scraping paint and painting home, walls, fence etc.).
There are many mental and physical benefits to painting whether you’re an artist, a professional house painter, or just painting for fun. Keep reading to find out why painting can be a great exercise if you’re looking for a creative way to burn some calories.
While painting, your body is in constant motion, your arms are stretching as you attempt to get higher areas on the walls, and you often have to squat to reach the baseboards. During this time, you are burning calories and working many different muscle groups.
While you paint, you work muscles such as your upper and anterior deltoids, pectoralis major, and biceps.
The number of calories that you will burn from painting depends on many factors, including your height, weight, time spent painting, and the specific activity you are doing, whether it’s painting on canvas or painting an interior wall.
Read on to find out how to determine how many calories you’ll burn while painting with our calculator.
How To Use The Calculator
Our painting calculator is easy to use and will help you determine how many calories you can burn doing various types of painting. To calculate the number of calories you will burn, simply input your weight and the time you spent or plan to spend painting. Then select the type of painting you are doing and hit CALCULATE!
- Choose your unit of measurement (pounds or kilograms)
- Enter your weight in the corresponding unit of measurement
- Find the specific activity of painting that you are doing. You can choose from options such as drawing/painting on a canvas, painting the inside of your home, and exterior painting as well.
- Enter the number of minutes
- Hit “CALCULATE”
How the Calculator Works
Our painting calculator uses the metabolic equivalent of task (MET) values to find the number of calories that painting will burn. This value is determined by a convention of 3.5 mL of oxygen per kilogram of each minute while painting [1].
The calculator has pre-set levels that match the intensity that you do while painting. Using this calculator will provide you with a realistic idea of how many calories you will burn, no matter what type of painting you are doing.
MET
This calculator is used to determine your body’s energy output. A MET value is the number that determines the energy it takes to perform various activities, such as painting. The MET is also an indicator of the ratio showing the relationship between your active metabolic rate to the resting metabolic rate.
The active metabolic rate (AMR) determines the calories you continue to burn throughout the day. In contrast, the resting metabolic rate (RMR) measures the number of calories you burn when your body is at rest and not actively digesting.
Activities with a MET value of 1 burn as many calories as your RMR, while exercises with a MET of 7 will burn seven times as many calories as you would at rest.
Formula
Our painting calculator’s formula to determine the number of calories burned per minute is (MET x bodyweight in Kg x 3.5) ÷ 200.
Examples
An individual weighing 150 pounds will burn approximately 126 calories from painting while standing in front of a canvas. This activity has a MET of 1.8, which means that it burns 1.8 times as many calories as your resting metabolic rate.
This is what the formula for calculating the calories burned while painting on a canvas will look like for a 150-pound individual:
- Calories burned (per minute) = (body weight in kg x MET x 5) ÷ 200
- Calories burned (per minute) = (68 x 8 x 3.5 ) ÷ 200
- Calories burned (per minute) = 1 calories x 60
- Calories burned (per hour) = 126 calories per hour
What about painting or removing wallpaper from the inside of your home? A higher intensity would be characterized by painting the walls of your home for an hour with little to no breaks.
Painting the inside of your home has a higher MET than painting on a canvas. The MET for painting the interior of your home is at 3.3, which is almost double the intensity that you would experience if you were painting art on a canvas. Here is what the formula would look like for painting the interior of your home:
- Calories burned (per minute) = (body weight in kg x MET x 5) ÷ 200
- Calories burned (per minute) = (68 x 3 x 3.5) ÷ 200
- Calories burned (per minute) = 9 calories x 60
- Calories burned (per hour) = 234 calories per hour
How many calories are burned while painting for one hour? (weighing 180 pounds)
| # | Activity Name | Met | Time Spend | Calories Burned |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Drawing, writing, painting (standing) | 1.8 | 60 Min | 154 Cal |
| 2 | Painting (home repair) | 4.5 | 60 Min | 386 Cal |
| 3 | Painting, inside house, wallpapering, scraping paint | 3.3 | 60 Min | 283 Cal |
| 4 | Painting, outside home | 5 | 60 Min | 429 Cal |
| 5 | Painting,house, furniture, moderate effort | 3.3 | 60 Min | 283 Cal |
| 6 | Standing, arts and crafts, sand painting, carving, weaving, light effort | 2.5 | 60 Min | 214 Cal |
| 7 | Standing, arts and crafts, sand painting, carving, weaving, moderate effort | 3.3 | 60 Min | 283 Cal |
| 8 | Standing, arts and crafts, sand painting, carving, weaving, vigorous effort | 3.5 | 60 Min | 300 Cal |
What is Painting?
Painting can be a great household project that allows you to burn some calories while doing a chore that many people would rather just hire someone else to do.
Painting will increase your heart rate which will allow you to burn a significant amount of calories, depending on the type of painting you are doing. Also, not only are you getting a cardio workout while painting, but you are also strengthening your muscles that are being used to do this activity.
Calories Burned Through Painting
You might be surprised to find that you get a good workout while painting the inside or outside of your home. For example, when painting your walls, your arms and shoulders are doing most of the work. This gives you the added benefit of burning calories while doing household chores.
The muscles that are burned while painting your home are:
- Biceps. As you are painting, you are working the arms pretty heavily. The muscles are used to flex the elbow.
- Upper, middle and anterior deltoids. These are the most important upper body muscles because you use them daily [2].
- Pectoralis major. These muscles are used for shoulder adduction and are worked while doing many of the movements that painting requires.
If you are painting a lot, especially as a profession, strengthening these muscles would be a good idea to avoid fatigue and possible injury during these painting projects. The more you exercise these muscles, the more endurance you will have while painting for long periods of time.
Benefits of Painting
Lots of Movement
There’s no way to paint your home while sitting in the same spot. So, you will start moving around a lot, from wall to wall, until your home is complete. Painting each room in your house involves carrying heavy buckets of paint, reaching, standing, climbing, sitting, bending over, and squatting.
Arms and Legs Workout
Your arms and legs are in constant motion while painting your home. There are slow movements, like painting the trim or being careful not to paint on the ceiling as you finish the top of the walls. There are also quick movements when using the roller in an upwards and downwards motion.
Bending and Stretching
When you are painting your home, you can find yourself in some crazy positions as you try to get the job done. Sometimes, it requires you to go up a ladder and paint ceilings or move above fireplaces. That’s why it’s always a great idea to stretch before engaging in painting activities.
Frequently Asked Questions:
How many calories can you burn while painting?
On average, you can burn around 200-300 calories per hour while painting the interior of your home, depending on your weight. However, if you are painting on a canvas, you can burn around 100-200 calories per hour. The higher the intensity that you work, the more calories that you will burn [3].
How many calories can you burn by painting one room in your house?
On average, you can burn close to 1000 calories in four hours painting one room of your home. This doesn’t include the energy you exert when you are moving furniture around. Typically painting a room takes multiple hours because you are doing a coat of primer and then possibly multiple coats of paint.
Can you lose weight while painting?
You will burn more calories painting the outside walls of your home than you would the inside walls. For a 155 lb person, for example, you can burn around 400 calories in an hour. You would burn about the same number of calories as you would by walking at 5 mph.
The Bottom Line
There are so many great benefits to painting, especially if it’s your profession. Imagine how many calories you can burn each day if you paint other people’s homes for a living!
Many people find painting to be a tedious job, so knowing that you’ll be burning calories while doing the chore makes painting a little more enjoyable.
Painting is also an activity with many cardiovascular and strength benefits that will help you be leaner and more muscular if you are painting for long periods of time.
Be sure to check out all of the other calculators that we have to offer to get an idea of how many calories you can burn while doing any activity or exercise.
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
- Dynamite Delts: ACE Research (2014) https://www.acefitness.org
- Calories Burned in 30 Minutes (2021) health.harvard.edu
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