How Many Calories Does Painting Burn?: a house log

I simply read in an old Health magazine (thanks to the waiting room at the dentist) that “rolling on a new coat of paint burns 204 calories an hour.”

This may explain why my hubby (the designated roller – I am typically the trim painter/cutter-inner) is tall and skinny even though he eats ice cream nearly every night while I sip tea. Because by Health magazine’s math, a 3-4 hour paint job can burn 600-800 calories for him. That is a lot, right? I have never been a gym goer, but I have distinct memories of clinging to the treadmill on the highest incline at a fairly brisk pace and hoping desperately to get to 250 calories before hitting the showers (or the jacuzzi – I am simply not cut out for those machines). My experiences in the gym were few and far between – I went a few times when a friend who had a gym membership in college would take me with her for “lively”) so I am admittedly not a calorie/workout expert. And I am sure cutting in is somehow a bit less of a full body workout than rolling (although when I am up on my step ladder to paint the top of the room, my calves are consistently sore the next day). I know painting is hardly a Biggest Loser worthy workout. But I will take it.

And speaking of painting, I am doing it. I have began a project that can only be described as long. So it might be a few days before I have afters for ya. In the interest of not teasing you folks, I will simply spill what it is. It is the beams in the living room (see a brief mention of our plans for them here). I am trying a few things (a graywashed look, a stain-ish look, a more opaque/matte look) and we will see what we like and take it from there. In fact I will likely take it from there while John Clara-sits and journal-sits. So that is what is on the agenda on this fine Friday morning (and afternoon, and evening, and all of Saturday, and all of Sunday).I will likely be so skinny by the end of this that you will not even recognize me. Har har. Anyway here are some preliminary pics for ya. I will explain more soon, you know, when I get a bit further along in the process:

But since I am likely not burning that many calories with the ol’ paint brush, what about my other go-to job: demo. I wonder how may cals a good session with a sledgehammer or crowbar burns (obviously not done in flip flops- there was a shoe switcheroo before I helped demolished this medallian in our old backyard a few years back)?

I am thinking it is a lot more than painting. Now that would be a gym class I would totally take every week: Sledghammer Aerobics. Who is in?