You’ve got a lot on your plate when it comes to moving your entire family. The whole process can be very stressful whether you are trying to keep all of your fragile belongings safe or keeping your children entertained while the moving company you hired is working diligently to get your stuff cleared out of your home. Forget about squeezing in your daily exercise session!! However, if you get creative, moving day can be the perfect chance to still accomplish your fitness goals. There is a variety of moving-related activities you can perform that won’t take away from the process of trying to move all of your items.
With moving season is upon us (May-September), there are an estimated 43 million people who have the chance to burn those necessary calories. 222 calories can be burned by simply unpacking and packing up boxes by the average 140-pound person. The idea of simply loading those boxes with your household belongings, you’ll be burning off those calories you indulged in with last night’s pizza. Moving around furniture can burn even more calories – around 380 calories!! Every time you find yourself sweating or grunting to the idea of moving a heavy piece of furniture, just remember that calories are being shredded!
The average person that has never packed an entire house before should be able to pack up to five or six boxes as compared to a professional mover who’s been in the industry for a while that can pack up eight to ten boxes. With that said, multiply the 222 calories burned for one box that we calculated earlier and multiply it by the five or six boxes you’ll be packing, and you could burn up to a total of 1,000 to 1,300 calories in just a single hour! Also, depending on the size of the home or apartment that you’re moving into, you may be packing up even more boxes, which means additional calories that can possibly be burned.
While it may seem that you burn more calories moving heavy items while moving, you can still move simple household items like kitchen dishes, dining room chairs or a box of bathroom stuff and burn an average of 190 calories! If you’re really energized or just want to get the moving process done quickly, 5720 or more calories can be burned by moving boxes and furniture up and down a flight of stairs.
With that said, you may find yourself fatigued at the end of a long, frantic moving day, but have no worries; your body will be thanking you from the great workout you just gave it.