Calories Burned Shoveling snow at 85 kg — 510 kcal per Hour

calories burned shoveling snow 85kg — the short answer is 510 kcal per hour. That figure is for a 85 kg (187 lb) person shoveling snow at the intensity the 2011 Compendium of Physical Activities assigns to it, and this page works the number out in full so you can check it, scale it to any session length, and see how it compares with other activities at the same body weight.

The headline number is an estimate, not a measurement of your body. Two people of the same weight doing the same activity for the same hour will burn different amounts, because fitness, technique, temperature, and how hard they actually push all move the real figure. What the formula gives you is a fair, standardised comparison — the same method researchers use when they rank activities by energy cost — and that is exactly what it is useful for: comparing options, planning a week, and setting a realistic expectation before you start.

Shoveling snow is heavy, stop-start work, and it is one of the more demanding household activities in the Compendium. Each shovel-load is a lift, a twist and a throw, and a driveway of wet snow can mean hundreds of repetitions. It is also the household activity most often linked to heart problems in cold weather, because cold air constricts blood vessels while the effort spikes heart rate and blood pressure. If you have a heart condition, high blood pressure, or you are not used to vigorous exercise, talk to a doctor before shoveling, and consider a snow blower or a neighbour's help instead.

The weight of the snow is what decides how hard the session is. Light, powdery snow is a moderate workout; wet, heavy snow — the kind that clings to the shovel — can be far harder than the standard figure suggests. Depth matters too: clearing 5 cm of snow is a different job from clearing 25 cm, and the MET value on this page is an average across typical conditions, not a promise about your driveway.

Work out your own number

Use the calorie calculator to get your own daily figure: it combines your basal metabolic rate with your activity level and your goal, so a single activity session slots into a full-day picture instead of floating on its own. If you want the activity alone at your exact weight rather than the 85 kg worked example on this page, the running calorie calculator takes any weight and duration and applies the same MET method. Both tools show their working, and both label their results as estimates.

The formula, shown and cited

The calculation comes from the Compendium of Physical Activities (Ainsworth et al., Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 2011; 43(8):1575–1581), which assigns every activity a MET value — a multiple of your resting metabolic rate. One MET is the energy you use sitting quietly. The formula is:

Calories per hour = MET × body weight (kg)

For this page the MET value for shoveling snow is 6.0, which makes it a moderate-intensity activity by the usual classification (under 3 METs is light, 3 to 6 is moderate, above 6 is vigorous). The worked example uses the midpoint of the 80-90 kg band, 85 kg:

6.0 MET × 85 kg = 510 kcal per hour

For any other duration, multiply by the hours: calories = MET × weight (kg) × hours. A 30-minute session is half the hourly figure, a 90-minute session is one and a half times it, and the table below does that arithmetic for the common session lengths so you do not have to.

Your numbers at 85 kg

Session length Calculation Calories burned
15 minutes 6.0 × 85 × 0.25 128 kcal
30 minutes 6.0 × 85 × 0.50 255 kcal
45 minutes 6.0 × 85 × 0.75 382 kcal
60 minutes 6.0 × 85 × 1.00 510 kcal
90 minutes 6.0 × 85 × 1.50 765 kcal
120 minutes 6.0 × 85 × 2.00 1,020 kcal

A useful way to read the table is backwards: to burn roughly 500 kcal from shoveling snow alone at 85 kg you would need about 59 minutes. Three one-hour sessions a week come to about 1,530 kcal a week from this activity, and five 45-minute sessions come to about 1,910 kcal a week. Those weekly totals are the numbers that matter for weight management, because a single session is a small fraction of a week's energy balance — consistency across weeks is what moves body weight, not one heroic session.

Note also that the table scales linearly with weight. A heavier person burns more doing the same activity for the same time, because there is more body to move; a lighter person burns less. That is not a judgement about fitness — it is physics, and it is why every calories-burned figure on this site states the weight it was calculated at. If you weigh 10 kg more than the 85 kg example, add roughly 60 kcal per hour; 10 kg less, subtract the same.

How the number changes with body weight

Weight band Midpoint kcal per hour kcal per 30 minutes
50-60 kg 55 kg (121 lb) 330 165
60-70 kg 65 kg (143 lb) 390 195
70-80 kg 75 kg (165 lb) 450 225
80-90 kg 85 kg (187 lb) 510 255

The band table is the quickest way to find your own figure without doing the multiplication. Find the band your weight falls in, take its midpoint, and read across: that is the hourly burn the Compendium method gives for shoveling snow at your weight. If you sit on a boundary — exactly 60, 70 or 80 kg — either neighbouring band is a fair estimate, and the difference between them is small: at 6.0 METs, each 10 kg of body weight is worth about 60 kcal an hour, so a few kilograms either way changes the result by only a handful of calories.

How shoveling snow compares at 85 kg

Activity MET kcal per hour kcal per 30 minutes
Shoveling snow 6.0 510 255
Raking leaves 4.3 366 183
Walking uphill 6.0 510 255
Weight lifting, vigorous effort 6.0 510 255
Cycling, moderate effort 8.0 680 340

The comparison is the honest way to choose between activities. A higher MET is not automatically better: an activity you enjoy and repeat three times a week beats a harder one you quit after a fortnight, and joint-friendly options matter more than raw burn for anyone with knees or a back that complain. Use the table to see the trade-offs — for example, swapping a lower-MET activity for a higher one for the same 30 minutes — and then choose on enjoyment and sustainability, not on the biggest number.

How to use the result

Take small loads and push the snow where you can instead of lifting it. A half-full shovel lifted with the legs, kept close to the body, is far safer than a heaped shovel lifted with a twisted back. Work in 10- to 15-minute blocks with short rests in between, and stop if you feel chest pain, unusual breathlessness, dizziness or pain radiating to the arm or jaw — those are reasons to stop immediately and seek help.

Warm up first, even though it feels unnecessary in the cold. Five minutes of easy movement indoors — marching in place, arm circles, a few bodyweight squats — raises your heart rate gradually instead of asking it to jump straight to shoveling effort. Dress warmly but in layers you can shed, wear boots with grip, and keep water nearby: you sweat under winter clothing more than you expect, and dehydration makes the work feel harder.

For weight loss, the activity calories sit on top of your daily food intake, and the safe frame is a deficit of roughly 300–500 kcal a day, aiming for 0.5–1% of body weight per week. Never let the activity numbers talk you into eating far less: the safety floors are 1,200 kcal a day for women and 1,500 kcal a day for men, and any intake below those needs medical supervision. A 510-kcal session does not "earn" an extra meal of the same size, either — the body compensates, appetite rises after hard sessions, and the deficit that matters is the weekly average, not a single day's maths.

What the number does NOT tell you

MET values are population averages, and the error on any single person is real. The Compendium value was measured on a sample of adults, not on you, and it assumes a standard intensity. If you push harder than the standard, you burn more; if you coast, you burn less. Heart-rate monitors and power meters estimate the same thing from different signals and disagree with each other by 10 to 20% on a good day, so treat every figure — including this page's — as accurate to roughly that band, not to the single calorie.

The figure also counts gross energy, which includes the calories you would have burned sitting still during that hour anyway. The extra burn above rest is the gross figure minus your resting rate for that hour (roughly 85 kcal for a 85 kg person at 1 MET), so the net cost of an hour of shoveling snow is about 425 kcal, not 510. That distinction matters when you add activity calories to a daily total that already includes your resting metabolism — counting gross calories on top of a full BMR double-counts the resting hour.

The MET value assumes steady shoveling at a typical pace. Real shoveling is uneven: you pause to catch your breath, clear a path for the wheelbarrow, or wait for a plough. Cold itself raises energy use slightly, while a very efficient technique lowers it. The figure on this page is a fair standardised estimate, not a reading from your body — treat it as accurate to roughly 10 to 20% either way, and never use it to judge whether the effort is safe for you.

Finally, the formula knows nothing about your body composition, fitness, or health. Muscle burns more than fat at rest, trained people are more efficient at a familiar activity (and therefore burn slightly less for the same work), and illness, heat, altitude, and medication all shift the real number. If you have a medical condition, are pregnant, or take medication that affects heart rate or metabolism, treat this page as background information and talk to a clinician before building a training or weight-loss plan around it.

Frequently asked questions

How many calories do I burn shoveling snow for 30 minutes at 85 kg?

About 255 kcal. The hourly figure is 510 kcal, so half an hour is half of that, and 90 minutes comes to 765 kcal. Wet, heavy snow will push the real figure above this estimate; light, powdery snow will bring it below.

Is shoveling snow dangerous for your heart?

It can be. Shoveling combines cold air, which constricts blood vessels, with sudden vigorous effort, and that combination is linked to heart attacks, particularly in people who are inactive, older, or already have heart disease. If any of that applies to you, talk to a doctor before shoveling, take frequent breaks, and stop immediately for chest pain, unusual breathlessness or dizziness. This page is background information, not medical advice.

Does wet snow burn more calories than powder snow?

Yes, substantially. Wet snow can weigh several times as much as the same volume of powder, so each shovel-load is heavier and the work is harder. The 6.0 MET figure is an average; a driveway of wet snow after a thaw will run well above it, while light powder will run below it.

How long do I need to shovel to burn 500 kcal?

At 85 kg, about 59 minutes of steady shoveling. That is a long session — most people should split it into blocks with rests rather than shoveling continuously, and the calorie figure is never a reason to push through chest pain or exhaustion.

Is shoveling snow a good workout?

It is a demanding full-body workout: legs, back, shoulders, arms and core all work, and at 6.0 METs it sits at the top of the moderate range. But it is not a controlled workout — the load is uneven, the surface is slippery, and the cold adds strain. Use it as useful activity when it has to be done, not as a training plan, and protect your back by lifting with your legs and keeping loads small.

Related pages

Estimates only, not medical advice. Minimum safe intakes: 1,200 kcal/day women, 1,500 kcal/day men — consult a healthcare professional before a very-low-calorie diet.