You Can Burn This Many Calories Doing Winter Activities in Minnesota

Did you know some common winter activities we do almost everyday here in Minnesota can actually burn a lot of calories?

It's true. And even though we're not necessarily all that fond of grabbing the shovel and clearing five inches of snow off the driveway or sidewalk, winter activities-- the kind of things we do pretty much every day in the winter in Minnesota-- can be a pretty effective way of getting in some cardio-type exercise!

According to CalorieLab.com, here are some common winter chores and activities we do-- and how many calories you burn while doing them.

Now, the amount of calories burned varies according to your weight (I used my weight of 195 pounds to calculate these amounts), but shoveling snow burns 111 calories every 15 minutes (or 443 for an hour.)

If you have a snowblower, you still burn roughly 250 calories an hour (thanks to all that walking you're doing.)

Downhill sledding will burn roughly 408 calories for one hour (depending on how big the hill is and how many times you walk back up it!)

Casual ice skating (not speed skating, that is) burns about 415 calories per hour.

Even downhill skiing-- even if you ride the ski lift back up the hill-- will still burn around 275 calories per hour!