Accelerate Your Way to Fitness!
Ever wonder how many calories you’re burning by being active? The amount of calories
your body uses is determined by how hard the activity is, how long you do it and how much you
weigh.
Below are activity levels grouped by how many calories they burn based off a 150 lb
person doing an activity for 30 minutes.
ACTIVITY LEVEL KEY
Red Light
Low Effort
35 – 65 calories
Yellow Light
Medium Effort
68 – 167 calories
Green Light
High Effort
170 – 426 calories
Low Effort – Activities that require little effort and should be done minimally. We
recommend no more than 2 hours of screen time a day and the other red light activities should
be limited.
Medium Effort – Activities that challenge your body but do not get your heart rate up
high enough to tire you out or to sweat a lot. Yellow light activities are encouraged to be done
as much as possible throughout your day.
Increasing your yellow light activities is a GREAT way to introduce physical activity into
your daily lives!
High Effort – Activities that raise your heart rate and get you sweating! The goal is to do
these activities for 30-60 minutes every day. Your body works the hardest with these activities
which helps keep your heart healthy and burn more calories.
35-65 calories burned in 30 minutes
Getting your hair or nails done
Knitting and sewing
Playing board games
Playing video games
Reading
Riding in a car
Sitting at a computer
Taking a nap
Talking on the phone
Texting
Watching a sports event
Watching TV
68- 167 calories burned in 30 minutes
Ballet
Baseball/Softball
Playing a instrument
Cooking
Playing with others
Fast dancing
Putting away the groceries
Riding a bike (for fun)
Feeding pets
Shooting baskets
Fishing
Sweeping floors
Food shopping
Frisbee
Trampoline jumping
Gardening (weeding)
Vacuuming/moping
Volleyball
Gymnastics
Walking slowly
Horseback riding
Washing dishes
Juggling
Light weight lifting
Making your bed
Marching band
Water aerobics
Watering plants
Wii Fit/DDR
170 – 426 calories burned in 30 minutes
*Activities that burn the most calories
Mowing lawn
Aerobics
*Basketball game
*Rock climbing
*Roller blading
*Biking for exercise
Boxing (punching bag)
Rowing
*Running (sprints)
*Cross country skiing
Scuba diving
Four square
Shoveling snow
Heavy weight lifting
Skiing
Hiking
Sledding
*Hockey
*Soccer Game
Ice skating
Stationary bike
*Jogging
*Swimming
*Jump rope
*Karate
Tennis
Walking for exercise
Kickball
*Lacrosse
*Walking stairs
Wrestling