I recently saw a statistic in an old Health magazine while waiting at the dentist: “rolling on a new coat of paint burns 204 calories an hour.”
That claim might explain why my husband, who usually handles the rolling, stays lean even though he eats ice cream almost every night while I sip tea. By that math, a three- to four-hour paint job could burn 600–800 calories for him. That’s significant. I’m not much of a gym person, but I remember clinging to a treadmill on the highest incline, pushing hard to hit 250 calories before I called it quits. Gym visits were rare for me—mostly when a college friend with a membership would take me along—so I don’t consider myself a calorie-or-workout expert. I’m sure cutting in around edges uses different muscles than rolling, though when I stand on a step ladder to paint the top of a room my calves definitely ache the next day. Painting isn’t exactly a Biggest Loser workout, but I’ll take the activity and the results.
Speaking of painting, I’m in the middle of a long project, so it might be a few days before I can share the final results. To avoid teasing you, I’ll go ahead and say what I’m working on: the living room beams (I mentioned our plans briefly before). I’m testing a few finishes—a graywashed effect, a stain-like look, and a more opaque, matte finish—to see which one we prefer. I’ll be the one doing most of the work while John watches the kids and mind the blog. That’s the agenda for this Friday (and Saturday and Sunday), so by the end of it I might look like a different person—lighter from all the activity, perhaps. Har har. Below are some preliminary photos; I’ll share more details as the project progresses and I get further along.
Even if painting does burn a fair amount of calories, my other favorite task—demolition—feels like it would torch even more. I’ve wondered how many calories you burn swinging a sledgehammer or prying with a crowbar. (Of course demolition isn’t done in flip-flops—I remembered to switch shoes before helping remove a medallion in our old backyard a few years ago.)
Demo feels much more intense than painting. If there were a weekly class combining heavy-duty swinging and prying—“Sledgehammer Aerobics”—I’d sign up. Who’s joining me?