Forget the gym and go gardening: Daily chore can burn off 19,000 calories a year Average green fingered Brit spends five and a half hours in the garden 19,000 equivalent to 9.5 full days' worth of food for women and 7.6 for men By Deni Kirkova It might not seem like the most arduous of workouts. But the more green fingered among us are are burning off an impressive 19,000 calories per year just by doing the gardening, according to new research. The average gardener spends five and a half hours in the garden each week, burning up to 722 calories. Three hours doing regular garden tasks works out roughly equivalent to an hour working hard at the gym. Over a six month gardening season that works out at 18,772 calories per year, equivalent to running almost seven marathons or eating 69 bars of chocolate. During a lifetime, the average gardener can expect to burn over one million calories, equivalent to eating roughly 2,000 beef burgers. Over a gardening season that works out at 18,772 calories per year, equivalent to running seven marathons The study was carried out with a group of 100 gardeners who were asked to monitor the amount of time spent doing a series of common gardening tasks over a four week period. Gardening tasks that were monitored included weeding, digging, mowing the lawn, hedge trimming, trimming shrubs and trees, raking, planting shrubs, and moving garden waste using a wheel barrow. Just doing half an hour weeding can burn up to 150 calories and tasks that handle heavy electrical equipment such as hedge trimming will give you a good workout burning 400 calories per hour. One gardener who took part in the task said: 'It is amazing to see how much time I actually spend out in the garden each week during the spring and summer seasons and how long some garden tasks take to do. 'I don't have much time to go to the gym or do an exercise class each week so it's good to know that just doing something that I love is giving me a workout too.' Tasks that handle heavy electrical equipment such as hedge trimming will give you a good workout Another gardener from the study said: 'I've always known when I'm out in the garden that it's giving me a bit of exercise but I hadn't realised quite how much of a workout. It is great to see that even some of the simplest of tasks such as using the wheel barrow and planting shrubs can burn around 300 calories per hour. A spokesman from NetVoucherCodes.co.uk who conducted the research said: 'Most of us see spending time out in the garden as a leisurely job to do at weekends and during the spring and summer months. 'However it's fantastic to see just by spending a day or five hours each week in the garden you can easily burn up to around 700 calories, giving gardeners a good workout too. 'I hope this will now encourage those who don't get out in the garden so often to take up gardening.' Gardening tasks that were monitored included weeding, digging, mowing the lawn and hedge trimming