Estimate gross calories for interior house painting, exterior house painting, or artistic painting while standing, using body weight and active painting time.

Estimate gross energy for interior house painting using the default 3.3 MET reference. Gross energy includes resting metabolism.

Match the named activity. Artistic painting uses a standing reference; it does not estimate seated work. Interior and exterior references are not a universal light-to-heavy scale.

Changing units converts your value. Maximum: 1,000 kg; this is a software limit, not an accuracy range.

Exclude breaks and separate tasks such as moving supplies. Changing units converts the duration. Maximum: 1,440 minutes; this is a software limit.

Calories Burned Painting Formula

Use the following formula with body weight in kilograms and active painting time in minutes. The result is gross energy expenditure, including resting metabolism.

C = MET × 0.0175 × BW × T

Variables:

  • C = estimated gross calories (kcal)
  • BW = body weight in kilograms; multiply pounds by 0.45359237 to convert
  • T = active painting time in minutes; multiply hours by 60 to convert
  • MET = activity reference in metabolic equivalents; 0.0175 converts MET and kilograms to kcal per minute

Select the named painting activity directly. The 2024 Compendium Home Repair table supplies 3.3 MET for interior house painting (an entry that also includes wallpapering and scraping paint) and 5 MET for exterior house painting. The Miscellaneous table supplies 1.8 MET for standing drawing, writing, and painting, used here for artistic painting while standing. These references are not a universal light-to-heavy scale, and the standing artistic reference does not estimate seated painting.

Painting Factors

Painting ActivityMET Reference
Artistic painting, standing1.8
Interior house painting3.3
Exterior house painting5

How Many Calories Does Painting Burn?

At the interior house painting reference, a 150-pound person has an estimated gross energy expenditure of 117.88 kcal in 30 minutes or 235.75 kcal in 60 minutes. The 2024 Adult Compendium provides population activity references for adults aged 19–59, rather than individual measurements. Include only active painting time, excluding breaks and separate tasks such as moving supplies. Extending a fixed MET value over a long session is a linear estimate that does not model changing effort. The table below rounds estimates to whole kcal.

Body Weight30 Minutes of Interior House Painting60 Minutes of Interior House Painting
120 lb94 kcal189 kcal
150 lb118 kcal236 kcal
180 lb141 kcal283 kcal
210 lb165 kcal330 kcal

How to Calculate Calories Burned Painting

  1. Enter your body weight and select pounds or kilograms. Changing units converts the entered value.
  2. Enter active painting time and select minutes or hours. Exclude breaks and separate tasks; changing units converts the duration.
  3. Choose Interior house painting, Exterior house painting, or Artistic painting, standing.
  4. Select Calculate to see estimated gross kcal and kcal per minute. Calculation details show the selected MET reference and substitution.

Example: A 150-pound person actively painting inside a house for 60 minutes at the 3.3 MET reference has an estimated gross energy expenditure of 235.75 kcal.

Worked example: 150 lb × 0.45359237 = 68.0388555 kg; 3.3 × 0.0175 × 68.0388555 × 60 = 235.7546343075 kcal ≈ 235.75 kcal. The corresponding gross rate is 3.929243905125 kcal/min ≈ 3.93 kcal/min.