Sexercise! How many calories do you really burn during sex?

How many calories do you really burn during sex?  Come on, we know you’ve wondered about it…

Thanks to new technology, researchers now know a lot more about how many calories we burn when things heat up between the sheets.  And the news is pretty good. While the average romp may not burn as much as a jog, it’s better than a walk!

Wearing  an armband device called “SenseWear” researchers were able to track the energy expenditure of 21 couples during sex.  The results were interesting.  A typical ‘session’ lasted about 25 minutes (not bad!) and, on average, men in the study burned 100 calories, while women expended 69.  Not surprisingly, the number of calories burned depended on the duration of the romp — which ranged significantly — from 10 minutes (i.e. ‘super quickie’) to 57 minutes (hello viagra?  just kidding!).

The study, which was published in the journal PLOS ONE , also had participants run on a treadmill for 30 minutes to compare calories burned during sex to actual exercise. Running at a moderate pace burned more than twice as many calories per minute for women, 213 calories in total.  But 95% of the participants said that the sex was ‘more pleasurable’ than treadmill running.  (I wonder what was going on with that other 5%!)

The bottom line: Sex really can be good exercise.  So if you didn’t get to the gym today, all is not lost.  Get busy in the bedroom!