Today might be Mother’s Day but when it comes to staying slim women can’t afford to put their feet up, according to a study. For they burn far fewer calories watching TV on the sofa than their partners do. Doctors who measured how much energy three couples expended during day-to-day activities found large differences between the amounts men and women used. No time to relax: Women burn far fewer calories watching TV on the sofa than their partners do . All six ate a 600-calorie fry-up before each couple was assigned a different activity: an hour in the gym, three hours of cleaning, or lounging about. Their energy use was then assessed. Patrick and Roma Burn were lucky enough to spend the morning on the sofa. But while Patrick burned up 640 calories just by being a couch potato, Roma used only 292. The results are to be shown in a BBC1 programme, The Truth About Calories. Presenter Dr Chris van Tulleken said women tended to burn fewer calories at rest than men because they did not weigh as much and had less energy-hungry muscle mass. ‘Bigger people burn more calories than smaller ones,’ he said. But Patrick and Roma were extreme examples, he noted, as Mr Burn was ‘100kg of lean muscle’ and his wife ‘probably weighed half that’. A morning of light housework consumed just as many calories as one involving a strenuous workout, the programme found . The programme also found a morning of light housework consumed just as many calories as one involving a strenuous workout, which left the couple exhausted. Jim Norris got through 834 calories and his wife Elaine 729 during the morning, in which they spent an hour in the gym lifting weights. Meanwhile, Nick and Margaret Shenkin burnt 862 and 629 calories respectively cleaning the house. Dr van Tulleken said: ‘Moderate continuous activity uses more calories, and body size and lifestyle – what you do with your day – also play a much more important part than you might think when it comes to calorie consumption.’
Doctors measured how much energy three couples expended day-to-day . Dr Chris Van Tulleken said women burned less because they weighed less . Results shown in BBC1 programme, The Truth About Calories, on March 26 . The Truth About Calories is on BBC1 on March 26.