[Marchmallow]

Hey! I don't have any time to work out this evening because it's my housemate's birthday and a load of us are going bowling for three games, is there much calorie burning in that?? Feeling majorly guilty!

[M0vingon]

Well, bowling is certainly being active. According to caloriesperhour.com an hour of bowling burns about 245 calories.
http://www.caloriesperhour.com/index_burn.php
I would imagine whether or not it's exercise is determined by the effort one puts in. Focus on form and flexibility- just think of it as doing lunges over and over Have fun!

[kaw]

I agree that bowling is being active (relative to sitting on one's duff), but I'd be skeptical about 245 calories per hour. A calorie estimator I saw put snow-shoveling at 290 calories per hour, and there's no way that bowling burns nearly as many calories as snow-shoveling!

Of course, it could be that the shoveling estimate is too low, and I've seen higher estimates. This brings up another point, though, namely that the on-line caloric estimators of activity should be taken with a big old grain of salt. This makes sense: not many agencies or organizations are going to fund a systematic study of bowlers' caloric expenditure, given it has little bearing on either public health or corporate profits.

//b. strong
Kim

[Heather]

Or it may be that bowling would burn 245 calories if you bowled for an hour straight without sitting down...

[seagirl]

It's activity and it's fun! That's all you need to worry about. Well, and don't over do it with beer and pizza.