How Many Calories Does Sex Actually Burn?

Have you ever used the excuse “but I had sex today” to get out of going to the gym?

Yeah, me too.

And we're not alone. It seems like everyone cites sex as a good form of exercise, including our favorite characters in movies and TV shows.

In one episode of “Sex and the City,” Miranda complains about her new relationship (and awesome sex life) throwing off her workout routine. Carrie simply shrugs and tells her friend if she's having sex, she doesn't need to go to spin class.

OK, so sex burns calories. Between the raised heart rate and sweating that goes on, it doesn't take a genius to figure that one out.

But can sex really be considered a workout? More importantly, can you eat four slices of pizza and burn them off with some quality time between the sheets? Asking for a friend.

Unless you're getting really, really crazy and making it last for three hours… probably not. Sorry.

According to a study conducted out of the University of Montreal, during the average 25-minute sex session, men burn about 100 calories and women burn about 69 calories.

Womp womp. Four slices of cheese pizza come out to 1,000 calories, so there's your answer to that question.

Sadly, running on the treadmill is indeed a more effective method of burning calories. In the study, men burned twice as many calories running on a treadmill than they did while having sex.

Still, sex could help you burn off that post-dinner piece of chocolate, or that bag of SkinnyPop.

Feeling discouraged? Let's back up here. If you do want to make sex a calorie-torching exercise, you can — you just have to make it last longer.

For example, consider starting things off with a long, steamy makeout session. Remember how much fun that was in seventh grade?

Kissing doesn't burn a crazy amount of calories, but it's something — a 150-pound woman burns around 68 calories during an hour of kissing.

Jaiya Kinzbach, a Los Angeles-based sexologist told Woman's Day,

If the kissing is vigorous and involves some petting, it could be even closer to 90 calories burned in an hour.

Kiss in unusual positions. Have the guy on his back and do “plank pose” or a push-up on top of him, coming down to kiss him and then pushing back up. Push-ups burn 171 calories in 30 minutes.

That sounds like a lot of work if you ask me, but to each their own.

If you're thinking you should probably ditch the boring, old missionary position in favor of positions that burn more calories, think again. According to Fitness magazine, missionary is a good way to go.

Trainer Stacy Berman explains,

It depends on how enthusiastic you are about it, but missionary can be great for the core muscles. If your partner is thrusting toward you, you want to have an equal and opposite thrust back, and that requires a lot of core strength. It actually will start burning.

You can also use this sex calculator to figure out how many calories you're burning based on gender, body type, position, style and duration of sex.

Long story short, the exact amount of calories you burn during sex depends on a lot of factors.

And unfortunately, you probably still have to go to the gym.