Do you have an active job? How do you log your activity level?

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sambadelic
sambadelic Posts: 8 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I make a living cleaning houses. I spend between 6 and 8 hours every Monday-Friday on my feet vacuuming, mopping, scrubbing etc. I have been doing it for a few years and I'm in pretty good shape from it, so I don't generally break a sweat or get winded from my work. I'm also pretty active when I'm not working, doing my family laundry and cooking. I'm having trouble finding a way to track my calories burned and I'm afraid I've been cutting my calories down too low and dragging down my metabolism. I've lost 17 lbs since March, but I've been stuck about 5 lbs away from my goal since September, not losing. Does anybody out there have a similar situation? Any tips? Thanks.

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  • TanyaLafley
    TanyaLafley Posts: 62 Member
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    I clean houses too. I have for 8 years. I know how physical it is but I do not log it. I just put my settings at lightly active.
  • funchords
    funchords Posts: 413 Member
    edited October 2014
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    Hi Sambadelic,

    The way you handle work and home activity is to set your activity level as Active or Very Active here:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/change_goals_guided

    This will give you a calorie target adjusted for that activity level. Then, do not log your work and home activities as exercise.

    Even if you did drag down your metabolism, you would not stop losing weight, you'd only lose it a little more slowly than you otherwise would lose it. So too few calories is unlikely the cause of your plateau.

    Good luck!
  • sambadelic
    sambadelic Posts: 8 Member
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    Thanks for the tips! I'm going to focus more on accurate logging of what I eat, especially portion sizes. I think I'll have a careful look at my MFP activity level too.

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