Manual labor calorie intake?

wordena
wordena Posts: 177 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I'm a 5'4" female @140# who just started a new job as a laborer on an organic farm. I need help with suggestions for my ideal calorie intake with my job. This is very hard work. For example I spent 8 hours planting by hand today. With lifting and walking. My normal food intake feels no where near enough. I guess I eat roughly 2000 calories a day normally with a few mile jog before I started this job. How much should I eat just to maintain? I'm not looking to gain, losing a little would be okay, but I need the energy throughout the day.
I'm quite sure im eating more than that at work.
Today I had an apple with peanut butter, V8 juice, 4 mini blueberry muffins, cheese stick, 1 cup of beans and rice with enchilada sauce, McDonald's southwest salad, and sweet tea. This was only breakfast and lunch. Not even my dinner after work.

Replies

  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,331 Member
    Log your food intake and track your weight over time, make adjustments from that. Manual farm labor over the course of a day would probably burn what you normally maintain with otherwise.
  • evileen99
    evileen99 Posts: 1,564 Member
    I volunteer as a gardener at a botanical garden, and 3 hours of planting burns 700-800 calories according to my BodyMedia Fit. You're probably burning at least 3000 calories a day.
  • wordena
    wordena Posts: 177 Member
    MFP recommends i eat 1650 calories a day with my active job and continued exercise regime of 5 hours of running a week. I call B.S. Actually I think that might even be dangerous to suggest such a thing.

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