Calling all RNs..and/or other healthcare workers! Calculating a 12hr shift.

benwangc

How do you log your exercise in MFP? I work at a hospital on a busy med/surge floor with 30 beds. Most of the time I work as the Charge nurse, but also do bedside. I'm not one of those charge nurses that sit--I'm out on the floor helping out everyone, I had a FitBIt 2 yrs ago and after 6mo it quit working. They replaced it and it never worked right again. Not really needing to purchase another one as it became boring to me. I have coworkers who say after 8 hours they log on over 14000. These are the nurses that are mall-walking. Not buying it.
I digress. WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO LOG THAT EXERCISE? The other night I put in 3.5mph for 6 hours, I don't take breaks (what are those!!?), so I think that is only fair to say totaling up the10-15 min intervals of charting; which may be standing up.
What do you put in your MFP?

Noelani1503

How many days a week do you work? What have you given MFP as your activity level?

When I was wearing a Fitbit, I logged an average of 14K for a 12 hour transplant nursing shift (a lot of walking), and maybe 8-10K for ortho trauma (less walking, more heavy lifting and lengthy dressing changes). It was easier to increase my base activity level when I was working full time. So I was moderately active, and it upped my calorie allotment. Now I'm PRN, so I keep my level at lightly active and anything over that I consider to be a bonus. Since it's activity that is so spread out over a long shift, it seems inaccurate to log it as exercise.

benwangc

I agree it doesn't seem right to log as exercise, but there are days that when I get home and walk the dogs (about 1 1/2 mile) it shows my only "exercise" is burning 200 calories. Frequently it will tell me "probably not eating enough". Which explains my plateau and slow weight gain. I think I'm curious as to how many calories I'm eating. It's a level 1 trauma center and like you.... the difference in floors vary.

I had a good "food day", but by time I calculated it, at 5pm its only 800 calories... including dinner. Grrrrrr.....
I'm 5'2", 154# and trying to jump start my metabolism. I lost enough to see 145# and slowly seeing the weight come back after losing 16# on Medifast.

Thanks for your feedback.

nursecasg

Great post. Following..