Confused about calories intake

eskarine

Hello,

So I decided to go back on a diet after about a year of so of not counting my calories. I lost 17 kg back then and I maintained my weight for the year.

I had no problem with figuring out my daily calories limit when I worked only 5 days a week. I have a low-level physical activity job as a lab assistant, so most of my days are spent sitting.

But now I've started an additional job for the weekends. It's in a pharmaceutical warehouse. I pick boxes from ground (usually light ones but not always), put them on a table, open them up, repack the drugs into plastic containers and send them away for logging into the computer system. Sometimes I log them myself, which requires putting the containers onto moving trolleys. Sometimes I need to take them off the trolleys and put them into the machines that sort them out. It's a standing/walking job.

We get only one 25 minute break. During the first day I packed only one sandwich for lunch and by the end of the shift I was so hungry it almost hurt. I figured I ended up burning through calories way faster then I'm used to.

I'm at 77 kg right now. The information I found on the internet said that at my weight I go through roughly 1000 calories during the 8 hour shift. Is that a correct number? If so, should I log it as a physical activity (since it's not normal for me, this happens only two times a week)? Should I just up my calories intake during weekends and eat normally on the week days?

Trish1c

I'd log it as physical activity since it's only on the weekends not daily. But see what everybody else on here says. I'm a newbie so what do I know?

As for your hunger during your shift can you pack a nutritious snack like a piece of fruit or some veggies to fill you without adding a lot of calories?

eskarine

Unfortunately, we're not allowed to bring any food items to the warehouse, so what we eat during the break is all we have for the entire shift. But today I ate more during the break and no sudden hunger pains.

I also think it should be logged as activity, but I'm also sort of a newbie to calorie counting and dieting, so I wanted to get another opinion first.

RoxieDawn

In my opinion you may be trying to over complicate it. Why not stick to your calorie deficit all 7 days and on the days you work this second job plan to eat more as needed? I say this because...

This 1000 calorie burn seem a bit high to me and this why I am making this particular suggestion. If the work has the potential to not be that demanding or consistent either day you work or from week to week, you could be eating calories not necessary.

And there is not one answer to this question, but this one for me is simpler. You should be confident in how many calories you are gonna burn these two days at work. I would want to know more of an approximate before just tacking on more calories.

I personally would do this and monitor progress in how I feel physically, mentally and my rate of loss. Determine how many you NEED to eat back to stay strong and healthy, still loose weight and perform your jobs to the best of your ability.