Am I really burning that much?
thelovelyLIZ
Posts: 1,227 Member
Hello friends!
So the short of it is I'm a sales rep so my work day is 8 hours of walking all over grocery stores moving 30-40lbs boxes and stocking shelves. I'm driving between accounts but I'm generally in the car maybe 10 minutes between accounts on average.
When I started I got a fitbit because I was curious about how much I was moving around. I recently got back to using it and I'm having a hard time believing how much my HR Charge says I'm burning. On an average day I'll walk around 4 miles, or 10k steps, if the fitbit is to be believed. Today I got about 11500 steps by the time I clocked out, putting me at about 600 calories of exercise when the fitbit app adjusted. I mean, the work is physically demanding but that seems like a lot! Any one else have a very active job and experiencing the same thing.
So the short of it is I'm a sales rep so my work day is 8 hours of walking all over grocery stores moving 30-40lbs boxes and stocking shelves. I'm driving between accounts but I'm generally in the car maybe 10 minutes between accounts on average.
When I started I got a fitbit because I was curious about how much I was moving around. I recently got back to using it and I'm having a hard time believing how much my HR Charge says I'm burning. On an average day I'll walk around 4 miles, or 10k steps, if the fitbit is to be believed. Today I got about 11500 steps by the time I clocked out, putting me at about 600 calories of exercise when the fitbit app adjusted. I mean, the work is physically demanding but that seems like a lot! Any one else have a very active job and experiencing the same thing.
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Replies
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It could be right. How long have you had your Fitbit for? I find that it is inaccurate at first...and then gets more accurate as time goes on because it gets used to your movements and becomes better at reporting the burn.2
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samanthaluangphixay wrote: »It could be right. How long have you had your Fitbit for? I find that it is inaccurate at first...and then gets more accurate as time goes on because it gets used to your movements and becomes better at reporting the burn.
A while now. I wasn't using it for a few months but I used it pretty diligently my first 5 or so months on the job. I even switched it to my dominant hand setting even though I wear it on my non-dominant to off set extra steps I might incur while I'm stocking shelves.0 -
thelovelyLIZ wrote: »samanthaluangphixay wrote: »It could be right. How long have you had your Fitbit for? I find that it is inaccurate at first...and then gets more accurate as time goes on because it gets used to your movements and becomes better at reporting the burn.
A while now. I wasn't using it for a few months but I used it pretty diligently my first 5 or so months on the job. I even switched it to my dominant hand setting even though I wear it on my non-dominant to off set extra steps I might incur while I'm stocking shelves.
Hmmm...well to put things into perspective, I have a sedentary desk job but I walk lots (no car) and I exercise for an hour a day. It's still probably less physically active than your job and I burn about 400 extra calories when I do all that so it could be right?
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Probably not. Your body will give you the truth over time, if you eat that extra and then gain body fat there is your answer, then you can keep cutting the amount in half until you figure it out.0
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10,000 steps a day is about 400 to 500 cals according to all the apps i use so you are about right.0
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californiagirl2012 wrote: »Probably not. Your body will give you the truth over time, if you eat that extra and then gain body fat there is your answer, then you can keep cutting the amount in half until you figure it out.
Do you know why this might not be correct? Is there a better method to track this? I got the fitbit HR in part because I knew my heart rate was rising while I sifted through boxes for the job- not a lot of walking but basically a weight lifting routine some days. I know most of the guys I work with said they lost quite a bit of weight when they started, especially if they were coming from a desk job- that's even with all the beer they were drinking (we work for a brewery so beer drinking is basically a job requirement.) I've been stagnant since I started but again, I was drinking a lot of beer and eating out a lot so that didn't seem unusual to me.
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samanthaluangphixay wrote: »thelovelyLIZ wrote: »samanthaluangphixay wrote: »It could be right. How long have you had your Fitbit for? I find that it is inaccurate at first...and then gets more accurate as time goes on because it gets used to your movements and becomes better at reporting the burn.
A while now. I wasn't using it for a few months but I used it pretty diligently my first 5 or so months on the job. I even switched it to my dominant hand setting even though I wear it on my non-dominant to off set extra steps I might incur while I'm stocking shelves.
Hmmm...well to put things into perspective, I have a sedentary desk job but I walk lots (no car) and I exercise for an hour a day. It's still probably less physically active than your job and I burn about 400 extra calories when I do all that so it could be right?
Maybe. I guess it just seems like a lot since when I was running but had a lightly active job a run would burn about 300-400 on average. That might not have been considering my day to day movements though.0 -
thelovelyLIZ wrote: »californiagirl2012 wrote: »Probably not. Your body will give you the truth over time, if you eat that extra and then gain body fat there is your answer, then you can keep cutting the amount in half until you figure it out.
Do you know why this might not be correct? Is there a better method to track this? I got the fitbit HR in part because I knew my heart rate was rising while I sifted through boxes for the job- not a lot of walking but basically a weight lifting routine some days. I know most of the guys I work with said they lost quite a bit of weight when they started, especially if they were coming from a desk job- that's even with all the beer they were drinking (we work for a brewery so beer drinking is basically a job requirement.) I've been stagnant since I started but again, I was drinking a lot of beer and eating out a lot so that didn't seem unusual to me.
I doubt the HR calculation will make it much more accurate but I could be wrong, and frankly it sounds like it.
Most people go by the Runners World formula, which says
walking cals = 0.3 * body weight in pounds
running cals = 0.6 * body weight in pounds
Pushing weight around adds to that because you're doing more work.
Weight lifting is a very hard thing to try to estimate calories for, and HR doesn't help with that because complex math and science.
It's less than you'd think it would be, though. 0 -
thelovelyLIZ wrote: »samanthaluangphixay wrote: »thelovelyLIZ wrote: »samanthaluangphixay wrote: »It could be right. How long have you had your Fitbit for? I find that it is inaccurate at first...and then gets more accurate as time goes on because it gets used to your movements and becomes better at reporting the burn.
A while now. I wasn't using it for a few months but I used it pretty diligently my first 5 or so months on the job. I even switched it to my dominant hand setting even though I wear it on my non-dominant to off set extra steps I might incur while I'm stocking shelves.
Hmmm...well to put things into perspective, I have a sedentary desk job but I walk lots (no car) and I exercise for an hour a day. It's still probably less physically active than your job and I burn about 400 extra calories when I do all that so it could be right?
Maybe. I guess it just seems like a lot since when I was running but had a lightly active job a run would burn about 300-400 on average. That might not have been considering my day to day movements though.
So how long did you run? Time makes a difference here. You are comparing a days worth of lower intensity activity to say 30-60 minutes of somewhat higher intensity activity. I don't think 600 calories is way out there for say 7 hours of walking around and moving things.0 -
rileysowner wrote: »thelovelyLIZ wrote: »samanthaluangphixay wrote: »thelovelyLIZ wrote: »samanthaluangphixay wrote: »It could be right. How long have you had your Fitbit for? I find that it is inaccurate at first...and then gets more accurate as time goes on because it gets used to your movements and becomes better at reporting the burn.
A while now. I wasn't using it for a few months but I used it pretty diligently my first 5 or so months on the job. I even switched it to my dominant hand setting even though I wear it on my non-dominant to off set extra steps I might incur while I'm stocking shelves.
Hmmm...well to put things into perspective, I have a sedentary desk job but I walk lots (no car) and I exercise for an hour a day. It's still probably less physically active than your job and I burn about 400 extra calories when I do all that so it could be right?
Maybe. I guess it just seems like a lot since when I was running but had a lightly active job a run would burn about 300-400 on average. That might not have been considering my day to day movements though.
So how long did you run? Time makes a difference here. You are comparing a days worth of lower intensity activity to say 30-60 minutes of somewhat higher intensity activity. I don't think 600 calories is way out there for say 7 hours of walking around and moving things.
4 miles was my base run and at a 9:30 mi/mil most calculators were putting me at about 350-400 calories. It was a 35-40 minutes on average.
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NorthCascades wrote: »thelovelyLIZ wrote: »californiagirl2012 wrote: »Probably not. Your body will give you the truth over time, if you eat that extra and then gain body fat there is your answer, then you can keep cutting the amount in half until you figure it out.
Do you know why this might not be correct? Is there a better method to track this? I got the fitbit HR in part because I knew my heart rate was rising while I sifted through boxes for the job- not a lot of walking but basically a weight lifting routine some days. I know most of the guys I work with said they lost quite a bit of weight when they started, especially if they were coming from a desk job- that's even with all the beer they were drinking (we work for a brewery so beer drinking is basically a job requirement.) I've been stagnant since I started but again, I was drinking a lot of beer and eating out a lot so that didn't seem unusual to me.
I doubt the HR calculation will make it much more accurate but I could be wrong, and frankly it sounds like it.
Most people go by the Runners World formula, which says
walking cals = 0.3 * body weight in pounds
running cals = 0.6 * body weight in pounds
Pushing weight around adds to that because you're doing more work.
Weight lifting is a very hard thing to try to estimate calories for, and HR doesn't help with that because complex math and science. It's less than you'd think it would be, though.
Very useful thanks ☺️
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at 160lbs I get between 500-600 calories over sedentary for around 10K - that's just on step count not on HRM
calorie burn is also weight relevant0 -
I get about a 350 calorie adjustment for 10K at 116 pounds.0
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Addendum to my previous post. Today I'm getting about 250 for 10K. Shorter, easier run, easier walking pace for the walk after.
The 350 for the 10K is for either a harder run with a brisker walk after, or a long run. I usually hit close to 10K fairly early in the day.1 -
10k steps nets me somewhere around 500 calories at 226lbs.0
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