To count or not to count calories from work

Doug_T

I work on my feet 12 hours a day 4 days a week moving metal bars around (machinest.) Would you consider my weekly activity medium or heavy? Also should I count any of this as excercise?

yirara

This should be part of how busy you are, not exercise. If you're on your feet all day and carry heavy things then you're likely very active.

janejellyroll

In your situation, I would probably choose "Active" or even "Very Active" as my activity level and not log any work activities (if you do additional exercise, I would log that). I would then pay attention to my weight trend over the next few weeks and adjust as necessary.

goal06082021

MFP's method doesn't include purposeful exercise. I would set your activity level to Very Active, and then log any additional purposeful exercise you do on top of your work activities.

cwolfman13

Doug_T wrote: »

I work on my feet 12 hours a day 4 days a week moving metal bars around (machinest.) Would you consider my weekly activity medium or heavy? Also should I count any of this as excercise?

You would count it in your activity level...medium or heavy, just pick one and make adjustments as necessary. Logically, if you're including this in your activity, why would you also log this as exercise? You would be double dipping. People log exercise with MFP to account for activity/exercise that isn't accounted for in their activity level and thus get additional calories to compensate for more activity...if it's already in your activity level, you would be seriously double dipping.

Doug_T

cwolfman13 wrote: »

Doug_T wrote: »

I work on my feet 12 hours a day 4 days a week moving metal bars around (machinest.) Would you consider my weekly activity medium or heavy? Also should I count any of this as excercise?

You would count it in your activity level...medium or heavy, just pick one and make adjustments as necessary. Logically, if you're including this in your activity, why would you also log this as exercise? You would be double dipping. People log exercise with MFP to account for activity/exercise that isn't accounted for in their activity level and thus get additional calories to compensate for more activity...if it's already in your activity level, you would be seriously double dipping.

I didnt think to double dip. I thought to do one or the other. And thank you.

sijomial

Remember your activity setting is designed to include not just your job but all your weekly waking hours (but excluding purposeful exercise).
How active you are on the 3 days when you aren't working also has a bearing on which level you would choose, it's not just your 4 long very physical days you have to factor in.

Another thing to consider is what rate of loss you pick, low-balling activity setting and shooting for a fast rate of loss would be a bad combination. The set up is just to get you started at a reasonable level, after a few weeks your weight trend and energy levels will start to become clearer and you can fine tune things.