I work a lot. How many calories do I need? (Long)

bunnerfly

The info:

Currently I consume 1200/day.

I am 5'2" and weigh 184-185lbs.

I am female and 32 years old.

The problem: I have a full time 3rd shift job working with mentally and/or physically disabled adults in a residential setting. I am lifting and moving adults, some of them very obese, into and out of their beds, rolling them onto/off of their bedpans, getting them dressed, changing their bedlinens, rolling them in their beds, changing their adult diapers, cleaning/mopping/putting laundry away, walking (sometimes running) to and from rooms. There's some down time, but every 2 hours for an hour we do a "round" where we do the above tasks, minus the housekeeping parts. We do those on our down time. It is tiring work sometimes especially when we have a resident who is uncooperative or violent. Ever tried pulling up someone's underwear while they try to knock the crap outta you? Yeah, I dodge strikes like Neo dodges bullets in the Matrix.

The second part of this problem is that I also have a part time job working as a cashier in a convenience store where I also cook and tend to a drive thru. For at least 4 hours, 5 days a week, I'm walking back and forth, cooking food, getting cases of beer and pop or whatever else customers need, as well as chores. We don't sit down for more than a few minutes a shift if we are busy.

I have 2 school age children who love to play with me and are in activities. Basically, I sleep when I can for however long I can and then truck through the rest of my day/night. My days typically go like this: get off work at 5:30am, take a nap until 6:45am, get the kids breakfast/take them to school, come home and sleep until 10:20am, shower, go to job #2, get off work at 2 or 3pm, pick up the kids, run errands, come home, cook dinner, wash kids, get them settled for bed, take a nap until either 9:20pm or 11:20pm depending on the shift I work that night, get cleaned up, go to job #1, start all over. I generally get an entire day off ever other week. Sometimes I'll get lucky and 2 off in a row.

I have cut back on eating at the convenience store, unless it is something like a small slice of cheese pizza. I don't drink pop at work, and at the rehabilitation facility, I avoid the snack machines and do not drink pop. I do this because I gained a lot of weight by eating that way.

I don't know if my lifestyle qualifies as active or just lightly active since I'm not doing strenuous activities like roofing a house or running 5 miles a day, so I'm not sure how much I should be eating. I feel pretty hungry on the 1200 calories, but I am also pretty eager to shed this weight.

Advice? (Besides quit a job, LOL)

bunnerfly

Hmm. Anyone?

I wasn't really logging calories or making any real effort to lose weight until recently. Besides Easter, I have stayed on plan for only a week.

I just wanted some input.

prefabsey

It seems like you have a very active life. I work in a nursing home, and I see the job that nursing assistants and aids do - transferring people, dressing, bathing, etc. That's by no means a desk job. Add onto that your convenience store work, being on your feet for four hours a day is not insignificant.

I am concerned about the low caloric intake (1200 is considered the bare minimum by some, and even dangerously low by others). I understand that sometimes MFP recommends this number, but many on the boards would recommend a different (higher) number, especially given your active job. Hopefully someone more expert than I will jump in to explain the TDEE -20% method, which might be a viable option for you. If you're up for it, you could search the boards for the TDEE method.

A follow up question - how many hours of sleep do you get, cumulative, per day? Sleep is really essential, and the fact that you have it broken up into several chunks may not be ideal, though doubtless it may be necessary.

Hope some of that is informative. Best of luck. It's not easy in the beginning. But it's good you're asking for help.

prefabsey

As no one else appears to have answered my plea for an explanation of the TDEE method, I will courteously link this blog post by another MFP member to you:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/ShannonMpls/view/tdee-exercise-calories-an-alternate-way-to-customize-mfp-goals-238045

She briefly discusses TDEE (which, by the way, is Total Daily Energy Expenditure). Some recommend consuming anywhere75-85% of your TDEE to produce fat/weight loss. Others, like in the blog post, recommend subtracting a specific number of calories per day to achieve a weekly 3,500 deficit (=1 pound per week loss).

And lastly, a general caution in response to your mentioning being eager to shed the weigh. Rapid results are sometimes not sustainable. You might consider making steady loss a priority over rapid loss.

bunnerfly

Thank you so much!

1200 did NOT feel like an appropriate amount. I was starving most of the day, but I went with it. That is what I have gone with before, although my lifestyle is significantly more active now.

My BMR is 1599, and my TDEE is 2479, so no stinkin' wonder I was light-headed, stomach-aching, migraine inducing hungry!

And I manage to get about 5 to 8 hours cumulative on a good day, and none on a bad day. I had to quit my bartending job because between the 3 jobs I was going from 9:00pm Thursday to 6am Saturday with absolutely no break between the 3 jobs. It was brutal and definitely not worth the money I was making.

I'm starting school with a major in nursing in August, and will cut back to 1 job at that time if possible. :-)