Summer Work - How do I estimate what I've burned?

laurenpjokl

I'm not sure if this is in the right place -

At the start of July, I'll be doing 4 hour cleaning shifts Monday to Fridays. They're physically demanding and very tiring, as you're expected to work at a fast pace.

I'm just not sure how to log it. Although it's only 4 hours, I'm tempted to change my settings from "sedentary" to "active" Monday to Friday then change it back to sedentary for weekends. This ups my calorie allowance from 1200 to 1510, which might be about right. One of my concerns is that I often finish early, and I wouldn't be able to differentiate those days.

I guess the other option is that I know that you can log cleaning as an exercise, but I'm not sure how accurate that would be.

What do you guys think?

JoeCampbell85

If it's a long term situation, the only semi-reliable thing to do would be to pick a total calorie to eat, say 1500. Then do weigh-ins and see how much you have lost/gained after a month or so using a moving average. After you have the lbs you've lost, you can multiply that by 3500 calories for total calorie deficit over the time frame. Then divide that by hours you did this work. for a rough estimate of calories/hour.

Ok, that sounds like a huge pain in the behind. Change your activity level to active (light or moderate) and see how that works :P. My gut tells me that 1510 might be a good estimate. That "10" is strangely specific though. :laugh:

laurenpjokl

Thanks Joe!

I'm only doing it for a month, perhaps a month and half, so doing it the complicated way wouldn't be possible anyway. I just don't want to accidentally overestimate what I'm burning.

3dogsrunning

The activity setting is meant to be averaged over the week. It accounts for physical jobs and obviously most people don't work 7 days a week. Switch it to active while you are workig and keep it there until your job ends would be my suggestion, no need to worry about changing it on weekends.

earthboundmisfit

Do you have a Fitbit or some other activity tracker? That would help you estimate your calories.

jillian_fan2425

The activity setting is meant to be averaged over the week. It accounts for physical jobs and obviously most people don't work 7 days a week. Switch it to active while you are workig and keep it there until your job ends would be my suggestion, no need to worry about changing it on weekends.

Agreed. I'm kind of in the same boat; working a retail job where I do inventory, unpack and move boxes, and generally spend a lot of time on my feet several days a week. On my off days, when I'm more sedentary, I just eat a little less to account for less activity.

As the poster above said, it all averages out over the week.

laurenpjokl

The activity setting is meant to be averaged over the week. It accounts for physical jobs and obviously most people don't work 7 days a week. Switch it to active while you are workig and keep it there until your job ends would be my suggestion, no need to worry about changing it on weekends.

Hi,

I'm just a bit worried because I'm only working 4 hours a day? Perhaps the best thing then is to switch it to lightly active instead of active. Thanks for the advice!