Is being a CNA enough exercise?

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aiminghighx
aiminghighx Posts: 3
in Fitness and Exercise
I was recently hired at a nursing home and I stay on my feet 8 hours, walking around pretty fast paced, taking care of 20 patients a day sometimes more if we're short staff.. & of course I do a lot of changing briefs, changing beds, transferring patients, going back & forth through halls to get them whatever they may need, dressing them, feeding them, ect.

I haven't seen any sign of weightloss but I have been eating less, working 3-11 five to six times a week but only for a couple weeks now.
Do you guys think that's enough exercise to lose weight?

Replies

  • fullersun35
    fullersun35 Posts: 162 Member
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    You don't need to exercise at all to lose weight. Just eat at a calorie deficit.
  • AJ_G
    AJ_G Posts: 4,158 Member
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    Just calculate your TDEE with your activity level set to what you think is correct for yourself based on your job and exercise outside your job etc, and then just eat at a deficit and you will lose weight.
  • boolz
    boolz Posts: 61 Member
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    That sounds like a really active day. If you want some data on it, I'd recommend getting a pedometer, like a Fitbit or similar. Seeing the steps pile up would be a great motivator, I would think.

    To put it into context: some people recommend 10,000 steps a day for fitness. A typical Amish woman gets in about 14,000 steps a day. In my job, I could easily only do about 3,000 steps in a day unless I make a point of doing more. A guy I saw on vacation this summer clearly had a job that involved a lot of running around back and forth. I commented on that and he whips out his smart phone. At 2 in the afternoon, he had already logged 16,000 steps. So I think it would be very interesting for you to see what your day logs in at. I bet it's pretty high.

    Like the other poster said, it's calorie deficit that counts for weight loss. But keeping a high metabolism is a real plus, and your active work would almost certainly help with that.
  • Healingnutritionsolutions
    Healingnutritionsolutions Posts: 134 Member
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    Its really about the diet... I was a CNA, very active, yet gained weight. My problem was simply too many sweets and sodas. The exercise is probably sufficient, but you have to make the diet match it. Also, honestly, I really recommend you work on the cardio when you are off work, you'll probably be surprised at how winded you are, because as busy as we work on the floor, we are never sustaining an elevated heart rate for a sufficient length of time to increase our cardio fitness levels. If you want to do more lifting too outside the workplace, where you are in control of your form better, you will increase your strength and find that turning, lifting and positioning is much easier. Wishing you the best of luck!

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