Waitressing...help?!

mhannan13 · June 2011

Okay, so I recently started waitressing at a big, very busy, restaurant. For sometimes up to 8 hours I am not allowed to sit so I am either walking, standing or, occasionally, running. I also have to lift, balance, squat, clean, etc. Basically, it is a very physical job. Trying to get a kind of estimate on how many calories I burn at work, I plugged in walking @ 2mph for x amount of time, because I figured that was a good average, if not an underestimate, for what I was doing. I burned over 1000 cals! Is that right? Anyone have any more solid information about what a waitress might burn at work?

zorbaru · June 2011

under your settings, set your daily physical activity to "Active"

this will adjust your daily intake for someone that does "waitressing" as a job. it is actually listed as an example. that way you dont actually need to log the waiterssing as exercise as it is already incorporated into your goal

SheilaSisco · June 2011

What you should do is change your activity level to active or very active and leave it at that. It will give you new calorie goals based on your activity level and alleviate the headache of adding it for exercise. Work is and everyday thing so it really SHOULD go in your activity level...

uniqute1888 · June 2011

I have worked in a restaurant for 8 years now... The average cheesecake factory server run/ walks 8mi per 5 hour shift. I now work at pf changs but still run like a crazy person. Your probably right in your estimate by averaging it out at 2mph. And dont forget your support hose to ward off spider veins from standing all day!

aippolito1 · June 2011

I agree, just change your lifestyle setting. I just quit waiting tables and I only added 200 calories to my base calories because it wasn't too busy. If it was busier, I'd add a couple hundred basing it on how fast I walk compared to an actual walk outside... just standing around won't burn much more than sitting but walking around quickly and running around like crazy is definitely a lot of calories. Just try not to eat ALL your calories since they're only guesstimated.

uniqute1888 · June 2011

sorry- forgot there is an activity level on this site (my old counter did not) so i agree with the other fine ladies comments - Happy Losing!

hbrittingham · June 2011

The only time in my life that I didn't have to watch everything I eat was when I was waitressing (10 years). I was quite thin because I ran hard for 8+ hours a day. Now days, I would set my profile as active and go with the calories alloted.