Question for nurses

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Dianaka
Dianaka Posts: 48 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I work on a 12 hour day shift on a busy med-surge unit at the hospital. Yesterday i did not take off my HRM after my lunch time walk and at the end of the shift it registered that I "burned" whooping 1400 calories! ( that is for a half day of work!). Of course I am not planning to credit it as the exercise, but do you think we burn at least 200-300 calories while running around at work? Opinions please! Thanks!

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  • bloodbank
    bloodbank Posts: 468 Member
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    First, HRMs are not designed to be worn outside of aerobic activity, so the number it gives you for wearing it several hours walking around your work is likely inaccurate. Second, your HRM won't differentiate between what you would have burned just living & the 'extra' from walking - so if you would have (for example) burned 100 calories per hour just being alive for the 6 hours (again, example), you'd have to subtract that from the total (1400 - 600 = 800) to figure out your "extra" burn.

    If your activity level in MFP is set to 'sedentary', you could probably definitely count an extra couple hundred from your shift at work, although if you are regularly jetting around for your whole 12 hour shift, the easier thing to do would be to bump up your activity level in your fitness profile.
  • hjollyrn
    hjollyrn Posts: 208 Member
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    I believe we burn a couple hundred calories in a twelve hour shift. I have my activity level set to "light" and leave it at that!
  • Jean410
    Jean410 Posts: 104
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    First, HRMs are not designed to be worn outside of aerobic activity, so the number it gives you for wearing it several hours walking around your work is likely inaccurate. Second, your HRM won't differentiate between what you would have burned just living & the 'extra' from walking - so if you would have (for example) burned 100 calories per hour just being alive for the 6 hours (again, example), you'd have to subtract that from the total (1400 - 600 = 800) to figure out your "extra" burn.

    If your activity level in MFP is set to 'sedentary', you could probably definitely count an extra couple hundred from your shift at work, although if you are regularly jetting around for your whole 12 hour shift, the easier thing to do would be to bump up your activity level in your fitness profile.

    I agree. I also don't count anything that I would normally do as "exercise" or a calorie burner. Your body is used to that level. I only use the times I go out of my way to exercise as exercise/ calories burned.
  • Mirror_Image
    Mirror_Image Posts: 32
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    Well, when I started work in my surgical emergency unit , which is constantly hectic, my weight dropped as I am running round non stop. Especially when I initially started. I reckon we do burn a lot - we're on our feet all day, when we have dependant patients we expend a lot of effort and energy in just mobilising or repositioning. We bend, stretch, run to emergency alarms, transport patients etc. In your type of medical-surgical environment I'd imagine you have some very acute poorly patients as I do on my ward and you're kept moving all day providing care. I'd up your activity level to moderate.

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