Nurses How do you track

phenrichs

Ok, so my wife is a nurse and just signed up for MFP. I know you nurses are on your feet all day. So how do track that activity? A pedometer perhaps? but how do you translate that into MFP?

sproeber89

I don't track working as a nurse, I figure it's my everyday life so it's not really burning as many calories as some regular cardio does. I only track my other workouts.

emilyr9602

when she sets up her goals, she should choose "Active or Very Active" for her daily activity....don't log it as extra.

dawnemjh

I don't track working as a nurse, I figure it's my everyday life so it's not really burning as many calories as some regular cardio does. I only track my other workouts.

ditto!!

Jhillian

I'm a Personal Support Worker in a Nursing Home, so pretty much the same thing run my butt off for 8 hours. Really you need an HRM to track actual calories burned, but as I don't have one yet For an 8hour shift I say Walking 2.0 for 4 hours so anything burned above and beyond that is bonus.

crobinson0923

She should just up her activity level when she set up her profile so that mfp would take that into consideration when figuring out how many calories she should eat. Then if she does anything out of the ordinary for that day, then you would track that.

Kelico528

when she sets up her goals, she should choose "Active or Very Active" for her daily activity....don't log it as extra.

Yup, do this!

Cathy_ann913

Oh that's not true! I worked in a Level 1 trauma center for many years and didn't think that all that walking back and forth to triage, taking up patients and the pushing gurneys was exercise. I gained 20 lbs at my new desk job. The weight gain was a combination of decrease activity and snacks in everyone's office. Don't discount work exercise!

robinxhope

I DO track it because I'm here to KEEP TRACK of my activity, as accurately as possible. Just like logging food accurately. And I work 12 hour shifts that I don't sit down much. I've yet to get a pedometer and I think that would be the best way to do it. But I've read on some forums that the average nurse on a 12 hour shift (busy) walks about 6 miles. I usually chart a few hours of moderate to light cleaning or chart a few solid hours of walking at a moderate pace (about 6miles). That boosts my caloric intake enough to eat back some of the nutrients my body (particularly my brain) needs to function ALL day long which I feel is important, especially when I'm taking care of very sick people. I am still loosing weight at what I feel is a healthy rate (about .5-1lb/wk). Some people suggest increasing your daily activity level but I find that there is a lot of variability because I do shift work (2 days, 2nights and 5 off). I am also in search of a more accurate way to chart this activity so I'm interested to see what others that DO count it chart it as.

badgerbadger1

I think it is highly dependent on what kind of shifts you work and the type of nursing you do. I work a 0.6 EFT which is essentially 2-12 hr shifts/wk, so the rest of the week I am not getting the work activity. I am in critical care, and it's impossible to know how your day will go. Some days it's a lot of monitoring and documenting, others it's a full day of resuscitating, others still a 5 hr 60% BSA burn dressing change in isolation gear in an ultra hot room.

As such I caution against setting to active or very active as it would not be accurate in all cases, it may lead to overeating calories.

Luandanielle1979

I work for 11 hours on my feet and dont log it as exercise. I just set my goals and work as active. I find this workss best for me and my body is used to it I guess x

robinxhope

badgerbader1, how do you track your activity then?

LeanMeanFitnessMachine

When it asks for your daily activity (ie. "slightly active", "active", "sedentary") choose slightly active or active and MFP automatically takes that into account when calculating calories, carbs, fats, etc. It even gives examples next to the choices (slightly active would be like mailman or waitress, for example).

kryshouston

I dont track my work as a nurse because it is everyday activity

badgerbadger1

badgerbader1, how do you track your activity then?

To be honest I'm not sure yet. I only started MFP on Dec 17th and I'm on medical leave until Feb 6th.

Shweedog

She can do ONE of two things. But NOT both:

1) Set profile to very active and do not log work as exercise

OR

2) Set profile to lightly active or sedentary and log work as exercise (walking, etc)

honeysprinkles

Not a nurse, but I think the easiest way to account for it would be to set her activity level to either active or very active, that way MFP already takes it into account when setting her calorie goal!

Mirror_Image

when she sets up her goals, she should choose "Active or Very Active" for her daily activity....don't log it as extra.

This. Dependant on how heavy her caseload/ward is.

Kelico528

She can do ONE of two things. But NOT both:

1) Set profile to very active and do not log work as exercise

OR

2) Set profile to lightly active or sedentary and log work as exercise (walking, etc)

Yup, this too :-)

gp79

You'd be very surprised to see the difference in calories burned between having a desk job or working as a nurse. My wife, who is also a nurse, works 12 hour shifts. We've yet to send her to work with my body media fit, but from my time using it, even trips to the grocery store, burn quite a few calories vs. sitting on the couch or behind a desk.

LovelyLibra79

I'm a RN on a busy Labor and Delivery unit. Your wife definitely needs a pedometer..on average I take over 10000 steps while on duty.

jackiemarie

I'm an oncology RN & work 3 12hour shifts a week. somedays I'm running somedays I'm
Sitting around so I don't count it towards calories burnt. I only log my actual exercise as exercise.

jackiemarie

As such I caution against setting to active or very active as it would not be accurate in all cases, it may lead to overeating calories.

I agree, I set mine to slight active because I'm pretty sure it said "nurse" as an example to this setting.

phenrichs

I think she set up as light active but I just don't think that will be as productive for her. She works 3 - 12 hour shifts a week and will need to fill in some activity the rest of the time. I could see choosing that if you worked everyday but I think it may be more accurate to set at sedentary and log the steps with a pedo

Starlage

I struggled with this for a long time; still do. I tried leaving my level at sedentary and wearing a pedometer, then logging those calories at the end of the day (there are fancy ones that will estimate calories burned or get a cheap one like I did and google "pedometer calories burned" and there are calculators) but this really was too much work and wasn't making a difference good or bad... but I did often fall under in calories since you can't plan your meals until you know what you've burned for the day.... so I've found it much easier to leave my level set to "lightly active" since some days i'm crazy and up all day and others I sit most of the day... for me it only calculated about 130 extra calories (over 1200) so it's much easier to just choose an activity level and go with that so that you can plan out the day better. I really struggled with being able to plan the day properly when I didn't know what I was going to have extra until I got to the end of my workday and calculated what I burned.

melvac

I definitly have a pedometer whether at work or home. The other exercise I track as everyone else

sarah307

I just have my activity level set to "lightly active" and that counts as my workday and has been working for me!

Sugs94

I used to work in a level 1 trauma ER and wore a pedometer when I was in our triage area....it had the most movement. I had over 24,000 steps for many average shifts (many more for above average). I would add those. I have now moved to being a recovery room nurse and do a lot more standing than moving. I do still transport unit patients sometimes...but much less movement, so no longer track. Think it really matters what type of nursing/area your wife works in.

nurse_pamela

True!~