Do You Declare "Work" as Excercise?

MrsY21

I work in a shop, and am standing/moving 8-11hrs a day. I want to declare it on MFP (as I am more or less constantly moving, especially at Christmas time!), but am not sure what as?

The only standing "excercises" are fishing or playing guitar...Any idea which would be similar?

Livestrong says:


130-lb. Person

A 130-lb. person expends about 570 calories while standing idly for 8 hours, only about 100 more calories than she would spend if she were sitting idly all day. Most people who stand for 8 hours end up engaged in further activity using their hands, arms and upper body. This additional activity helps to burn further calories, increasing calories consumed up to 943 calories during an 8-hour shift, according to A Calorie Counter.

180-lb. Person

A 180-lb. person expends about 784 calories if standing idly for 8 hours and up to 1,306 calories if he is active with the upper body.

230-lb. Person

A 230-lb. person expends 1,002 calories standing idly and about 1,670 calories standing while using the upper body for miscellaneous activity.

At 213lb I'm guessing I could declare 1306 and not be too inaccurate? Bearing in mind that I am not just standing around, I am walking for 1/3-1/2 of that time.

TYIA, all advice appreciated!

caroleannlight

How have you set up MFP? Just include it in your activity level I would have thought otherwise consider a device to measure your TDEE e.g. Body media or fitbit. Your plan to log around 1300 seems high to me. I stand and move around in my job but actually the calories burned on a non working day according to my fitbit are only a couple of hundred less. Good luck whatever you decide

CA

mfpseven

Yes I work overnight retail at a big box grocery, lots of walking,carrying, squatting, climbing ladders. I log it as walking, moving household items, and light cleaning. About 2-3 hours of the 8 I work. Comes to around 500.

mikeschratz

I have a body media fit. It has given me a better idea of the calories I expend during certain activities, and it has helped me with my sleep habits. And it automatically adds those calories to your daily caloric total!
It has really changed the way that I do this thing!

Poods71

I don't cos I sit on my butt all day in an office lol. But I also don't add things I do regularly anyway like housework, ironing etc. The only things I add are exercise I don't so as part of my every day life. As I was doing all that other stuff before I lost weight. Some of my MFP friends do add it though, so I suppose it's up to the individual. No idea what you would add it as though, sorry.

glennstoudt

My suggestion is to set your activity level according to what you do every day. Then you don't have to record the routine work output and MFP software will assign the caloric intake level recommendation. On your off days, remember to be just as active, and then additional cardio or other activities can be recorded. Less recording means more time for other things. PS. From my experience, MFP tends to be "generous" with caloric expenditures for various activities. I usually cut what they say by some amount (25% or more) when recording it unless I can cross check it with another source for accuracy.

sandradev1

I saw it written on here some time ago:


'if you did the activity when you were putting the weight on then its not instrumental in your weight loss, so only log the exercise you are doing to constructively reduce your weight.'

Normal everyday activities are already included in your calculations, provided you have correctly identified your activity level in the first place.

:drinker:

robin52077

Don't log it as exercise, just change your lifestyle setting from sedentary or lightly active or whatever you have it at, to the highest setting.
Trust me, 8-11 hours on your feet at work is equal to the highest setting, unless you stand still at a cash register. I had to raise it all the way up when I was managing a Dunkin Donuts. TDEE was like 2600.

But just remember, when you do this, all your activity is already included. I wouldn't log ANY additional exercise when using that setting.

Highest activity level, 1 pound a week loss, and try to get as close as possible without going over.

DavPul

I declare "work" as work and "exercise" as exercise, but I'm also one of those weirdos that only logs "water" as water so what do I know?

I don't have any hard numbers to prove this, but most of the people on this site that have successfully lost significant weight do not log daily activities as exercise. But feel free to do what you wanna do

Rachlmale

Change your activity level to active.

girlie100

I saw it written on here some time ago:


'if you did the activity when you were putting the weight on then its not instrumental in your weight loss, so only log the exercise you are doing to constructively reduce your weight.'

Normal everyday activities are already included in your calculations, provided you have correctly identified your activity level in the first place.

:drinker:

thats how I feel, your daily activity should be included in your TDEE

Oishii

Don't log it as exercise, just change your lifestyle setting from sedentary or lightly active or whatever you have it at, to the highest setting.
Trust me, 8-11 hours on your feet at work is equal to the highest setting, unless you stand still at a cash register. I had to raise it all the way up when I was managing a Dunkin Donuts. TDEE was like 2600.

But just remember, when you do this, all your activity is already included. I wouldn't log ANY additional exercise when using that setting.

Highest activity level, 1 pound a week loss, and try to get as close as possible without going over.

I had the exact same experience as a teacher. I'd say, follow Robin's advice, but be willing to tweak your plan, depending on results. Even on a slow day my fitbit says I burn more than mfp thinks I would as a bike courier, and to not lose weight I need far more than any calculator would ever suggest.

Kathrynaline

Yeah, I'd use household cleaning...

Mokey41

Unless you're seeing weight falling off at an alarming rate then i wouldn't worry about it. The endless search for more to eat isn't necessary and if you want to log it to impress your friends with how active you are that probably won't work either.

If you're finding that you are losing too much too quickly then up your activity level one notch and stick with that. If you were doing the job before and it wasn't melting fat off it probably isn't now. Standing over sitting burns minimally more calories and the walking you do around a store is not the same as going out for a brisk walk for an hour. I would bet it barely raises your heart rate.

MrsY21

Thanks everyone.

I agree with the "if you were doing it when you put the weight on..." statement, however I have almost doubled my work hours, so I am actually doing more than I was when I put the weight on.

I'd totally forgotten about altering lifestyle settings, so thank you for suggesting that! I will give that a try first before I declare as exercise or anything.

I'm "searching for more to eat" because for the first time whilst using MFP I'm hungry beyond my calorie allocation, that was the only thing that made me think about logging it.

Thank you all for your help.

Lady_Bane

No. Your work should be included in your activity level settings. Sedentary if you sit around all day etc.