Pushing the Med Cart

FabFran33
FabFran33 Posts: 36
in Fitness and Exercise
For all my fellow nurses, how do you account for calories burned while at work? I work 12 hour shifts at a nursing home, and most of that time is spent on my feet. Walking, bending, leaning in & holding awkward positions, and pushing that heavy med cart. Ever gave a bolus feeding to a patient in a low bed without getting fully on your knees? Talk about burning thighs! LOL!!

Replies

  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
    Set your activity level to lightly active and leave it at that. Adding work calories never really works out in the long run because you aren't sustaining an elevated heart rate for a long period of time. Aside from that, did the work help you lose weight before?
  • HMVOL7409
    HMVOL7409 Posts: 1,588 Member
    Same here job and all, but I don't calculate it as a burn. Set it in your activity level.
  • usmcmp
    usmcmp Posts: 21,219 Member
    You've probably done those things for months or years and they didn't get you into shape. Therefore they are not counted as exercise, but your daily activity level. Like the others suggest set your activity level appropriately to account for it.
  • FabFran33
    FabFran33 Posts: 36
    When I'm really watching my calories, I tend to lose about a pound a week. And that's when I'm doing about 4-5 shifts a week. But, my schedule is different now, and I'm only working there about 2 times a week. And the rest of the week is at a desk job. Since my activity level increases on those two days, was wondering if it could have an impact. I left my activity level at sedentary for now since my full time job is a desk job. I try to sneak in a couple minutes of cardio about every hour though.
  • Missmissy0003
    Missmissy0003 Posts: 250 Member
    I work prn and as little as possible! I just consider my work days as lagniappe (a little something extra) that will make up for some kind of logging error or overage I may have had previously. It's worked well for me. By the way, I'm way pregnant now so don't pay any attention to my ticker.
  • FullOfWin
    FullOfWin Posts: 1,414 Member
    Keep your activity realatively the same each week and adjust your calories based on results.

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