Does retail work burn calories?

whisperwhitley
whisperwhitley Posts: 61
in Health and Weight Loss
Does working retail count as exercise? I work 7 hour shifts and I'm non stop moving. Walking around the store multiple times, stocking shelves, lifting 15 pound crates, bagging food. I have to be burning something because by the end of each shift I'm usually starving. I'm not naive enough to think I burn a ton of calories ( a lot of weight loss calculators estimate I burn 800 calories or more in the hours I work) I'm guessing I burn 200-300 calories maybe?

Replies

  • willdob3
    willdob3 Posts: 640 Member
    That would be counted in your regular lifestyle activity level. It is not exercise.
  • lsorci919
    lsorci919 Posts: 772 Member
    Sure you burn calories constantly moving like that but I agree with above statement. When picking your activity level that should have been included. When I log exercise I only log things I did solely for fitness. I don't log things like what I do at work, house cleaning, walking while shopping. Those things didn't help me before so I just leave them out since they were part of my normal routine.
  • whisperwhitley
    whisperwhitley Posts: 61
    I figured it wasn't much of a workout but thought I would ask. When I first started working I lost 6 pounds, but since then I have worked the same amount of days and hours and have maintained my weight so my body must be used to the physical aspect of it now.
  • Stage14
    Stage14 Posts: 1,046 Member
    You should set your activity level to lightly or moderately active (depending on how many days a week you work and how much actual movement you do).
  • ladymiseryali
    ladymiseryali Posts: 2,555 Member
    Not exercise, HOWEVER, it does make you "lightly active", rather than "sedentary". I once left my HRM on during a shift at my store, and it said I burned about 400-500 calories during my shift.
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
    You burn calories by merely existing. You could set your budget to lightly active but if you have it at sedentary now and aren't losing I don't think upping it would be the answer.
  • helenrosemay
    helenrosemay Posts: 375 Member
    You should set your activity level to lightly or moderately active (depending on how many days a week you work and how much actual movement you do).

    I work in a Charity shop one day a week, but the rest of the week I'm sedentary. Can you change your activity level for just one day?

    Edited: I just changed my activity level to light activity and it still says I should be eating 1200 calories. I'll just add it as exercise instead I think.
  • hulahoopmama
    hulahoopmama Posts: 140 Member
    Post your "activity levels" in here and it should give an accurate account of your calories burned in a day:

    http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/
  • QuilterInVA
    QuilterInVA Posts: 672 Member
    Unless you are in a coma the rest of the day, it counts as normal daily activity, not exercise.
  • rduhlir
    rduhlir Posts: 3,550 Member
    Sure it burns calories, but if you have MFP set up correctly then you should already be taking that into account.
  • rduhlir
    rduhlir Posts: 3,550 Member
    You should set your activity level to lightly or moderately active (depending on how many days a week you work and how much actual movement you do).

    I work in a Charity shop one day a week, but the rest of the week I'm sedentary. Can you change your activity level for just one day?

    Edited: I just changed my activity level to light activity and it still says I should be eating 1200 calories. I'll just add it as exercise instead I think.

    Do you have your goal set to 2lb loss? MFP will not go lower than 1200, and more than likely with their calculations the calories would be less than 1200 (no matter what your activity level) to maintain that if that is your goal. So your goal might be a bit too dramatic.
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
    You should set your activity level to lightly or moderately active (depending on how many days a week you work and how much actual movement you do).

    I work in a Charity shop one day a week, but the rest of the week I'm sedentary. Can you change your activity level for just one day?

    Edited: I just changed my activity level to light activity and it still says I should be eating 1200 calories. I'll just add it as exercise instead I think.

    I'd just leave it alone. I doubt you burn enough working in a store to make any difference at all. If you're searching for more calories set your loss rate appropriately. If MFP is only giving you 1200 calories you've likely chosen too aggressive of a setting for what you need to lsoe.
  • helenrosemay
    helenrosemay Posts: 375 Member
    You should set your activity level to lightly or moderately active (depending on how many days a week you work and how much actual movement you do).

    I work in a Charity shop one day a week, but the rest of the week I'm sedentary. Can you change your activity level for just one day?

    Edited: I just changed my activity level to light activity and it still says I should be eating 1200 calories. I'll just add it as exercise instead I think.

    I'd just leave it alone. I doubt you burn enough working in a store to make any difference at all. If you're searching for more calories set your loss rate appropriately. If MFP is only giving you 1200 calories you've likely chosen too aggressive of a setting for what you need to lsoe.

    Surely walking about in the shop for 6 hours is going to burn more calories than sitting down for 6 hours. I actually changed my goals manually up to 1400 calories and am still consistently losing 2lbs every week since I started this diet.
  • AlongCame_Molly
    AlongCame_Molly Posts: 2,835 Member
    That would be counted in your regular lifestyle activity level. It is not exercise.

    This. Just set your lifestyle to active, and don't count calories burned from work.
  • rduhlir
    rduhlir Posts: 3,550 Member
    You should set your activity level to lightly or moderately active (depending on how many days a week you work and how much actual movement you do).

    I work in a Charity shop one day a week, but the rest of the week I'm sedentary. Can you change your activity level for just one day?

    Edited: I just changed my activity level to light activity and it still says I should be eating 1200 calories. I'll just add it as exercise instead I think.

    I'd just leave it alone. I doubt you burn enough working in a store to make any difference at all. If you're searching for more calories set your loss rate appropriately. If MFP is only giving you 1200 calories you've likely chosen too aggressive of a setting for what you need to lsoe.

    Surely walking about in the shop for 6 hours is going to burn more calories than sitting down for 6 hours. I actually changed my goals manually up to 1400 calories and am still consistently losing 2lbs every week since I started this diet.

    It will burn more, you are correct. But how long you have worked there and walking everyday for 6 hours is going to effect your total burn for the day as well. And ultimate goal has a lot to do with the final MFP calculations. If you are looking to lose 2 lbs a week with less than 40lbs till goal, that is a bit aggressive and MFP will be adjusting accordingly because that is the goal you want. MFP does sort of a reverse TDEE method, where it takes the 500 calories per wish lb loss off what they calculate your non-exercise TDEE to be (that is why when you add exercise they expect you to eat it back and will flag if you go below 1200 net). So they are taking 1000 calories off of say 1900 (that is what my lightly active TDEE is)....which would leave you at 900 net calorie intake for the 2lbs loss ...and MFP will not go below 1200.
  • Vicky_Sinclair
    Vicky_Sinclair Posts: 10 Member
    Try wearing a Fitbit. It will count your steps and adjust your calorie bank accordingly.
  • mhetzel1983
    mhetzel1983 Posts: 18 Member
    I wore a fitbit when I worked retail and depending on the how long my shift was I could easily add an extra 200-300 or even 400 calories...I do have to admit that knowing I was wearing a pedometer encouraged me walk a bit more than I normally would.

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