Walking at work

JenniferT89
JenniferT89 Posts: 18
in Fitness and Exercise
So, when I'm on the sales floor at work, I pretty much walk constantly, mostly at a slow to medium pace, but sometimes (like over the holidays or while helping a customer) I walk at a fast pace. Minus stopping for a moment to fold a shirt or a few moments to fold a table full of shirts. So, I am working 7 hours tomorrow, just out of curiosity, I entered in walking for 4 hours at a slow 2.0 mph pace (which should account for stopping for breaks and to fold fold fold). It says that it comes out to 1,098 calories burned. Of course when I am stopped, I am moving my arms to fold clothes, so I feel that it is fair to say that I am walking for 4 hours in a 7 hour shift.

I can't believe that number, though. I have lost a LOT of weight since starting this job, but that still seems like a crazy high number. When you go to a place like Walmart, a lot of those employees are walking all day as well, but they aren't super skinny, I don't see how you could be drastically overweight if you are burning an extra 1,098 cals per day. Maybe the difference is that they stop to restock more then I do, as the night crew stocks and all I do is help customers find what they want and fold.

What do ya'll think? Is there any way to calculate the calories I burn at work, without wearing a pedometer (I am planning on buying a pedometer in about half a month).

When I log my day for school tomorrow, is it fair to say that I walked for 4 hours (remember, it is a 7 hour shift, I will spend 45 minutes of that on breaks)?

Replies

  • mamahannick
    mamahannick Posts: 322 Member
    That shouldn't be counted as exercise, but it should be accounted for as far as what your activity level is set to. I would say that's probably moderately active.
  • JenniferT89
    JenniferT89 Posts: 18
    That shouldn't be counted as exercise, but it should be accounted for as far as what your activity level is set to. I would say that's probably moderately active.

    Why not? Mall walkers count that they walk around the mall all day. I go to the gym and work my butt off hard core 5 days per week, why can't I count walking for hours at work? Not trying to argue, just trying to understand...
  • kbanzhaf
    kbanzhaf Posts: 601 Member
    For me, I only "count" walking which is intentional when I log it as exercise. However, (before I lost it), I wore my FitBit all the time, as my goal was 10,000+ steps a day.
    Walking has really been the only exercise I have done during this journey.
    Kaye
  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,248 Member
    I worked retail many, many, many years ago and I'm sure I walked several miles per day.

    I don't think it would be unreasonable to use 4 hrs@ 2 mph as a guideline but the calorie burn estimated is way out of whack IMO.

    Runners World suggests the following formula for estimating net calories expended walking (ie additional calories attributable directly to the exercise)

    .30 x weight (in lbs) x distance (in miles)

    To burn 1098 net calories walking 8 miles you would have to weigh 450+ lbs.

    This is one of the dangers of the MFP model, if you entered your activity level as sedentary and then ate back your"exercise" calories based on this you would, most likely, be eating at a surplus.

    My own inclination, were I not a sedentary office dweller, would be to set my activity level at MFP to one more active than sedentary which will automatically give you a higher daily calorie limit.
  • Sizethree4Ever
    Sizethree4Ever Posts: 120 Member
    I work in a retail store since October, ( full time ) and I lost about 10-lbs since then. in 4- mth.
  • Ctrum69
    Ctrum69 Posts: 308 Member
    One: go out with a GPS tracking phone and actually walk at a 2 mile pace for a while. I suspect you aren't actually walking as fast (or constantly) as you think you are.

    Two: Set your profile to "moderately active" to account for the fact that your metabolism is higher, daily, due to near constant movement, rather than "walk to car, drive to work, walk to desk, sit at desk", which is the next step down.

    Three: Get a good pedometer and actually track how far you really walk. The results can be either depressing, or eye opening.
  • MyFoodGod
    MyFoodGod Posts: 184 Member
    If I go shopping for several hours I sometimes enter it as 20 or 30 minutes.

    I don't eat back my activity calories at all. As long as I'm not hungry I don't think my body needs them.
  • tami101
    tami101 Posts: 617 Member
    I work overnights at Walmart. I wear a fitbit and I typically walk about 10 miles a night. I don't count it as exercise, because I am generally not getting my heart rate up. Plus, my body is used to it. If I eat the all the calories my fitbit allows me, I will maintain but not lose. The reason I got fat was because I did not pay attention to how many calories were in the foods I was eating. I always thought I had some crazy slow metabolism. Nope, once I started logging on MFP I realized how much I really was eating. I was consuming 3500 to 4500 a day. I do not know how I did not weigh more than I did! Being aware of what I'm eating has made such a difference in my life.
  • Ctrum69
    Ctrum69 Posts: 308 Member
    Yep. I worked as a computer tech on a large (10 building) campus serving about 4000 clients. This was a LOT of walking, dragging carts of computer equipment back and forth, etc. Only ever really broke a sweat in the dead of summer, but it was constant activity. I easily maintained in the 200# range. I ate whatever I wanted, gulped 2L bottles of Mtn Dew and bunches of beer a night. No problems.

    Then my second daughter was born, and I opted to be a "Stay at home Dad". I had cut out refined sugar (not in coffee, no soda, no sweets) by that time, but rapidly (like, within a couple years) ended up at 245.

    And chasing kids around the house isn't exactly sedentary.. doubly so with laundry, cooking, and homeschooling for one of them during the period.

    But it's rather amazing how much you can burn, without even realizing it, with a moderate amount of movement during the day.

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