How Many Calories am I Really Burning?

michaelroche3
michaelroche3 Posts: 3 Member
in Getting Started
Hi all,

Bit of a long post, I apologize in advance. I've been using MFP for a few months now, but this is my first post in the forums. I recently purchased a Jawbone UP24 to get a better handle on how many calories I really burned at work. My job situation is unique, which is why I'm posting here.

I work as a Lighting Technician for Theater, Film, TV, and Corporate shows in New York, and as such, my job frequently has me wearing an 8-pound tool belt, climbing ladders, lifting heavy lights, and being on my feet almost the whole day. However, I'm a freelancer, and so I often spend a few days never leaving my house, followed by a few days of 18+ hours of hard manual labor where my Jawbone tells me that I take over 25,000 steps, which is why I purchased a Jawbone in the first place rather than just select a specific activity level in MFP.

However, I don't think the Jawbone takes the manual labor aspects of my job into account, and I'm not sure how to calculate how many calories I'm really expending. Does anyone have a guess as to how many calories I might be burning doing this type of work, or a way to trick my Jawbone into overestimating the number of calories I burn per step? Alternatively, is there a better way to track calories burned other than the Jawbone, even just temporarily so I can get a baseline level of how many calories I'm burning?

Thanks!!

Replies

  • missiontofitness
    missiontofitness Posts: 4,059 Member
    Have you considered getting a HRM? That may help you better gauge your burn. No one on here will be able to tell you your burn, and messing with your Jawbone may cause you to overestimate your actual burn. I'd really recommend the HRM; I'm investing in one soon myself for that reason!
  • michaelroche3
    michaelroche3 Posts: 3 Member
    Good call. I guess if I had given this more thought beforehand, a heart rate monitor may have been a better investment than the Jawbone. Alas. Thanks!
  • Dnarules
    Dnarules Posts: 2,081 Member
    Have you considered getting a HRM? That may help you better gauge your burn. No one on here will be able to tell you your burn, and messing with your Jawbone may cause you to overestimate your actual burn. I'd really recommend the HRM; I'm investing in one soon myself for that reason!

    An HRM would not be accurate for this either. They are good for steady state cardio.
  • rm33064
    rm33064 Posts: 270 Member
    Fitbit is more accurate than jawbone and it would at least count your ladder trips as flights of stairs and give you credit for them. No way to really account for the weight you're hauling except to estimate the minutes you spent doing it and adding them under strength training/weight lifting in the cardio section of mfp.
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,487 Member
    Since it is your job it doesn't matter how many calories you're burning, you shouldn't be logging it as exercise. Change your activity level to reflect it. Sounds like even if you're not doing it every day, you're doing it consistently enough to be part of your regular activity.
  • wilsoje74
    wilsoje74 Posts: 1,720 Member
    Just put your settings on active. It's not something I'd count as exercise. You did it before right?
  • zoeysasha37
    zoeysasha37 Posts: 7,088 Member
    I agree with the others that it shouldn't be counted as a workout anyway. I would just change your setting to active for the work days.
    I also have an unique work situation sometimes, and was curious to see what I was burning, but I didn't eat back those calories.

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