Quick question about burning calories.

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oxnina
oxnina Posts: 203 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hey everyone i have a quick question.
I'm 19 years old, 187 lbs, 5'6".
I work at movie rental store where i'm constantly on my feet for about 4-5 hours either at till, walking around the store and helping customers, lifting boxes, drinks, vacuuming, mopping etc..
Because my work is pretty labour intensive and i'm not just sitting at a desk, i've got to be burning calories right?
I'm asking you guys this because i don't have a heart rate monitor or pedometer to see how much i'm moving around while i'm at work and when i get home after 5 hours, i'm exhausted.
Does anyone know how to calculate how many calories i'm burning without one of those gadgets that i have to wear? I literally feel sometimes i'm getting a workout at work and i'd like to mark down the calories i'm burning, even if its only like 100 or so?

Thanks :)
-Nina

Replies

  • ruddyrunner
    ruddyrunner Posts: 43
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    Not sure, but under Settings > Update diet/fitness profile, it asks you:

    How would you describe your normal daily activities?
    - Sedentary: Spend most of the day sitting (e.g. bank teller, desk job)
    - Lightly Active: Spend a good part of the day on your feet (e.g. nurse, salesman)
    - Active: Spend a good part of the day doing some physical activity (e.g. waitress, mailman)
    - Very Active: Spend most of the day doing heavy physical activity (e.g. bike messenger, carpenter)

    I would make sure you have picked "lightly active" or "active". I think that influences calorie allowance.
  • oxnina
    oxnina Posts: 203 Member
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    Oh okay,
    Yeah I'm a student, so from day to day i walk to the bus stop, ride the bus, walk from the bus stop into the school, walk and sit around school and come home walking/busing
    As a part time job (so 15 hrs a week) i work retail.
    So do you think that would be lightly active?
    For right now i'm only doing a bit of weight training and riding the stationary bike a couple times a week for about 30 min..

    I originally had my setting for sedentary but do you think i should switch it?
  • reikichris
    reikichris Posts: 85
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    I would switch it to lightly active and see if that works for you.
  • erinjoy002
    erinjoy002 Posts: 55 Member
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    my personal rule of thumb is I only get to log calories burned when I put extra effort into burning these calories. I don't log that I walk .25 mile from the parking lot, because I would have to walk regardless if I was watching calories or not ... because either way i would still have to walk into work, but if I take the stairs instead of the elevator and make a conscious decision to walk up 5 flights of stairs then I log that I walked stairs for x number of minutes for the day.

    I know that every day I burn more WAY calories than I have listed on MFP and it's a nice little boost when it shows up as weight lost on my scale :)
  • BigBoneSista
    BigBoneSista Posts: 2,389 Member
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    I'm at home all day but I a child care. I make myself stand up all day except when I feeding my two infants their bottles and during lunch when I'm eating. I am constantly dancing around and chasing my toddler. I exercise 6 days a week...sometimes twice a day. I set mine to active. Its been working.

    It seems we might be on the same level of activity so I suggest you try active.
  • oxnina
    oxnina Posts: 203 Member
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    thanks erinjoy that makes total sense now
    so i'll switch mine to lightly active then and stop counting for my walking to school etc.. and just for when i'm working out

    ohhh kay, thanks guys :)

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