Nurses how many calories

purple1butterfly
purple1butterfly Posts: 645 Member
edited November 10 in Getting Started
I need some help on working out how many calories I need for a mminimum of 8 hrs as a nursing assistant in a hospital. I have been in this job for 7 months. I have just been diagnosed with non coeliac gluten intolerance by my specialist. I am trying to get fit and healthy again. Thank you in advance for any advice

Replies

  • blankiefinder
    blankiefinder Posts: 3,599 Member
    You should never log calories for working your regular job. To adjust for increased workload (vs a desk job lets say) you set your activity level in your profile accordingly. You can find this in your 'goals' section.

    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. teacher, 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)
  • purple1butterfly
    purple1butterfly Posts: 645 Member
    edited January 2015
    I have put active but I am unsure if this is correct as the only time I sit down is on my break, I want to get the settings right
  • AmandaAnne307
    AmandaAnne307 Posts: 113 Member
    Have you thought about a fitbit or something similar? That's how I got a baseline.
  • Jennifer_Lynn_1982
    Jennifer_Lynn_1982 Posts: 567 Member
    You could change it to lightly active. Best way to check is to eat at your recommended calories and see if you lose what MFP has been set for you to lose (1 lbs/wk, 2 lbs/wk, whichever setting you chose). If you maintain or gain, then you should change from active to lightly active. If you lose the weight that you specified then you are probably in the correct setting.
  • purple1butterfly
    purple1butterfly Posts: 645 Member
    Thank you for your advice :) just need to put food in here before I go to work and adjust if it turns out I will have to much on the food side
  • kittykatty1975
    kittykatty1975 Posts: 22 Member
    You could just count your steps which will give u extra calories to use should you want to use them ? X
  • GetSkinnyMindy
    GetSkinnyMindy Posts: 7
    Aww so I can't count any of my 12 hour shift as exercise? Boo :-(
  • Phoenix_Down
    Phoenix_Down Posts: 530 Member
    GetSkinnyMindy wrote: »
    Aww so I can't count any of my 12 hour shift as exercise? Boo :-(

    It shouldn't really matter because you would still be consuming the same calories needed to function properly at work and lose weight at a moderate pace. Honestly, it makes it easier to adjust calories as needed rather than guessing at added exercise.

    It's actually why I used TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) method over MFP , as I can eat one stagnant amount and make adjustments up and down as needed
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