Only burning 1500 cals even with light walking for hours in a day?
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mindovermeals
Posts: 43 Member
Hello all,
I'm very very discouraged right now. I have a Jawbone UP and have been using it lately to try to calculate an accurate TDEE when I'm at work. I am 5 ft 2 in, and weigh 135lbs approx. I am a nurse at a very busy hospital and am usually on my feet for at least 12 out of the 12.5-13 hours I'm at work. I rarely have time to sit down to do any of my charting except for a few 10-15 minutes here and there. However, my Jawbone still says that I've only burned about 1,500 calories for the entire day.
This is so discouraging for someone who is trying to lose weight. I still have about 15lbs to lose, and I shouldn't really be eating below 1,200 calories, so there isn't much room for a deficit. I always put myself as sedentary for my calculations because I only work 3-4 days a week, and when I'm home I don't usually work out. But I feel like having such a low TDEE even with activity, makes me feel like I won't be able to lose weight unless I exercise heavily on my days off and eat 1,200 calories a day.
Any advice on what I should do? I've only been eating between 1,000-1,100 calories a day and nothing seems to work (not always on purpose, I barely have time to eat at work). I'm feeling pretty hopeless at this point.
I'm very very discouraged right now. I have a Jawbone UP and have been using it lately to try to calculate an accurate TDEE when I'm at work. I am 5 ft 2 in, and weigh 135lbs approx. I am a nurse at a very busy hospital and am usually on my feet for at least 12 out of the 12.5-13 hours I'm at work. I rarely have time to sit down to do any of my charting except for a few 10-15 minutes here and there. However, my Jawbone still says that I've only burned about 1,500 calories for the entire day.
This is so discouraging for someone who is trying to lose weight. I still have about 15lbs to lose, and I shouldn't really be eating below 1,200 calories, so there isn't much room for a deficit. I always put myself as sedentary for my calculations because I only work 3-4 days a week, and when I'm home I don't usually work out. But I feel like having such a low TDEE even with activity, makes me feel like I won't be able to lose weight unless I exercise heavily on my days off and eat 1,200 calories a day.
Any advice on what I should do? I've only been eating between 1,000-1,100 calories a day and nothing seems to work (not always on purpose, I barely have time to eat at work). I'm feeling pretty hopeless at this point.
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Replies
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How many steps are you getting in a day
Is your jawbone accurately measuring
If you're a nurse how can it be 'light'
I think there's possibly something amiss
I have a desk job - I tend to get in 4000 steps daily with little focus - with a little focus and conscious walks I get to 10,000 and it boosts my tdee by around 400 calories - I am taller and heavier than you though and I use a fitbit not a jawbone0 -
First, it is generally a bad thing to eat less than 1,200 for anyone so please do not do that even though I can appreciate you feel frustrated by the stall.
The last pounds and percentages are always the hardest to reduce, especially if you have been on a deficit and have progressive reduction for a long time. From the numbers you stated so far, even accounting for the error margin of the activity trackers, you should have a deficit of 200 kcal a day or 1,400 kcal a week. This is around 0.4lbs a week. That seems appropriate. Remember as well that even if you chose to exercise additionally on your days of, you should be eating back 50% of the calories burned to ensure you have energy to do them and aren't inflicting damage on yourself and wasting muscle in the process.
I want to ask why you are focused on the pounds at this point? You are already in the normal category for BMI, so tape measure, calipers, clothing size and pictures will be far more accurate measures of your physical change than the scale weight.0 -
How many steps are you getting in a day
Is your jawbone accurately measuring
If you're a nurse how can it be 'light'
I think there's possibly something amiss
I have a desk job - I tend to get in 4000 steps daily with little focus - with a little focus and conscious walks I get to 10,000 and it boosts my tdee by around 400 calories - I am taller and heavier than you though and I use a fitbit not a jawbone
That's what I don't understand either. I say "light" because I don't want to overestimate, since I'm not "running", but I am pretty active at work, considering that I barely ever sit down for 12-13hours in a shift. So I guess it's more like "moderate"?
Either way, my jawbone is only picking up about 6,000 steps a day. The most I got was 8,000 on a crazy day that had me exhausted and falling asleep on my way home. I don't know it it's really even accurate or not at this point. I've never hit 10,000.0 -
I want to ask why you are focused on the pounds at this point? You are already in the normal category for BMI, so tape measure, calipers, clothing size and pictures will be far more accurate measures of your physical change than the scale weight.
I don't really know. I was just estimating how many lbs it would take for me to look the way I want to? I'm pretty small already down to my waist, but I carry a lot of my weight on my hips, butt, and legs (mostly my thighs). So I think if I lost more weight overall, they might be smaller over time. I understand what you mean, I was just kind of guesstimating how much more I would need to lose.
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then I would guess it was wrong
I take a half hour walk at lunchtime and I've logged 5000 steps easily - 2.5 miles - my stride length is around 0.84m
I love my fitbit zip if it helps - I don't hold with the HR ones0 -
I prefer my FitBit Charge HR and find it more accurate than the polar loop and my older fitbit one, but that may just be my experience with it. For full clarity, the Jawbone UP has a 12.2% error margin so your 6,000 steps could actually be between 5,268 and 6,732 steps.
What I would suggest is measuring and entering your stride length if Jawbone allows you to do this and then walking a known distance, preferably at least one mile, and checking to see how accurate this is for you.
Further, would adding resistance workouts be something you were willing and able to do? Even body weight only routines that can be 30-45 minutes can help improve muscle shape, density and although the actual additional calorie cost is small for the activity, it raises your overall burn and will contribute to any further weight loss being fat loss, which is much more important in the last stages.0 -
Hey there, I'm a nurse too and on my feet for those 12 hours. I don't, and never have, used my work as a basis for calories burned. This is my baseline activity level (set on MFP as light activity or something like that) and my calories burned additions come from cardio exercises (on my days off of course lol). I don't know if this helps you or not but over the past 17 months I've lost 87 lbs doing this.1
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I want to ask why you are focused on the pounds at this point? You are already in the normal category for BMI, so tape measure, calipers, clothing size and pictures will be far more accurate measures of your physical change than the scale weight.
I don't really know. I was just estimating how many lbs it would take for me to look the way I want to? I'm pretty small already down to my waist, but I carry a lot of my weight on my hips, butt, and legs (mostly my thighs). So I think if I lost more weight overall, they might be smaller over time. I understand what you mean, I was just kind of guesstimating how much more I would need to lose.
That type of fat is a part of your natural beauty and generally is not considered dangerous like abdominal obesity. Personally I think curves like that are beautiful and wish I had them myself. (Flat butted!)0 -
Wait a minute ... Your body needs energy-and burns calories- even when you are asleep/not doing anything. If your Jawbone is right, and that your are burning 1500 kcals, that means you should eat 1200 PLUS those (or let's say half at least) burned calories ....0
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My guess is that your Jawbone isn't recording correctly or something is off in your settings. I can get in several thousand steps a day w/o leaving my house. Now granted it's a fairly large house and most days I'm moving around a lot. But it's not like walking hospital corridors. It's fairly easy to do at least a spot check of the accuracy -- just try counting your steps a few times as you walk a bit and see if the Jawbone is counting as many as you do.0
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orchidee1987 wrote: »Wait a minute ... Your body needs energy-and burns calories- even when you are asleep/not doing anything. If your Jawbone is right, and that your are burning 1500 kcals, that means you should eat 1200 PLUS those (or let's say half at least) burned calories ....
are you saying that the Jawabone excludes BMR? I don't think that's true is it?0 -
How old are you, OP? That could figure into your total burn. I'm also petite, 5'1.5", 57, and around 120-122. I work on a big college campus where I'm doing a lot of walking, and my burn on a day when I don't do an extra walk or workout is around 1500 or less. I use a Fitbit HR. If you're over 40, 1500 is not out of line because your metabolism is much slower than a younger person's0
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I was on my feet at work all day yesterday, my fitbit only registered 5,000 because while I was on my feet I was also standing still at the lab bench, or taking a step or two to one side or the other, rather than walking. When I got home I was tired and my feet hurt but it wasn't the same as walking all day. Activity meters don't really account for what you are doing when standing in one place.0
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mommarnurse wrote: »Hey there, I'm a nurse too and on my feet for those 12 hours. I don't, and never have, used my work as a basis for calories burned. This is my baseline activity level (set on MFP as light activity or something like that) and my calories burned additions come from cardio exercises (on my days off of course lol). I don't know if this helps you or not but over the past 17 months I've lost 87 lbs doing this.
I thought about doing that but I'm not very active on my days off so I figured I should keep it as "sedentary". Not sure if that's right or not.0 -
How many steps are you getting in a day
Is your jawbone accurately measuring
If you're a nurse how can it be 'light'
I think there's possibly something amiss
I have a desk job - I tend to get in 4000 steps daily with little focus - with a little focus and conscious walks I get to 10,000 and it boosts my tdee by around 400 calories - I am taller and heavier than you though and I use a fitbit not a jawbone
That's what I don't understand either. I say "light" because I don't want to overestimate, since I'm not "running", but I am pretty active at work, considering that I barely ever sit down for 12-13hours in a shift. So I guess it's more like "moderate"?
Either way, my jawbone is only picking up about 6,000 steps a day. The most I got was 8,000 on a crazy day that had me exhausted and falling asleep on my way home. I don't know it it's really even accurate or not at this point. I've never hit 10,000.
I average about 1000 steps per hour while working at the hospital. I would question the accuracy of the tracker. However, are you actually losing, or losing slower than you would like? I haven't read the whole thread, so forgive me if this is in here, but are you weighing your food on a scale? It's very easy to underestimate the amount of food you are actually eating. Also, are you eating in the cafeteria? It can be difficult to get a true grasp on intake from meals you haven't prepared yourself. Finally, I am your same height, I have had great success adding swimming and kickboxing for workouts. Once I'm adapted to my current routine I plan to add weightlifting back in. I feel safer with the patients when I am stronger. It is certainly challenging to do the exercise when work is so physically and emotionally draining.0 -
How old are you, OP? That could figure into your total burn. I'm also petite, 5'1.5", 57, and around 120-122. I work on a big college campus where I'm doing a lot of walking, and my burn on a day when I don't do an extra walk or workout is around 1500 or less. I use a Fitbit HR. If you're over 40, 1500 is not out of line because your metabolism is much slower than a younger person's
I'm only 230 -
soapsandropes wrote: »I was on my feet at work all day yesterday, my fitbit only registered 5,000 because while I was on my feet I was also standing still at the lab bench, or taking a step or two to one side or the other, rather than walking. When I got home I was tired and my feet hurt but it wasn't the same as walking all day. Activity meters don't really account for what you are doing when standing in one place.
I mean, I'd accept this answer if I worked at a fast food drive thru and stood in one spot all day. I'm not sure you understand what nurses do.0 -
I wonder if you're moving your arms enough when you're walking? I'm only suggesting this because I had the opposite problem with my UP3; it said I was taking steps when I wasn't, just because I use my arms a lot. I sent mine back, and get a much more accurate TDEE from a clip-on tracker (I use Withings Pulse O2).0
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1500 sounds more like your BMR+NEAT so it sounds like somethings off with your tracker.
I'm similar stats to you, if I have the odd sedentary day ie less than 7000 steps then my TDEE is around 1650 cals for the day..however I make a point to move most days and average15000 steps which takes my TDEE to around 2200-2300 cals.
Check your settings on the tracker again, some good suggestions already have been given.
I would say if you want to shift those final pounds then on your days off go walk or do some activity you really enjoy - theres no better way to feel better about yourself or increase that TDEE and for us small frys thats a good thing to do as we'd get so little to eat alternatively.
Theres really no need for you to be eating so little.... but are you accurately logging your food? ie do you use a food scale etc? inconsistent logging and eating more than we actually think we are is usually the main reason for us to not see a loss.0 -
I think the problem is your food intake. Like above posters have asked, how accurate is your food intake?0
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