Do you log your occupation?

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ctsk8er99
ctsk8er99 Posts: 2 Member
in Getting Started
I am a busy hairdresser, and some days work 10 or more hours. I wear a fitbit charge hr, which generally calculates about 12,000 steps per day. I am getting the calorie credits for the steps, but I'm wondering if I should also be logging the 10 hours of "working" too. I have found several websites that calculate an hour of hairdressing, for my weight, to be 72-100 calories burned per hour. I don't want to "double dip," but I also don't want to deprive my body of additional calories if they are needed. Any help is greatly appreciated!

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  • VeryKatie
    VeryKatie Posts: 5,953 Member
    edited March 2016
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    You should be setting your activity level as lightly active to active as a base. Sedentary/lightly active is what people with desk jobs do. After that, don't log your occupation. You can log exercise though. That's MFP settings.

    I have no idea what to do with the fitbit since I don't use a pedometer.
  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
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    Change your daily activity goal. When you synch FitBit, it will give extra cals here, if you have them paired. If you've had the FitBit a while and trust it's accuracy, and your logging here is spot on (weighing everything, you should be able to a eat all the extra cals it gives you. If either are not accurate, start by eating about half. See what your results are over several weeks (4-6) and adjust accordingly.
  • bendis2007
    bendis2007 Posts: 82 Member
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    I'm a chiropractor and on my feet all day. I do a lot of manual work with patients, lifting and mobilizing them, showing rehab exercises, etc. I also work out at the gym a few nights a week. I set my lifestyle as sedentary and keep it that way for my calorie count. I haven't felt deprived on the calories that have been set for me, and I've been able to consistently see decent weight loss. If I workout I add those calories to MFP and somedays I will eat part of those calories back. I think setting a lightly active base would be fine as well - just try it and if you aren't seeing good results, re-evaluate.
    My personal preference is that if I see I am allotted more calories to eat, I will most likely eat them. Sedentary works, and because I've been able to modify my diet and eat healthier I don't find myself starving or wanting for more food throughout the day. Plus my extra work activity has allowed me to consistently lose 1/2 pound to 1 1/2 pounds per week for a couple months.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
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    Next to the activity level when you set your profile up...there are these descriptors that basically describe you job and daily life...you're supposed to use those descriptors to estimate you activity level...your job would be in your activity level.
  • 20Grit
    20Grit Posts: 752 Member
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    No.
  • VeryKatie
    VeryKatie Posts: 5,953 Member
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    bendis2007 wrote: »
    I'm a chiropractor and on my feet all day. I do a lot of manual work with patients, lifting and mobilizing them, showing rehab exercises, etc. I also work out at the gym a few nights a week. I set my lifestyle as sedentary and keep it that way for my calorie count. I haven't felt deprived on the calories that have been set for me, and I've been able to consistently see decent weight loss. If I workout I add those calories to MFP and somedays I will eat part of those calories back. I think setting a lightly active base would be fine as well - just try it and if you aren't seeing good results, re-evaluate.
    My personal preference is that if I see I am allotted more calories to eat, I will most likely eat them. Sedentary works, and because I've been able to modify my diet and eat healthier I don't find myself starving or wanting for more food throughout the day. Plus my extra work activity has allowed me to consistently lose 1/2 pound to 1 1/2 pounds per week for a couple months.

    How long have you been doing this? How much do you have to lose?
  • Eddie__Jones
    Eddie__Jones Posts: 197 Member
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    Your body is accustom to that activity its part of your NEAT.

    If you count it as exercise or eat more based on additional calories you think you've expended you will soon wonder why your progress has stalled.

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  • OneHundredToLose
    OneHundredToLose Posts: 8,523 Member
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    If typing on a keyboard burned enough calories to be worth logging, I wouldn't need to be on MFP.
  • bendis2007
    bendis2007 Posts: 82 Member
    edited March 2016
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    I've been doing it a little over a year now. I've lost about 36 pounds in the last year and I have about 20 more to go before I reach a weight I'm comfortable with. I usually lose about a 1/2 pound a week, and it depends on how consistent I am with eating. In Dec 2015 and Jan 2016 I was into all the holiday festivities so I didn't lose anything for 8 weeks (but I didn't gain either). I re-focused in February and I lost 3.8 pounds in 4 weeks and officially went down another pant size.
    My goal is to stay focused these next few months and not get lazy about counting calories. Everyone is different, but I just found that if I set my TDEE as if I sat on my butt all day that I tend to see better results. So far in the past year of doing that, when I stay within that daily calorie goal - I see a good downward trend. I went off the deep end last week and snarfed down a whopper with cheese one night, and I still managed to go down half a pound for the week so I guess I had calories to spare.

    Also, with less calories to work with I was forced to eat higher protein, higher fiber foods - so my veggie and fruit intake is quite good at the moment.
  • WendyLaubach
    WendyLaubach Posts: 518 Member
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    It's a question of convenience. Suppose you had a rigidly fixed diet, where you ate 1,000 calories a day in pre-planned meals, like clockwork. Suppose you wanted to limit your diet to 2,200 calories a day (I know, I wish). You could set the program at 2,200 and log your same-old-same-old 1,000 calories every day, and then add another 1,200 to get you to 2,200. Or, if you wanted to get the same useful results for less trouble, you could set the program for 1,200 and log only the calories over and above the standard daily 1,000. Same with exercise: anything you do all day, literally ever day, you could just as well ignore so you can concentrate on the exercise that changes from day to day or at least from week to week. As long as you're losing steadily, what difference do the numbers make? Their purpose is only to help you plan each day. Planning applies only to things that change every day.
  • ctsk8er99
    ctsk8er99 Posts: 2 Member
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    Thanks everyone. I will take all this into consideration, and see where it takes me. Thanks again

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