Say you have a much more active day than usual...

sarko15
sarko15 Posts: 330 Member
edited November 2024 in Fitness and Exercise
I have a 9-5 desk job during the week but a waitressing job on weekends. I have my activity level set to sedentary because that is pretty accurate during the week, but at my waitressing job I'm obviously significantly more active. How should I track those calories? I know MFP tracks calories from walking around already but I also find it to be horribly inaccurate, and I don't want to enter in my exercise log an 8 hour shift of walking when it might already have been counting some of that exercise. And it's definitely exercise--I'm not talking about a long walk to the beach one day a week, I'm talking about constantly moving quickly, picking things up, carrying trays and tubs, and covering some pretty solid ground in an 8 hour shift.

Anyone else in a situation like this and have an accurate enough way to log it?

Thanks!

Replies

  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    why not get an activity tracker like a fitbit, and sync it to mfp? Or you could change your activity level to lightly active on your waitressing days, and back down to sedentary for the rest of the week.
  • sarko15
    sarko15 Posts: 330 Member
    Christine_72 wrote: »
    why not get an activity tracker like a fitbit, and sync it to mfp? Or you could change your activity level to lightly active on your waitressing days, and back down to sedentary for the rest of the week.

    I accidentally drowned my Fitbit doing a triathlon, but it's not a bad idea to invest in a new one. It was really helpful when I had it.
  • kirkor
    kirkor Posts: 2,530 Member
    Keep it at sedentary and don't eat your calories back --- adjust your MFP calorie goal up or down depending on your weekly progress. Trying to account for exercise calories is like herding cats. Better just to use scale data and be consistent week to week.
  • _BeBrave
    _BeBrave Posts: 23 Member
    kirkor wrote: »
    Keep it at sedentary and don't eat your calories back --- adjust your MFP calorie goal up or down depending on your weekly progress. Trying to account for exercise calories is like herding cats. Better just to use scale data and be consistent week to week.

    This. I'm at a desk all day Monday thru Friday.. On the weekends I'm at my second job or running around like a crazy person. If I'm legit hungry, I eat back no more than half. I've been doing this for so many years now I've learned to just add in an extra shake on those days. Majority of the time those cals only add up to maybe a 1/4 of what I "earned" from activity.
  • sarko15
    sarko15 Posts: 330 Member
    kirkor wrote: »
    Keep it at sedentary and don't eat your calories back --- adjust your MFP calorie goal up or down depending on your weekly progress. Trying to account for exercise calories is like herding cats. Better just to use scale data and be consistent week to week.
    Okay I might sound stupid but I'm not sure I understand. What benefit would there be by not eating exercise calories back other than a bigger deficit? Isn't too extreme of a deficit a bad thing? Say I burn 600 calories on my run, wouldn't it work against me to still eat only 1200 calories? I don't consider calories as the only measurement of heath--and I'd prefer not to starve myself if I need the fuel, but I'm curious if there's another reason.
  • shinycrazy
    shinycrazy Posts: 1,081 Member
    Garmin vivofit 2 is waterproof (swimming included!).
  • emilygduran
    emilygduran Posts: 48 Member
    I have a similar week to you. I'm fairly sedentary on my off days but 3 to 4 days a week I'm a server. I average my activity level by setting it to Lightly active and not logging my shifts as exercise. That way I have a similar calorie goal everyday, which is how I prefer it.
  • trigden1991
    trigden1991 Posts: 4,658 Member
    If you're losing weight at a sensible rate then I would not adjust anything. If you start losing too quickly, feel tired or run down, then you could increase caloric intake on your more active days.
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