Any fellow cleaners? Need help estimating cals burned.

jroth261
jroth261 Posts: 117 Member
edited November 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
In light of my weight plateauing the past couple weeks I'm reevaluating my 1450 average and instead doing 1350 (TDEE for weight loss based on sedentary activity) and adding back on estimated activity for each day because I'm worried some days maybe I'm actually undereating and that's causing the stall.

https://mytdee.com/#gender=female&yr=31&cm=157.5&kg=64&bfp=&goal=lose&goal_kg=56.7&lose_speed=recommended&formula=standard&units=imperial&exercise=sedentary

Does anyone else have an active job like cleaning and if so how have you gauged your cal burn and what to eat on those days that you're working?

One of my part time jobs is as a self employed cleaner, and I am lost as to how many cals I burn doing that. On MFP I entered 6 hours for light, moderate effort cleaning and it shouted back 963 cals burned! I have a hard time wrapping my head around that, although I sure wouldn't mind eating those cals back if I knew I really could! I will be getting in the mail a Garmin fitness tracker in the next couple of days so I'm hoping that can help me gauge by burn with more confidence. I often have to go up and down stair cases a bijillion times, so I chose one that tracks stairs climbed.

Replies

  • sammyliftsandeats
    sammyliftsandeats Posts: 2,421 Member
    Because it's your job, put it into your activity level when figuring out your calorie goal for MFP. Don't put it as exercise, it will overestimate your burn.

    If you're not losing, you're eating too much. Do you use a food scale to weigh your food?
  • SusanMFindlay
    SusanMFindlay Posts: 1,804 Member
    I am on my feet a *lot*. I wear a FitBit to give me a fairly accurate estimate of my calorie burn. That said, you don't need to spend that kind of money if you don't want to. If you have a smart phone, there are apps like Google Fit that will count your steps and estimate calories burned off that. Or get a pedometer; they come pretty cheap.

    Whatever method you choose, that gives you a starting point. From there, you look at how fast you lose weight and how much you're eating and do some basic math. For every pound you're losing weekly, you're burning 500 calories more than you're eating. So, if you're losing faster than expected, raise your calories. If you're losing slower than expected, lower them. (I raised my calories three times before finding the "right" level, and I'm still fine.)

    I will say that 963 calories burned for 6 hours of manual labour does not sound excessive at all. That's about 160 calories per hour. (I burn about 1200-1400 calories worth of non-exercise activity most days. On days that I work out, I burn over 3000 calories for the day. If you're on your feet all day, it's not that hard to burn a lot of calories.)
  • jroth261
    jroth261 Posts: 117 Member
    sammyliftsandeats wrote: »
    Because it's your job, put it into your activity level when figuring out your calorie goal for MFP. Don't put it as exercise, it will overestimate your burn.

    If you're not losing, you're eating too much. Do you use a food scale to weigh your food?

    I do use a food scale and have been consistently tracking what I've been eating. Nothing has changed from first 3 weeks that I started compared to last two weeks when I stalled. It could just be a fluke, but regardless I feel I should evaluate better what I burn vs. what I eat. I can't fathom eating below 1450 on moderately active work days (sounds like starvation), so that's why since I've kind of stalled I'm assuming I'm not eating enough (I hope). Only time will tell I guess as everybody is slightly different- trial and error, right?
    SusanMFindlay wrote: »
    I am on my feet a *lot*. I wear a FitBit to give me a fairly accurate estimate of my calorie burn. That said, you don't need to spend that kind of money if you don't want to. If you have a smart phone, there are apps like Google Fit that will count your steps and estimate calories burned off that. Or get a pedometer; they come pretty cheap.

    Whatever method you choose, that gives you a starting point. From there, you look at how fast you lose weight and how much you're eating and do some basic math. For every pound you're losing weekly, you're burning 500 calories more than you're eating. So, if you're losing faster than expected, raise your calories. If you're losing slower than expected, lower them. (I raised my calories three times before finding the "right" level, and I'm still fine.)

    I will say that 963 calories burned for 6 hours of manual labour does not sound excessive at all. That's about 160 calories per hour. (I burn about 1200-1400 calories worth of non-exercise activity most days. On days that I work out, I burn over 3000 calories for the day. If you're on your feet all day, it's not that hard to burn a lot of calories.)

    Already ordered a Garmin last week - just waiting for it in the mail. I wanted the HR and altimeter as well as pedometer for better accuracy. I didn't mind spending the money - I'm excited to have it for motivation!

    How much of those non-exercise and exercise cals do you chose to eat back?
  • SusanMFindlay
    SusanMFindlay Posts: 1,804 Member
    jroth261 wrote: »
    How much of those non-exercise and exercise cals do you chose to eat back?

    All of them. But that's because I have several months worth of weight loss numbers showing me that those number are accurate. I was aiming for 1 pound/week of loss, and it took me a while to slow down to that.
  • ShammersPink
    ShammersPink Posts: 215 Member
    If it's only two weeks that you've "stalled", that's easily part of natural fluctuation. You won't see a reduction every week, even if you are losing at a fairly rapid overall rate.
  • Gimsteinn
    Gimsteinn Posts: 7,678 Member
    Nah.. only cleaning I do is with a jerk so I can't really help you. Sorry
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