Active job does it count as exercise?

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samasam799
samasam799 Posts: 23 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
So im confuse. Im a server walk non stop lift heavy trays and so much more comes with my job about 7 hours straight. To lose weight do i need to go to gym still?. Or does my job count as my exercise. What i heard by people when i do this everyday my body is use to it and wont burn nothing? So im wondering if i have to sign up for a gym. Honestly im wipeout after work ☕😴

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  • L1zardQueen
    L1zardQueen Posts: 8,754 Member
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    Do you track your calorie intake?
  • Keto_Vampire
    Keto_Vampire Posts: 1,670 Member
    edited December 2018
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    I'm in a similar boat, standing on my feet moving often 10-14 hours/work day. I find it helpful using HR monitors to estimate TDEE on workdays vs. off days...surprise surpise, easily burning way more kcals on work days (~1,000kcals greater) despite only doing about 30mins of active exercise vs. off days when I spend 2-2.5 hours actively exercising (but not standing all day).

    Might want to schedule exercise around work days (on off days) and greatly limit active exercise on work days. NEAT kcals are a very significant factor for TDEE. I categorize active job activity as NEAT (vs. active exercise).

    You don't need a gym membership to lose weight (plenty here are successful with home, outdoor activity, etc. & dieting/kcal tracking)
  • Duck_Puddle
    Duck_Puddle Posts: 3,232 Member
    edited December 2018
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    Your body burns calories whether or not it is used to doing an activity. You can be a server for another 10 years and your body will still burn calories doing a very active job.

    As mentioned, you don’t need to join a gym to lose weight. You only need to eat fewer calories than you burn (overall, total in a day - including all the calories your body burns just keeping you alive).

    Whether or not it counts as “exercise” is an entirely different discussion. But it most certainly is activity that burns quite a lot of calories - which is what matters for losing weight.
  • felixg1109
    felixg1109 Posts: 172 MFP Moderator
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    Well of cause your job burns calories. But you have to remember, that you got fat even though you moved that much. Conclusion is, that you were still above your calorie burn. To loose 1kg of fat you have to be about 7000kCal below your burn.

    I.e. if you ate 3000kCal before loosing weight and only burn 2800kCal during a day you have to cut down to 2300kCal a day by moving as much as before to loose 500g a week. (not real data - i dont know your stats) If you have no problems cutting your food by that amount you dont have to do gym just to loose weight. It's simple "calories in, calories out"

    BUT.
    When you loose weight you will burn less by moving around and in general. This will reduce your deficit and the amount of food you'll be able to eat without gaining, so you have to keep that in mind. In addition you should do some strength training if you want to loose bigger amounts of weight to prevent muscle-loss.
  • Evamutt
    Evamutt Posts: 2,385 Member
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    depends what you set your activity level to. example: I set mine to lightly active & only count the calorie burn I do at the gym, even though I burn around 400 cal/day walking. If you set it as active, you don't count the calories you burn at your job, only above & beyond that, but if you set it as non active (desk job) than you can count the calories you burn & log it
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,967 Member
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    Your body will always burn calories. It doesn't "get used" to an activity and just stop using energy to complete those activities.

    As for if you "need" to exercise outside of work, that's up to you and your goals. If you just want to lose weight then you certainly don't need to exercise. Exercise is for health.
  • MikePTY
    MikePTY Posts: 3,814 Member
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    You should choose the appropriate activity level for your level of activity at work in the MFP settings. It sounds like you could probably be defined as "active". That setting will make your calorie goal higher because it will acknowledge that you burn more calories in an average day.

    You do not need to exercise at all to lose weight. Even if you did not have an active job, you would still not need exercise. Weight loss is all about consuming less calories than you burn. You can do that entirely through changing your eating habits. Many people find exercise to be helpful to weight loss, because it allows them to eat more and still reach their goals. It also has other fitness and health benefits. But it is certainly not necessary for weight loss.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,981 Member
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    samasam799 wrote: »
    So im confuse. Im a server walk non stop lift heavy trays and so much more comes with my job about 7 hours straight. To lose weight do i need to go to gym still?. Or does my job count as my exercise. What i heard by people when i do this everyday my body is use to it and wont burn nothing? So im wondering if i have to sign up for a gym. Honestly im wipeout after work ☕😴

    You don't need to join a gym to lose weight - you just need to eat less than you burn.

    However, weight training will make those heavy trays less heavy.

    One of the reasons I started lifting weights was to increase my arm strength for yoga and swimming, and it definitely worked.

    You could lift on days that you are not working 7 hour shifts. (You've already got the cardio covered through work.)
  • samasam799
    samasam799 Posts: 23 Member
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    Oh ok thank you everyone. Thats good to know i never thought that 😀
  • amorfati601070
    amorfati601070 Posts: 2,874 Member
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    Yeah, I would say it does. Have a pedometer watch? Track how much you move. If you're constantly on your feet you'd be surprised. I can walk over 10km in a shift.
  • Asher_Ethan
    Asher_Ethan Posts: 2,430 Member
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    I would suggest throwing in a progressive lifting program for your days off.

    I teach dance and I consider that to be my workout.
    However, my hip-hop kids recently asked me to teach them "the worm" so I'm lifting to get stronger so I can actually do "The Worm" after Christmas break.
  • PAFC84
    PAFC84 Posts: 1,871 Member
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    Asher_Ethan wrote: »
    I would suggest throwing in a progressive lifting program for your days off.

    I teach dance and I consider that to be my workout.
    However, my hip-hop kids recently asked me to teach them "the worm" so I'm lifting to get stronger so I can actually do "The Worm" after Christmas break.

    I've just got images of your inbox being inundated by guys offering to teach you "the worm".

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