Construction workers! How many calories?

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scottydev
scottydev Posts: 1 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
This app is a great way to track your calorie intake but I always have trouble guessing how many calories I burn in a day of work. Obviously everyday is different, like today I was moving beams 3-4 hundred pounds, and other days I am finishing boards. Any experts out there want to ballpark calorie burning on an easy, average, and hard day of work for a 240lb male?

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  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,964 Member
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    Why not just use the app the way it is intended, and use the guided set-up. Tell MFP your height, weight, activity level (active or very active in your case), and how much you want to lose per week (e.g., 1 lb a week), and let MFP give you a calorie goal.

    Reminder: that goal will not include any calories for intentional exercise, which you're expected to log separately and then eat the extra calories as well. Many people find the exercise calories to be overestimates and choose to only eat a portion of them.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 13,634 Member
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    You start at very active, add additional exercise separately, adjust based on results.

    I would expect your work over a full shift to average above very active. Of course it also depends on what happens on the weekend, how accurately you log, and whether you end up being an outlier!
  • dloewen17
    dloewen17 Posts: 52 Member
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    I’ll give it a go. Seems like when questions like yours are asked most people chime in with how everyone is different and all these different factors could influence your numbers. You’re asking ballpark so I can tell you what numbers I’ve seen. I’m in construction and always wear my Fitbit and sometimes my chest worn heart rate monitor.

    I am male, 180 pounds, and 28 years old.

    On a hard crazy busy day like roofing or doing lots of lifting or climbing my total calorie burn for the whole day is 5,500 up to 6,000 at the highest.
    On an easy day like staining and finishing trim, total calorie burn for the day is around 2,500.

    On average though I’d say I burn about 3,500 calories a day if I’m on my feet all day.

    And those numbers don’t include an actual intentional weightlifting workout or cardio session.
    That’s the thing with construction work. It varies so widely but it’s a great active calorie burning career.

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