Suggestions about tracking calories burned at work please?

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dointhis4me
dointhis4me Posts: 52 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I work a manual labor job in a factory where I'm constantly lifting, walking and carrying. It's mostly what I have to thank for my weight loss in combination with watching portion size. I'm just not sure how to calculate the calories burned. Should I just splurge and use my birthday money on a hear rate watch? What brand is affordable but works really well?

I had a pedometer function on my iPod until we were told no more media devices on the floor. I'm repeating the same action maybe 500-1200 times a day depending if I'm working on my own or waiting for a slow line to keep up with me... Should I even worry about it?? I'm staying just under 1000 calories most days.

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  • 0PhAtDaDdY
    0PhAtDaDdY Posts: 569 Member
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    Work is your normal activity, I would only track extra stuff. Example if you work every day and you are overweight you have to do more and eat less to loose weight.
  • goldfinger88
    goldfinger88 Posts: 686 Member
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    I can make a suggestion. There's an amazing little gadget called X-Max Caltrac you can get and wear all day. It tracks your BMR plus all activities. It even tracks weight lifting and biking. When you lift things at work, you can set it to lifting or even peddling. I find it very accurate. You can also, if you like, input the calories you eat. They're available on Amazon and quite cheap. Around $35.
  • dsjohndrow
    dsjohndrow Posts: 1,821 Member
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    Change your settings to that level. I beleive the default is sitting all day. That will automatically adjust for your work calories.
  • foremant86
    foremant86 Posts: 1,115 Member
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    your diary settings should be set to highly active to reflect your work.
  • sryan8408
    sryan8408 Posts: 244
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    1. Don't log work.
    2. You should be eating WAY MORE than 1000 calories a day. Especially with your activity level being the way it is.
    3. You should probably still invest in an HRM just to make sure your deficit in a day isn't too low and its great for workouts anyways.
    4. Suggestion number 2 needs a lot of repeating.
  • dointhis4me
    dointhis4me Posts: 52 Member
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    Thanks, I already have my profile set for 'active' lifestyle because besides the work I also dance and walk the treadmill when I have a few spare minutes. So I guess I just won't worry about it. : D

    As for eating under 1,000 calories... I'm doing well for myself. I'm coming from a past of straight anorexia and exercise bulimia which turned into straight up binging and eating emotionally after a divorce. I'm cramming as many calories into myself as I can stomach at this point. And I'm still far more stacked than any other female who works in that factory. But thanks for the concern!
  • wolfchild59
    wolfchild59 Posts: 2,608 Member
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    An HRM won't track your calories burned while you work. They are only accurate when your heart rate is elevated to 125-130 and higher.

    As others have said, your activity level here should be set to Active at a very minimum. I work a desk job for nine hours a day and have to have my activity level set to Lightly Active to match what I actually burn in a day, excluding workouts.

    And, if you want to see what you really burn throughout the day, you'd need to invest in something like a BodyMedia Fit, BodyBugg, FitBit, Jawbone UP or the like. The BodyMedia Fit with a years subscription to the website and an extra armband is supposed to be on sale for $100 for Black Friday through Costco.com.


    Edit - was typing while you posted. Ignore the activity level part. :)
  • dointhis4me
    dointhis4me Posts: 52 Member
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    @Wolfchild... np! That actually clears up my confusion. I thought perhaps I could just track overall heart rate and just translate that into a rough estimate of what I was burning since my bpm is usually up in the 120-130's. I guess I'm just not going to worry about it. I'm healthier than I've ever been and I'm losing weight so I should just stop trying to complicate things... right? LOL

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