How to factor in calories burned at an active job??

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lydiasullivan
lydiasullivan Posts: 10
in Health and Weight Loss
Ok, so. Im sure I cant be the only bartender/server on here. Anyone that has ever worked such a job knows that you literally spend hours and hours walking, basically nonstop, often carrying trays (behind the bar i probably do 50 squats per night reaching into coolers and such as well).

But how do you factor that into your excercise log/daily calories, if at all?

example: tonight I worked a nine hour shift non-stop, no sitting, barely any standing still. for posterity lets cut that down to 7 hours to account for any standing around. when I log it (as 7 hrs of 3.5 -4.0 mph walking) it comes to around 1500-1600 calories! theres no way I get to eat that every day in addition to my 1200 cal daily allowance is there? as it is I am assuming no and sticking to 1200... since it seems totally impossible!

so what to do? anyone having this same issue?

Replies

  • Crystal817
    Crystal817 Posts: 2,021 Member
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    You could change your lifestyle to active? It would allow for more daily calories.
  • LesliePierceRN
    LesliePierceRN Posts: 860 Member
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    In your original set-up settings, there's a category for active job and it even gives waitress as an example.. so that factors in your extra calories and you don't count those yourself daily as exercise.
  • Saffyra
    Saffyra Posts: 607 Member
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    This would most likely be easier for you to figure out as an Activity Level. So for my desk type job I chose Sedentary but you definitely should choose an much higher Activity level than that.
    This would give you more calories daily, too!
  • daffodilsoup
    daffodilsoup Posts: 1,972 Member
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    When you set up your goals, there should be an option to choose from a "sedentary" lifestyle, "lightly active", etc. You should move yours to the one that you feel appropriately describes your daily activity level.
  • lydiasullivan
    lydiasullivan Posts: 10
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    My setting is at the active (the one with waitress as an example)

    seems odd to me, 1200 calories is less than what i burn at in a day at work, let alone just living and breathing.

    I better start dropping some pounds soon! :P
  • dawgn49
    dawgn49 Posts: 15
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    The equation I used (besides MFP) to calculate my daily calories finds your basic need and then multiplies it by your activity factor. For sedentary it multiplied by 1.2, for lightly active it multiplied by 1.4, for active it multiplied by 1.6 etc. So if your activity factor was sedentry and you have a day of more activity you can multiply your days calories by the difference. Say a regular day is 2000 calories at a sedentry level. If you had a lightly active day multiply 2000 x .2 = 400. So an extra 400 calories would ROUGHLY be a good place to start. If you had an extremely busy day (multiply by 2000 x .4 = 800) add ROUGHLY 800 calories. Don't know if that is very clear , but, I hope you can see what I mean.

    After reading all that I realize an easier way to say it. There is a 20% difference between activity levels, so if you have a more active day add 20% more calories. For a very active day add 40% more calories etc.
  • dawgn49
    dawgn49 Posts: 15
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    Here is a good read on calorie calculations.
    http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=121703981
  • lydiasullivan
    lydiasullivan Posts: 10
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    The equation I used (besides MFP) to calculate my daily calories finds your basic need and then multiplies it by your activity factor. For sedentary it multiplied by 1.2, for lightly active it multiplied by 1.4, for active it multiplied by 1.6 etc. So if your activity factor was sedentry and you have a day of more activity you can multiply your days calories by the difference. Say a regular day is 2000 calories at a sedentry level. If you had a lightly active day multiply 2000 x .2 = 400. So an extra 400 calories would ROUGHLY be a good place to start. If you had an extremely busy day (multiply by 2000 x .4 = 800) add ROUGHLY 800 calories. Don't know if that is very clear , but, I hope you can see what I mean.

    After reading all that I realize an easier way to say it. There is a 20% difference between activity levels, so if you have a more active day add 20% more calories. For a very active day add 40% more calories etc.

    it does make sense, thank you. Im just not sure if The activity setting is accounting for all of it. Because when you think about it, If i am only allowed to eat 1200 cals a day with that kind of activity going on, if I were sedentary what would my allowance be? 800 or 900 calories? thats a dangerously small amount. does anyone here have a cal. amount that low?

    Ill try this your way though and see if that makes sense!
  • Ninjagrapher_Official
    Ninjagrapher_Official Posts: 9
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    Great question. I'd like to add on to that question though? what about those of us that have multiple jobs. 5 days a week I'm a coorporate trainer. I'm at my desk 20% of the time and 80% in a classroom. I also am a Barista (coffee slinger) 4 nights (5hrs) and one weekend day(8 hrs) a week! how do I set my activity choice? I also run a small photography business. During the summer my activity changes to crazy ninjagrapher for Festivals, Senior Portraits and wedding shoots. Do I change my activity again? Help please...

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