Can work count as exercise??

I waitress part time, would that count as exercise for the day? If so how do I find out how many calories a 4 hour shift would burn?

Replies

  • bagge72
    bagge72 Posts: 1,377 Member
    I think it would be very hard to figure out how many calories you would burn from that, but constant moving around like in your job, is considered more than just normal daily activity so you are burning more calories than normal.
  • yesthistime
    yesthistime Posts: 2,051 Member
    What do you have your "normal daily activities" level set at (sedentary, lightly active, etc.)? How many hours per day/week do you work? Is the work steady from week to week or do your hours vary greatly?
  • SherryRH
    SherryRH Posts: 810 Member
    When you signed up with your goals it would have asked about your job and if you put active or lightly active that should account for those calories.
  • abs0830
    abs0830 Posts: 319 Member
    Get a step tracker. I work part time as a waitress and that's what I use. There are some shifts that I burn a lot of calories (Sunday morning when I'm literally running through the back of the restaurant) and others that I don't burn as many. So it' varies depending on the shift and the size of the restaurant.
  • najh4
    najh4 Posts: 28
    Well I am a optical tech full time so I am sitting unless taking someone to pre-exam, I think I used lightly active. I serve 4-5 hours two to three times a week.

    I will try the step counter, Is there one that is better then another?
  • yesthistime
    yesthistime Posts: 2,051 Member
    You may want to change your setting to "sedentary" and buy a heart rate monitor to calculate the calories burned during your waitressing shifts. I recommend a Polar one (Amazon, Best Buy) but make sure you buy one with a chest strap for accuracy.

    Until then, you can use "walking" as your cardio entry and estimate your speed and length of time based on how busy you are.