Need help regarding picking an activity level

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So I'm back at home following being at college and I'm back at my summer job. I'm a cashier and deli clerk, where I spend 5 days a week working shifts ranging from 4 to 11 hours long. We are on our feet for the majority of the shift (save for 10 min breaks or a lunch break.) There's a decent amount of activity (getting carts, filling deli orders, stocking shelves, general cleaning). I'm not sure if my settings should be lightly active or active. Any advice on what to choose? Any other deli workers or cashiers using this have advice? Any and all is appreciated =]

Replies

  • TheFunBun
    TheFunBun Posts: 793 Member
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    I'd probably use active. You can burn quite a bit just going about a nice regular daily life and it would suck to undereat for no reason. My husband is a nurse (similarly active) and he always picks active. :)
  • kellyjgood
    kellyjgood Posts: 1 Member
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    One of the examples for the active category is waitress. Although your job is not persay a waitress, it is pretty close. I am a school counselor and am all over my school building all day. I put lightly active because I view that it is equivalent to a nurse which is the example of lightly active. I hope that helps!
  • gypsybree
    gypsybree Posts: 218
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    Or you could put sedentary and then add your daily work in--like using the house cleaning activity... or something similar. Of course that would probably over estimate your calories burned...

    I would see how much the difference is... and then decide... you should probably go with the lower amount if you want to lose weight quicker...

    I would choose lightly active. I have mine on sedentary cause I sit at a desk all day and I have no problems with eating the lower amount of calories and being full.
  • kris4chloe
    kris4chloe Posts: 245 Member
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    i work retail 20-30 hours a week on concrete, standing, bending, etc just like you are saying and i put active.
  • Funshinerika
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    I started with lightly active because I'm a teacher...figured on my feet most of the day but not incredibly active. After reading about TDEE and activity levels, I realized that I was on my feet and moving more than I thought, so I changed it to active. My body is happier eating at that calorie level. I've been using a fitbit since Mother's Day and it has verified my activity level.

    So, for you, I would absolutely set it to active. You could always change it later on if you feel it's not accurate. ;)
  • miller32807
    miller32807 Posts: 78 Member
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    I'm trying to decide what to put also. lol I'm a cashier in a grocery store, and I wore my heart rate monitor the other night (it's too uncomfortable to me to wear every day though) and during a 6.5 hour shift, I burned 2043 calories. I'm 35 yrs old, 206 lbs and about 5'3" (I know weight and possibly age would affect my calorie burn, along with how unfit I am, but not sure about height). So, honestly, I'm not sure if I should put it as active or very active. I know eating too few calories isn't good, but I don't want to eat too many either. lol I think I may just put my activity level to sedentary, and then put my work hours as exercise for days that I work, and I'll just enter it based on my personal hours and what my heart rate monitor said. Good luck!!