Calorie Burn and Office Jobs

[ReggieEmme]

Help!

I cant figure out how I can do an office job -- with mandatory siting for hours at a time -- and still burn enough calories to lose a pound a week on 2,100 calories a day.

I understand the math. I know I need to burn 2,600 calories. Even with a brisk 30 minute walk to work (200 cal burn) and a 30 minute walk back home (150 cals burn), and tons of steps along the way, I only reach the 2,600 calorie burn/day, roughly half the time. And thats only when I fixate on amping up the burn rate all day long -- to the detriment of everything else in my life.

For the record, I got that daily 2,600 calorie burn goal from FitBit. And I do like it because it affords me a very generous amount of food everyday. I just cant figure out how to reach the goal with an office job.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Signed,

[Dominique]

You don’t have to reach your calories/steps goals everyday. Let’s say you want to go for the standard 10k steps per day. That’s 70k steps per week. You could do 8k on weekdays (8 x 5 = 40k) and 15k during the weekend.

You may also want to have a critical look at the way you allocate your time outside of work. For instance, I stopped watching TV altogether about 3 years ago: all of a sudden I have several extra hours every week I can use for other, more meaningful activities. I don’t use Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn etc. either, but I see people who spend a lot of time on these.

You could also lower your expenditure to 2300, and only eat 1800. Maybe this would fit your current life better, even if it means eating slightly less.

Depending on your fitness level, you could try to do some activities that burn more per minute. For instance, I prefer walking over running, and I usually have enough time for walking, but when I’m really short on time, I go for a 35-40 minute run (12 calories per minute). Like yesterday:

  

[A_Lurker]

As @Dominique says you have a couple of options, maybe split the difference, try and walk a little longer or faster and eat a little less. If possible, try and get more steps in during the day (take stairs, walk at lunch, etc.).

[emili]

@ReggieEmme, agree with everything Dominique said... in addition..

Your job sounds exactly like mine - back to back hour long conference calls and then busy work as a result of those conference calls. The walking I do at work is minimal- working from home even less. But every day I take two hours and go to the gym. I do whatever is on schedule for that day to release the stress, burn some calories and make me stronger.

I love to eat, but I can't keep the weight off if I give in to everything I love. I stay to a lower calorie intake Sunday through Thursday so that Friday and Saturday I could eat what I love. Its a give and take - a balance of things I have to do, things I want to do and things I love to do. I lost 65 pounds three years ago. It has been awesome.

[ReggieEmme]

Thanks for such a thorough answer! While the idea of missing out on those extra 300 grazing calories sounds like it will cut into my treasured indulgences, I will take your advice and focus on burning 2,300 and eating a measly 1,800 per day.

After giving it some thought I think my confusion is that I described myself as inactive to FitBit, and it decided I should burn 2,600 per day. Even with two decent 30 minute walks per day, this inactive lady cannot reliably reach FitBit’s default goal. I could easily understand this if I had claimed I was working out hardcore. But I told FB I was inactive. Makes me think I would have to quit my job and focus on calorie burning just to quality as inactive. 😄

Thank you again.

[ReggieEmme]

Thanks for your suggestions. I appreciate your input. The strangest thing is that I can almost always hit my step goal of 10,000/day because those two 30 minute walks are about 3,750 each. But I think they no longer create the burn they once did. I wish I could find a 500 cal burn per half hour activity that I could manage because jump roping kicked my **ahem**. 😄

[ReggieEmme]

Congrats! @emili I bet the 65 lb drop is awesome! You are now my role model!!! I wish I had started this nutty obsession 3 years ago, too! If I have to go to a gym, I will, but I am desperately trying to figure out a middle ground approach that is easy to manage. You know, where i make a minimal effort and I still get to indulge. 😄

[alyste]

Fitbit's calculations *should* be determining your typical daily calorie expenditure based on body composition and activity level and then increasing that deficit by ~500 to give you the number for your weight loss goals.

Whether that deficit comes from eating less or exercising more is up to you. I know you won't want to hear this, but the most effective way to manage your weight is to change your diet first. I used a basic TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) calculator and put in your stats from your profile. It estimated for a sedentary lifestyle at your weight and height, your body is using about 1700 calories. Adding your daily walks on top of that, and it brings it to about 2100, which I'm guessing is where Fitbit got that number from. Mathematically, if you are eating 2100 calories every day, you are breaking even and will see no change, on average.

Fitbit isn't insisting that you exercise MORE to reach 2600, it is just using the math to tell you what needs to happen in order to reach your goals.

I can think of a couple options.

1. Overhaul your diet. This doesn't have to be as painful as it sounds. Certain foods are more calorie-dense than others. If you adjust how much calorie dense food you are eating in relation to other foods, it can make a large impact on your total calorie intake without sacrificing much in terms of taste and fullness. A simple example: if you are having toast with a tablespoon of butter, try it with only 1/2 tablespoon of butter. You just saved 50 calories. Have a burger/sandwich with only one slice of bread (open-faced), or no bread at all! You just saved 100-200 calories, and most of the flavor is inside the sandwich anyway. If you are having a cream-based soup, use water in place of SOME of the milk/cream. Every cup of milk replaced with water is roughly 110 calories saved.

If you reduce portion sizes of things like bread, rice, and pasta, and fill the space with veggies instead you are still getting the flavor added by those tasty carbs but you are saving some of the calories. In addition, the veggies are packed with vitamins that you weren't getting from the extra bread/rice/pasta. You can also make a more extreme change and switch to a low-carb, high-fat diet. A LOT of people report having a smaller appetite after the initial transition period and not feeling the need to snack because a diet high in fats and nutritious veggies keeps you satisfied for longer and you don't have the delicate blood sugar balancing act that you can get with high glycemic-index foods like rice, pasta, sugar, potatoes, and so on. These are just some options; you can find the dietary changes that work best for you.

2. Do a high-intensity workout a few times a week. If you are not accustomed to hard exercise you will want to be careful that you aren't overdoing it and perhaps speak with a doctor, but high-intensity cardio can burn up to 100 calories every 10 minutes. 30 minutes, 3 times a week and you are both improving heart health and adding 900 calories to your weekly 'budget'. You can also look into strength training. When your body has more muscle mass, it uses more calories on a daily basis just to maintain that muscle. This is a slower process, but can have fantastic long-term health benefits.

[ReggieEmme]

@alysteThanks for your suggestions. I found a TDEE calculator online. Based on my age (53), height (5'7"), weight (currenty 178) and a "sedentary" lifestyle, it said my TDEE is 1734 calories a day.
I looked for a place on my profile to add that information but couldn't find it. If you have time, please point me in the right directon. 😄

[Dominique]

@ReggieEmme: no need to input TDEE in your Fitbit account/profile. Calories burned, as reported by your Fitbit everyday, are (or at least are supposed to be, since it’s an estimate) your TDEE. No need to input your BMR either: Fitbit figures it out based on your personal data (gender, age, height, weight).

[alyste]

Yes -- what @Dominique said. I was using an outside TDEE calculator to help explain some of these numbers. If you wear your Fitbit consistently and track food as accurately as you can, your Fitbit will be able to tell you what your calorie deficit was for the day, regardless of what your calorie GOAL is set to.

You can see a helpful chart by clicking on the food tile that will show you how your intake and expenditure compare to one another. Your food intake will be on the left in either red, yellow or green (depending on your goals as set in the app) and the calories that your Fitbit recorded are on the right in grey.

However, if the app automatically set your 'calorie burn' goal to something that is higher than what you usually achieve (2600), it might tell you in the morning that you can eat 2100 calories (since it is expecting you to burn 2600).If you plan your day around that number and then only burn 2100-2300, you will not have the deficit you wanted.

I think that if you adjust your calorie goal in your profile (under Account -> Activity), to a more realistic number for you it will make the information the app is feeding you more useful. I would suggest 2100 but this is entirely up to you. It may be that a value was picked by accident in the walkthrough that skewed the numbers a little. You can try going through it again and reviewing the options more carefully, or just set it manually and adjust as needed.

Ultimately, it doesn't matter what your goal is, at the end of the day your Fitbit will show the calories that it calculated you burned. The only real difference is that at the beginning of the day, your "calories remaining" in the food tile will be a lower, more realistic number and may help you plan your meals better. As you burn more or fewer calories than your goal throughout the day, this 'calories remaining' number will adjust as well to try and keep your calorie deficit at a number that will support your weight loss goal.