Calories burned.

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I am just curious if anyone knows the average amt of calories burned while walking during a shift at a hospital etc? :confused:

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Specializes in Geriatric/Psych.

I work in LTC. I have a pedometer, I average 4 miles per day with 650 calories burned during the 8 hour work day.

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walking is a good form of exercise, but i dont take walking at work as my work out of the day, to get serious cardio, i do the treadmill or elliptical machine.

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

I agree. Even though sometimes we're dog tired with aching feet at the end of the day, walking at work isn't necessarily good exercise.

Most of us have a basal metabolic rate where we're burning up to 1500 calories a day and walking at work doesn't seem to add a whole lot of calories burned. Granted it's a whole lot better than a desk job, so I'm not knocking it.

Nurses still need to get outside, get on a treadmill, swimm, bycycle or get some other kind of aerobic activity.

IMO.

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Specializes in Geriatric/Psych.

I walk on my treadmill too. The question was: has anyone tracked calories burned during a shift at work.

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Specializes in Wellness Coach, ICU, PACU, OR, Mgmt.

One way to make work walking count is to do stair running.

I have a "No Elevator" rule.

Plus I make sure I do the stairs (3 flights) at least 6 times & I try for 10 times each shift.

When I started in March, I could just do 1 set at a time, walking & was totally out of breath. Now, I'm doing 2 sets running.

That's exercise.

There's a great, but small study about stair climbing here:

Training Effects of Short Bouts of Stair climbing on cardiorespiratory fitness, blood lipids, and homocysteine in sedentary young women

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Specializes in ICU/Critical Care.

Good idea to take the stairs but for me, I'd collapse by the third flight of stairsl I prefer to take the elevator up and stairs down.

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Specializes in Wellness Coach, ICU, PACU, OR, Mgmt.
I'd collapse by the third flight of stairsl I prefer to take the elevator up and stairs down.

That was SOOOOOO me a year ago!

But seriously, Try 1 flight slowly. Just build up. It took be over a year to get to where I am now. 18 months ago I could barely walk a block.

Last week I did a "dry run" of the Sprint Triathlon distances I'll be racing in October!!!

  • 20 miles bike
  • 1/4 mile swim
  • 2.6 mile run

Small changes, built on top of one another, consistently - make a HUGE difference!

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Specializes in ICU/Critical Care.

Thats what I'm doing with my bike right now. I can only go around part of my condo's complex and thats it, i'm totally winded. I'll try the stairs at work next time.

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Specializes in ICU/Critical Care.

I'm such a fat a--

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Specializes in Wellness Coach, ICU, PACU, OR, Mgmt.

Do only what you can! I never meant for you to push yourself beyond your capabilities. It's awesome that you're riding your bike!!:yeah: You go girl!

Do you walk? I remember this hill by my house - it's about 3 feet high over a whole block. My husband used to jokingly call it Mount DeLand because I would get winded & almost not make it up the darned thing when we took the dogs for a slow walk.

I totally get where you are at! Much respect :bow: for getting out there & doing anything when it's so difficult :up:. I know just how hard it is! Your body, mind & soul will pay you back later for the dedication.

If I can answer any questions or anything, just send me a pm.

Kim

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Specializes in ICU/Critical Care.

I didn't think you are pushing me. Thanks for the advice. Think I'll go for a walk. I didn't ride my bike that far this morning though.

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