how many calories do you think we burn during a 12 hour shift?

sasha2lady · Nov 28, 2009

I have no idea. Never counted acalorie in my life but I did get a pedometer in a happy meal once and wore it when I was an aide . At the end of my shift I had taken enough steps to equal 4 miles. Now that I'm a nurse I still run like I did when I was an aide. Man I should try to find that thing and see what the result is now .

shopaholic42488 · Nov 28, 2009

hahaha i know right? im curious as to how much.

CNAKim2009 · Jan 14, 2010

One night I decided to weigh myself before and after my 8-hour shift, 11pm-7am. I was 4.5 pounds lighter in the morning than when I went into work....and I didn't skip "dinner" or anything....I just did what I normally do: energy drink before work, lunch at 3:30am. Granted, it may have just been water weight or something, because I fluctuate about 5 pounds daily now, but it's pretty interesting that in less than 12 hours I'd had an almost 5-pound change in weight!

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Jan 15, 2010

It depends on how much the person moves during that 12-hour shift.

I know of nurses who sit behind the desk, refuse to answer call lights, read magazines, send text messages, make personal phone calls, put their feet up, and remain sedentary during the course of their shifts. These types of nurses aren't going to burn many calories.

Then there are the nurses who remain on the run during the course of their shifts. These nurses are likely to be burning plenty of calories while at work.

AndieWoke · Mar 18, 2010

that is a good question! i know i spend most of my time at work moving . . . last night i had patients at opposite ends of the hall so i literally did 'laps' to do rounds, give meds, take vital signs.

:monkeydance: andie

nursingstudent221 · Mar 18, 2010

I dont know but you can buy a peridomitor(spelling) at walmart for $9 and it tells you how many calories you bruned.

megnic · Mar 26, 2010

I think it really depends, I use a site called fitday.com that allows you to indicate your age, weight, height and how active you think you are at your job. Then it calculates your caloric need for the day, you can also food journal and exercise journal - I think its been helpful so far.

As for working out- this is tough no doubt. I work the night shift and fortunately live pretty close to my employer so I wake at 4pm and eat a lite snack (2-3 pieces of an apple) grab a coffee and head straight to the gym before my body/mind has any idea what I am doing. My shifts are 12.5 hrs long and if I work multiple shifts in row I find that I skip the gym after my 3rd shift and after my 5th.

Sheila Stoner CNA · Apr 6, 2010

Hea AllNurses.com family,

I wear a step counter and I walk on average 4 to 5 miles a 12 hour shift. If you put that in the calorie calculator at lets say.....2 mph (sometimes I'm running) we burn over 2000 calories a shift?

I'm not sure if this is the correct way to crunch the numbers or not but it makes sense to me.

Any input anyone.

She~

Urban_Durga · Apr 9, 2010

The number of calories burned during any activity is dependent upon quite a few factors, not the least of which is the body weight of the person in question.

For example:

A 60-minute spinning class, at an exertion level of 'very vigorous'...

113 lb. woman: will burn 699.64 calories

180 lb. woman: will burn 1114.48 calories

(calculations done by SELF online calculator)

So, the greater the body weight of the person, the higher the number of calories burned for (virtually) any given activity. As I think someone mentioned above, there are quite a few online resources one can use to get an estimate of caloric expenditure for one's gender, age, and weight.

C2Allen11 · Jun 7, 2010

If you don't have time for the gym, try little things like ankle weights or taking the stairs, or for me working nights the biggest thing is avoiding munching on everything in sight :)

carolinapooh, BSN, RN · Jun 9, 2010

I ate MORE when I worked nights out of boredom. !!!!!