Working a retail shift often involves being on your feet for extended periods of time. This can lead to burning a significant number of calories over the course of an 8 hour shift. In this article, we will examine how many calories retail employees typically burn during an 8 hour work day.
What Activities Burn Calories During a Retail Shift?
There are several common activities in retail that require movement and burn calories:
- Standing – Retail employees often stand for long periods of time while working the cash register, stocking shelves, or assisting customers.
- Walking – Walking around the store to help customers, stock shelves, or retrieve items from the stock room or back area.
- Lifting & Carrying – Carrying boxes of shipments, lifting items to stock shelves, bringing items to customers, etc.
- Stairs – Going up and down stairs to access stock rooms, offices, or help customers.
- Squatting & Bending – Getting items from lower shelves, arranging bottom racks, etc. requires squatting and bending.
All of these common retail activities involve using various muscles in the legs, core, and arms which burn calories over an 8 hour shift.
How Many Calories Does Standing Burn?
Standing is one of the most common retail activities. Here is how many calories standing burns per hour based on body weight:
| Body Weight | Calories Burned Per Hour of Standing |
|---|---|
| 100 lbs | 72 |
| 125 lbs | 90 |
| 150 lbs | 108 |
| 175 lbs | 126 |
| 200 lbs | 144 |
As you can see, the number of calories burned from standing for an hour increases as body weight increases. Heavier individuals burn more calories from standing than lighter individuals.
Calories Burned from Walking
In addition to standing, retail employees spend a significant amount of time walking during a standard shift. Here are the approximate calories burned per hour based on body weight and walking speed:
| Body Weight | Calories Burned Per Hour at 2 mph | Calories Burned Per Hour at 3 mph |
|---|---|---|
| 100 lbs | 57 | 85 |
| 125 lbs | 71 | 107 |
| 150 lbs | 85 | 128 |
| 175 lbs | 98 | 149 |
| 200 lbs | 112 | 169 |
Walking at a moderate pace of 2 mph burns between 57-112 calories per hour depending on weight. At a brisk 3 mph pace, calories burned increases to a range of 85-169 calories per hour.
Lifting & Carrying Calories Burned
Lifting, carrying, and stocking items is another big part of retail work. Here are the approximate calories burned per hour from lifting and carrying:
| Activity | Calories Burned Per Hour |
|---|---|
| Lifting weights – light effort | 96 |
| Lifting weights – moderate effort | 144 |
| Lifting weights – vigorous effort | 216 |
| Stocking shelves | 204 |
| Carrying boxes | 180 |
As you can see, calm lifting burns around 96 calories per hour, while vigorous lifting can burn up to 216 calories. Specific retail activities like stocking shelves and carrying boxes burn around 180-204 calories per hour.
Calories Burned from Stairs, Squatting, & Bending
Going up and down stairs, squatting, and bending are also common in retail. Here are those estimates:
| Activity | Calories Burned Per Hour |
|---|---|
| Climbing stairs | 204-306 |
| Squatting | 204 |
| Bending | 132-168 |
Climbing stairs can burn 204-306 calories per hour depending on intensity. Squatting also burns around 204 calories per hour. Bending to stock lower shelves or arrange items burns 132-168 calories per hour.
Total Calories Burned in an 8 Hour Shift
Adding up all of these activities, a rough estimate of the total calories burned during an 8 hour retail shift would be:
- Standing: 576-1152 calories
- Walking: 456-1352 calories
- Lifting & Carrying: 768-1728 calories
- Stairs, Squatting, & Bending: 640-1824 calories
Based on these estimates, an average retail employee burning around 1000-1600 calories per 8 hour shift is reasonable. Someone who is more active could burn 1500-2000+ calories. An important note is that heavier employees generally burn more calories for the same activities.
Factors That Influence Calories Burned
Several factors account for variations in calories burned during an 8 hour retail shift:
- Body weight – Heavier employees burn more calories
- Age – Younger employees tend to burn more calories
- Gender – Men tend to burn more calories than women
- Shift activities – More active shifts with more walking, lifting burn more calories
- Intensity – Working at a faster pace burns more calories
Tips for Burning More Calories
Here are some tips retail employees can use to burn even more calories during their shifts:
- Take the stairs whenever possible instead of the elevator or escalator
- Volunteer for tasks like bringing up stock or assisting customers
- Take short walking breaks when possible
- Fidget and tap your feet while standing
- Walk at a brisk pace around the store
- Lift items properly using your legs to engage your core
Making small tweaks like these can help retail employees burn over 100 extra calories per hour during an 8 hour shift.
Burning Calories Through Retail Exercise Routines
Some retail employees have developed exercise routines to burn even more calories during quieter moments in their shifts. For example:
- Wall sits – Holding a wall sit engages the legs and glutes
- Lunges – Practice lunges across the break room
- Calf raises – Raise up on tip toes to work the calves
- Squats – Bodyweight squats are easy to do anywhere
- Chair dips – Use a sturdy chair to dip and work the triceps
Doing 2-3 sets of 10-15 reps of these exercises can burn an extra 100+ calories in a retail shift when there is down time.
The Bottom Line
Working an 8 hour shift in a retail environment can burn a significant number of calories, typically in the range of 1000-2000+ calories. Factors like body weight, age, gender, and work activities influence the calories burned. Employees can maximize calories burned by staying active, working at a brisk pace, taking stairs, and exercising during down time. Retail work may not replace a full workout, but it provides retail employees an opportunity to burn extra calories throughout the workday.
