Personal Energy Equation
Step 1. Calculate your BMI and BMR
- Go to http://www.calculator.net/bmr-calculator.html (age 23, male, 6ft1,150 pounds.)
On this website, use the calculators to compute your BMI (Body Mass Index) and your BMR ( basal metabolic rate – the calories you burn just staying alive.
Step 2. Compute your AEE (activity energy expenditure) in planned or spontaneous physical activity.
- If your primary form of physical activity is walking, record how far you walked and estimate how briskly you walked. If you regularly workout at a gym or fitness facility, record the length and intensity of your workout. Using a treadmill or other type of exercise machine will give you a lot of information, but if you don’t have access to that equipment just write down what you do, how long you do it, and estimate intensity.
- You can also use any of the mobile apps, FitBit or other tracking devices, or an old fashioned pedometer to track the number of steps you walked.
Step 3: Compute your TEE (total energy expenditure)
Add your BMR and an average of your AEE for the day you tracked your physical activity.
Step 4: Depict and Discuss Your Energy Equation
- Devise a way of showing how your input compares to your output. This can be a simple table, a graph, or a chart.
- Using the link below, write a brief discussion in which you address the following questions:
- Did input and output come close to balancing each other out? Was output more than input, or was the opposite true?
- Its not just calorie totals that are important in diet analysis. Looking at the total energy input for the day you tracked, were the proportions of each of the three macronutrients in line with the Guideline recommendations? Does your total calorie intake represent the concept of proportionality so that you have a “balanced” diet?
- Did carbohydrates supply 50-60% of your total caloric intake? Were added sugars less than 10% of your total carbohydrate intake?
- Did 25-30% of your total caloric intake come from fats, with less than 10% being from saturated fats?
- Did protein (plant and animal) account for no more than 15-25% of your total caloric intake?
- If you were to make every day for the next six months look like this one, do you think you would lose or gain weight? Why?
- Be sure to include your “energy equation”in the body of your paper.
- Attach as Word documents copies of your Nutrient Report and your Activity Report from SuperTracker or an equivalent app. (https://www.supertracker.usda.gov)
