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The Starting Line: Nutritional Assessment
By Cindy | August 12, 2007
Table of contents for The Starting Line
This is Part 5 of a 5 part series: The Starting Line: Six Assessments to Track Progress.
Nutritional Assessment
Can you recall everything you ate yesterday? Today? The Nutritional Assessment builds an awareness of what we are eating. From portion sizes, fat content, calorie content to a variety of food groups, writing down the details highlights the facts. Some people write down what they eat everyday. It’s how they hold themselves accountable. It’ s hard for me to find the time to do this on a daily basis. However, I am going to ask you to journal your food intake for three to five days.
1. Write down everything you eat and the portion sizes. When you have a moment, go to FitDay or similar online site to count calories and enter your data. FitDay’s free diet and weight loss journal is excellent. You will need to create a login, but it’s worth the effort even if this is the only time you’re going to assess your intake! When you add foods, FitDay will breakdown the numbers for you. I recommend focusing on the daily calories, food groups, and fat at a minimum. Sugar and fiber are helpful to track, too. This snapshot will show you the numbers associated with your current diet.
2. Go to My Pyramid Plan and find the general guideline for your dietary needs. Compare your current diet with My Pyramid. Where can you improve?
How to Calculate your Daily Calorie Needs?
A large misconception on dieting is…
that a sharp reduction in calories will result in fast weight loss. The body doesn’t work that way. When we deprive our body of it’s essential calories, it goes into starvation mode. Your body will find ways to efficiently process the energy (fat) you do have. It will slow down your metabolism and create havoc on your system. The body will also make it more difficult for you to lose weight in the future because it will set this process in motion whenever it feels threatened. Crazy, huh? This is why when people yo-yo diet, they hit the plateau early. The best way to avoid the “dieting stagnation” is to realize what your body needs. If your body doesn’t feel threatened, it will embrace your efforts with your hard work and patience.
The Harris-Benedict Equation is an estimate of your body’s daily calorie needs at rest. The results are + 10%. However, once you have an estimate, you can then adjust your intake armed with a better grasp of what your body needs to lose, gain or maintain your current weight.
*This is the last equation, for awhile, I promise!!!*
Females:
665 + (4.36 x weight in lbs) + (4.32 x height in inches) - (4.7 x age) = daily calories to support your resting metabolic rate (RMR, also referred to as basal metabolic rate even though the terms are different).
Your resting metabolic rate is the calories your body expends to perform brain function and various body processes. It’s the fuel your body needs when at rest for a twenty-four hour period.
RMR X Activity Factor = Total daily calories to maintain status quo.
Activity Factor
1.2 Sedentary (little or no exercise, desk job, standing, driving)
1.375 Lightly active (housecleaning, light exercise/walking 1-3 days/wk)
1.55 Moderately active (gardening, walking 3.5-4MPH, tennis, moderate sports 3-5 days/wk)
1.725 Very active (long distance running, digging, soccer, basketball, hard exercise/sports 6-7 days/wk)
1.9 Extra active (hard daily exercise/sports, physical job or 2X day training, marathon, etc.)
If you have a high lean body mass, this estimate will be under your needs. Lean, muscle mass burns more calories and will require more calories on a daily basis.
Use your Personal Assessment Sheet to save your results!
We’ll regularly discuss ways to improve our diets (daily eating habits) through healthy, manageable adjustments to our lifestyle. I am not an advocate for any lose weight fast diets, pills, or diets that dismiss major food groups. I embrace moderation and healthy food choices.
In starting this journey, an awareness of where we stand allows us to direct our destination. We have covered six very important assessments. Take the time to complete your Personal Assessment Sheet. The components of physical fitness have all been wrapped into one document. By knowing where you stand, the structure of a manageable fitness routine will fall into place. You’ll not over exhaust yourself or underfeed your body!
Let me know if there is any assessment you were unable to complete. We’ll work on an alternative method to determine your needs!
*Ref: Harris J, Benedict F. A biometric study of basal metabolism in man. Washington D.C. Carnegie Institute of Washington. 1919.
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Topics: Nutritional Knowledge |
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