Diet Analysis Lab 8
PHED 1010
Lab Activity 8
Diet Analysis Instructions
Before you can effectively analyze your diet, you must first determine a good estimate of what your current daily caloric needs are. Please follow the steps below to calculate your daily caloric need.
1. Determine your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) using the following website’s BMR calculator. (I’ve checked other sites and while some may be accurate, others are not)
2. To determine your Daily Caloric Need, multiply your BMR by whichever Activity Factor best describes you. (It is important that you pick the one that most accurately describes you as of today and not where you hope to be in the future.) Round this number to the nearest whole number to determine your daily caloric need. These values (BMR, Activity Factor, & Daily Caloric Need) will go into the Basic Info tab of Lab 8 Table Excel spreadsheet.
Activity Factor Category Definition
1.2 Sedentary Little or no exercise
1.375 Lightly Active Light exercise or sports, 1-3 days a week
1.55 Moderately Active Moderate exercise or sports, 3-5 days a week
1.725 Very Active Hard exercise or sports, 6-7 days a week4
1.9 Extremely Active Hard daily exercise or sports
Now that you know your estimated daily caloric need, you can calculate what percentage of your diet should be composed of carbohydrates, fats (along with its subtypes) and proteins. Unless you are following a specific eating plan (either of your own or a doctor’s choosing), you will use the FDA recommended amounts of each of these. If you are following a specific eating plan, please provide me with the details of that plan. For the sake of simplicity, I will use the FDA recommended plan for my examples below. Feel free to contact me with questions concerning your specific diet if you have problems. These values will go into the Basic Info tab of Lab 8 Table spreadsheet.
1. For the daily percentage of your calories from fat, multiply your daily caloric need by 0.3. (Round the number down to the nearest whole number)
2. For the daily percentage of your calories from carbohydrates, multiply your daily caloric need by 0.6. (Round that number up to the nearest whole number)
3. For the daily percentage of your calories from protein, multiply your daily caloric need by 0.1. (Round the number up to the nearest whole number)
Now you can begin to analyze your 3-day food diary. This will tell you the basic information concerning your eating habits over that 3-day period. If that period accurately reflects how you eat all the time, then this will provide a good analysis of your overall diet. You can use the nutritional labels, websites, and smartphone/tablet apps to gather all the data you need. You will simply transfer that data to the Lab 8 Table spreadsheet provided. (This was a separate file on the D2L page.)
Your report will include the following information on the first page.
1. Your name.
2. Your age.
3. Your height & weight.
4. Your calculated BMR.
5. Your activity factor
6. Your estimated daily caloric need.
7. The number of calories you need each day from fats.
8. The number of calories you need each day from carbohydrates.
9. The number of calories you need each day from protein.
10. A list of the resources you used to gather your information. This includes nutritional labels
(you don’t have to tell me every label just that you used them), websites (you do need to
include the info for every different website used), smartphone/tablet apps (include the name of
each app).
11. (If necessary) A detailed description of the eating plan you are currently following if it is
different from the standard FDA recommendations.
The remaining portion will include your day-by-day analysis of the 3-day food diary you submitted in Part 1 based on the instructions provided. Use the Excel spreadsheet provided. I have created separate tables for everything you need. You will use 1 sheet (tab) per day. Add lines for food entries as needed. I have created separate sheets within the file for the 3 days of analysis. Simply switch between days by clicking on the tabs at the bottom of the sheet.
Each entry should include:
1. The date of the diary that you are entering data for.
2. The food item. You do not need all the information you provided in part 1. Just a simple name for the item will suffice.
3. The amount of Total Fat (with a breakdown of the amount of Saturated Fat), Cholesterol, Sodium, Total Carbohydrate (further broken down by Dietary Fiber & Sugars), and Total Protein in grams (g) or milligrams (mg) for EACH food entry. You must include all data even if it is zero (0) for a specific food item. You may have to go to the internet if you cannot find information on a food label or restaurant website. You do NOT have to rewrite all the specific details of each entry. Just write enough so that I know which entry you are referring to. They should be listed in the same order as your diary. Only enter the numbers but not the g or mg labels. Doing so will interfere with the calculations.
4. Use the Insert function to add new rows as needed above the total boxes provided. Make sure not to change, delete, or move the various “Total” boxes provided!! If you do everything correctly, these boxes will do all the calculations for you.
EVERYTHING SHOULD BE SUBMITTED WITHIN THAT ONE EXCEL DOCUMENT. DO NOT RESIZE OR ALTER THE COLUMNS IN ANY WAY. THEY HAVE BEEN GENERATED TO PRINT IN A SPECIFIC WAY AND ALTERING THEM WILL RESULT IN A 10% GRADE REDUCTION!
