You Are What You Eat

Day 1 - WEEKEND FOOD INTAKE

• Rice
• Chicken
• Chocolate Milk 
• Chicken Curry
• Roti Canai (Rotisserie)

Day 1 - WEEKEND ACTIVITIES

• Golf
• Swimming
• Walking
• Sleeping

According to my diet and activities on Sunday, my lifestyle requires 1215 calories. With the food - I consumed on Sunday, the calories I ate summed up to 1375. But then through the activities such as walking, sleeping, golfing, and swimming, I burned 1472 calories. Despite from being unhealthy, I was surprised that I burned 1472 calories in one day through my daily activities. Net calories is obtained by subtracting the calories burned (exercise) from the calories consumed (food). My net calories were 77 calories. Also, at the end of the day the calories I consumed and the calories I burned had a difference of 6% (with the calories consumed higher), which is actually pretty good as the lesser the difference the better it is for the body. By using the website, http://www.choosemyplate.gov/ , I could see the amount of food recommended for my age. According to it, a girl between the ages 14-18 should consume 3 cups of dairy intake, 2 ½ cups of vegetables, 6 ounces of grains, 1-1½ cups of fruits and 6 ounces of proteins (eggs, meat, etc.). I think I didn't match my dairy intake as I consumed 1 cup of chocolate milk on Sunday. Also, according to my dashboard, I ate vegetables but it was spoiled. which approximately would have made 2 ½ cups of vegetables. I consumed 1 ounce of grain on Friday, as I just had roti canai, which consisted 2 ounces of grain. This shows that I definitely need to improve my grain intake. The fats I consumed was unsaturated fats on the bowl of the curry I had. Although not mentioned on the site, the water recommendation for me is 8 glasses per day. I think the recommendation matched the glasses of water that I took on Sunday. Based on these results, I think I need to improve on the amount of grains fruits and vegetables I ingest because those are the areas of the food groups I have to eat. Also, I have to cut down on the amount of saturated fat (42% of diet) I consume and watch what I am eating. From the calorie intake chart, it can be seen that I don’t consume any alcohol, so that is a good point. According to www.caloriecount.com, an average of 15% of my diet should be protein and 55% of my diet should be carbohydrates. Thus, to reduce the risk of fainting, losing energy, I should increase the intake of carbohydrates in my body. In my daily exercise, I should increase the amount of hours I sleep. The adequate number of hours I should sleep is 8, while the amount of hours I slept on Friday was 6. Sleep deprivation can cause fatigue, daytime sleepiness, clumsiness and weight loss or weight gain. It adversely affects the brain and cognitive function. Thus, it is a must for me to increase the number of hours I sleep to at least 8.
Also, I should increase the amount of time I exercised on Friday, not to remain in ‘shape’, but just to be physically fit and remain healthy. Exercising everyday will help me increase my stamina, and I can try out for sports.


Day 2 - WEEKDAY FOOD INTAKE

• Beef Noodle
• Donuts
• Coffee
• Beef Sausages
• Chocolate Milk
• Water

DAY 2 - WEEKDAY FOOD INTAKE

• Golf
• Swimming
• Walking
• Sleeping

According to my diet and activities on Monday, my lifestyle requires 2216 calories. With the food - milk, apple, vegetable and chicken sandwich, watermelon juice, bread and lentils I consumed on Saturday, the calories I ate summed up to 2252, which was 36 calories more than needed. But then through the activities such as running, studying, dancing and sleeping, I burned 1108 calories. My net calories were 36, which is lower (and thus, better) compared to Friday’s. Also, at the end of the day the calories I consumed and the calories I burned had NO difference, which is really good as it shows that the calories I ate and the calories I consumed balanced out. By using the website, http://www.choosemyplate.gov/ , I could see the amount of food recommended for my age. According to it, a girl between the ages 14-18 should consume 3 cups of dairy intake, 2 ½ cups of vegetables, 6 ounces of grains, 1- 1 ½ cups of fruits and 6 ounces of proteins (eggs, meat, etc.). I think I matched my dairy intake as I had 2 glasses of milk on Friday. For vegetables, I need to increase the amount of vegetables I consume. I think I didn't consume any vegetables on Saturday. This shows that I definitely need to improve my vegetable intake, as it has consistently been low on Friday as well as Saturday. I think the amount of fruits I need and the amount of fruits I consumed are not equivalent because as I could remember, I didn't take any fruits so, I need to improve my fruits intake. I think the amount of protein I need and the amount of proteins I consumed had a difference of 2 ounces as once of my meals consisted of beef, which contains proteins. Although not mentioned on the site, the water recommendation for me is 8 glasses per day. My diet somewhat matched this requirement as I had 7 glasses of water on Saturday. Based on these results, I think I need to improve on the amount of grains, vegetables and proteins I ingest because those are the areas of the food groups I lack in. Also, I have to cut down on the amount of saturated fat (35% of diet) I consume and watch what I am eating. According to www.caloriecount.com, an average of 15% of my diet should be protein and 55% of my diet should be carbohydrates. I think my diet somewhat matched this requirement to some extent. The amount of protein I had consisted of 17% of my diet which 2% extra, thus, I should work on reducing it. Proteins are beneficial for the body as they are the building blocks of tissues and are needed for growth and repair. Also, the amount of carbohydrates I consumed was 51% of my diet when it had to be 55% of my diet. Thus, I should increase the amount of carbohydrates I consume, as it is a main source of energy and is essential for the body, as the body can carry no activities without energy (even sleeping requires energy). In my daily exercise, I should increase the amount of hours I sleep. The adequate number of hours I should sleep is 8, while the amount of hours I slept on Saturday was 7, which is an hour more than Friday. Sleep deprivation can cause fatigue, daytime sleepiness, clumsiness and weight loss or weight gain. It adversely affects the brain and cognitive function. Thus, it is a must for me to increase the number of hours I sleep to at least 8. Also, I should increase the amount of time I exercised on Saturday, not to remain in ‘shape’, but just to be physically fit and remain healthy.

Summary/Conclusion
Fitday is an American website that doesn't include Asian's cuisine, which was one of the problem. Before we submit our food intake, it usually asks the portion sizes although I wasn't very sure about the amount of food that I take. Furthermore, it is impossible to type in all the activities you have done in a day, and get a good calculation for how many calories we actually consume each day. However, this is definitely a very good estimate for us to know roughly how many calories are being consumed each day and how to change our lifestyle. And we could see the series of vitamins that we take per day or during the weekend.