Nutrition Project - BIOLOGY

Nutrition Project

South Texas College

General Biology 1408V

Professor Teter

By:

The reason for choosing the Nutrition Project was because I have become overweight in the last couple of years and it seems to be affecting my Health. For the most part many of us know that in our Hispanic culture males tend to have complications in the following areas Diabetes, Heart disease, and High Cholesterol, with this project I plan on focusing on a healthy life style with the help of exercise and tracking what I consume.

To kick start my way and get my motivation going I watched a movie called Fat, Sick, and nearly Dead by Joe Cross. In 2011 Joe released his documentary about his personal transformation from a life of overindulgence and illness to a happy, healthy, vital state of being, all through the consumption of fruits and vegetables. When I saw how he could reboot his life through plant-based diet I too wanted to try it and follow what he had set off throughout millions of others around the world. Although, I had questions about how a plant could possible provide you with all the nutrition and protein needed to survive I decided to take it to the test. (Well I am taking a biology class right?) If you have not seen this movie I recommend it for you.

During the weeks I was not juicing I ate a normal 3 meals a day, with 2 snacks routine. To get a better understanding of what I was doing I used the Healthy Body Calculation cite which was able to provide me with correct information and a guide to what I needed in order to loose my weight. According to it as per my age 35, male, height 5’6, weight 228lbs I am consider overweight. The proper healthy body weight range is: 114 to 154lbs. As per my BMI 36.9 I am consider to be Obese Class II and am at risk of chronic disease, which included: type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, stroke and cancer. My BMI should be between 18.5-25 to be considered free from any healthy problems. After obtaining the information on my BMI I developed a chart:

With this chart you have a better understanding on how my BMI changes with my weight as the time goes by. As far as my Nutrition Facts the calories, proteins, fat and carbohydrate that are customized for my body are 1200 calories per day. Which of course, I know that I consume more than that in one-day.

At the beginning of the semester we were asked to gather information on ourselves in regards to our weight, measurement, food intake, and of course what fitness program we were planning on using. The table below provides you with detailed measurements of my mid-section, and upper torso area. I have provided you with three different time frames so that you can see the transformation from the beginning to the end.

However, throughout this paper I will continue to provide you with more in-depth

information and data to how I accomplished some of my goal.

Is consuming more food than energy expended? Yes, only because at the beginning I was consuming more calories than burning with exercise. According to myfitnesspal.com app I should be burning up to 2089 calories every time I work out. Nevertheless, I found that I was not doing that so I had to change my exercise routine and added some time in the sauna. My calorie intake needed to be adjusted as well. So by the second week I reduced my intake of food and expended my energy level more so that I could start burning more calories. I would do jiu-jitsu 5 days a week for about 2 hours and sat in the sauna for about 20-30minutes everyday as well. I noticed that since I was doing that I needed to drink more water to stay hydrate. Throughout that semester we have learned how our body works and what it needs to survive which I have learned to put into practice. It is very important that in order to lose weight the right way you need to burn more then what you put into your body. Exercise is one of the most important key element in getting your metabolism going which allows your body to work just has hard

to burn fat.

Is the diet analysis of calories or nutrients higher than expected? Yes, but only in certain weeks. Throughout the week days I observed that I was trying to eat less or at least manager my intake of food with using the McGraw- Hill Biology Virtual Lab Nutrition exercise and it seemed to be that on some day I ate more than other especially on the weekend. My calories always seemed to get higher as the weekend approached. For the most part my weekends consisted of having barbecues with friend and having a couple of drinks, which I know add more calories and of course my energy level was not being expended like I would have approximated. Another down fall that I noticed was that during the time that I was off for Spring Break my calories were a lot higher only because my wife was allowed to cook more which gave me time to sit and enjoy my meal versus eating on the go or on a time limit. Addition to being home I had more access to the junk food, which was suppose to be only available for my kids not me, of course this was not the case. For an example my 8-year-old son would eat cookies and milk everyday for snack and he would always say, “come on dad have some with me” and there I would go consuming the calories that I did not need. Another problem I found myself doing was staying at home and making excuses for myself not to get out of bed and go to the gym or class.

Eating out has higher calories and is more expensive than eating at home? I believe this question can be looked at in two ways. To begin with the fast food chains are starting to change their food menus to include low calories meals and have smaller portion sizes. Is it expensive I think it depends on what you are buying, for the most part families are always on the go so purchasing fast food is so much easier and a lot of fast foods have dollar menus. On the other hand, eating a lot of fast food can cause bad healthy habit making individual to consume more and gain weight. Eating at home can also cause a dent in your pocket. For one to choice to eat healthy it can become pretty expensive, having to maintain healthy diets cause you to be very careful with what things you want to eat. When I decided to eat healthier I found myself going to the grocery just about every other day and even more when I was juicing. Having to purchase fresh fruit and vegetables became a big expensive in my opinion.

Did you gain or lose weight? Did you gain or lose inches? Is there a difference? What did you learn? As you can see from the table in the beginning I lost weight but also lost a lot of inches. The Nutrition project gave me the great start that I need, but as I continued with the project I found myself not doing as much as I wanted later on through the month. Most of it was because different thing came up and I just would put it off. However, on the three round I didn’t gain as much weight but I did increase on my inch size, which I did not want, but without exercise it was bound to happen. I learned that with proper meal plan and exercise plan anything can be accomplished, one just needs to remember that it must work hand in hand to get the end results that you are looking for.

Calorie Chart and Food Journal

Food Journal

Week 1 2/10-16/14

Breakfast: Egg Muffin, banana, melon, water

Am Snack: Cottage cheese, water

Lunch: Tuna Sub., lettuce, tomato, potato chips, tea

Pm Snack: Trail mix, water

Dinner: Pasta, ground beef, broccoli, water

Total: Calories 3036

2/12/14

Breakfast: Cereal, banana, milk

Am Snack: Apple, water

Lunch: Chicken, Rice, mash potato, water

Pm Snack: Almonds, pineapple, water

Dinner: Chicken Salad, water

Total: Calories 1439

2/14/14

Breakfast: Eggs, bread, milk

Am Snack: Cottage cheese, mix nuts, water

Lunch: Cheeseburger, chips, tea

Pm Snack: yogurt, water

Dinner: Enchiladas, Rice, water

Total: 2181

2/16/14- Sunday

Breakfast: Eggs, turkey bacon, pancakes, milk

Am snack: banana, melon, water

Lunch: Tacos, taco salad, tea

Pm snack: cashews, mixed nuts, water

Dinner: Double cheeseburger, onion rings, soda, ice cream

Total calories: 3504

Week 2 2/24-3/2/14

Breakfast: Adovcare Spark energy drink

Am snack: Orange, water

Lunch: Advocare meal replacement shake, water

Pm snack: Apple, water / Spark energy drink

Dinner: Advocare meal replacement shake, water.

Total Calories: 671

Week 3 3/10-16/14

Breakfast: Pancake, eggs, turkey bacon, water

Am snack: mixed nuts, water

Lunch: Chicken nuggets, onion rings, soda

Dinner: Burrito, French-fries, tea

Total Calories: 2555

3/12/14

Breakfast: Flour tortilla, Eggs, potato, beans, cheese, Orange juice

Snack: trail mix, water

Dinner: Tuna salad, lettuce, tomato, bread, potato chips, tea

Total Calories: 2353

3/14/14

Breakfast: Corn tortilla, refried beans, eggs, Orange juice

Am snack: cookies and milk

Lunch: Cheeseburger, onion rings, soda, tomato, lettuce

Pm snack: ice cream, candy, water

Dinner: ground beef, rice, tortilla chips, tea

Total Calories: 3165

3/16/14

Breakfast: eggs, pork chops, Orange juice

Am snack: apple pie, chocolate, water

Lunch: Fried chicken, mash potato, green beans, pasta, tea

Dinner: Enchilada, ground beef, rice, soda, ice cream

Total Calories: 3832

Week 4 3/24-30/14

Breakfast: Bread, peanut butter, milk

Am snack: Multigrain roll, Orange juice

Lunch: Nachos, ground beef, tomato, lettuce, water

Pm snack: Pretzels, water

Dinner: Soup

Total calories: 1760

3/26/14

Breakfast: Bagel, cream cheese, Orange juice

Am snack: applesauce, water

Lunch: Tuna Salad, bread, lettuce, tomato, water

Pm snack: carrots, broccoli, salad dressing, water

Dinner: Chicken fillet, French fries, tea

Total Calories: 1902

3/28/14

Breakfast: yogurt, pear, water

Am snack: cottage cheese, water

Lunch: Hot dog, bread, cheese, water

Pm snack: apple pie, water

Dinner: Chicken potpie, water

Total Calories: 1868

3/30/14

Breakfast: egg muffin, Orange juice

Am snack: cookies, milk

Lunch: Pizza, soda

Pm snack: chocolate covered almonds, ice cream, water

Dinner: Pork chops, pasta, mash potato, baked beans, ice cream, water

Total Calories: 3206

Note that this project contains no exercise tracking! Exercise should be included in the report.

Citation page

McGraw-Hill Biology Virtual Lab Nutrition Exercise

http://www.dietitian.com/calcbody.php

http://www.fatsickandnearlydead.com

http://fnic.nal.usda.gov/dietary-guidance/dietary-assessment

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/exercise/lookup

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