Elisa Fanchiang

6/21/15
PCC Health Education

Project 2: Calorie Intake

One of the first steps for improving ones health is to keep track of what you eat on a daily basis. After
keeping a log of what I ate for one week I learned about how many calories are in the things I ate the most
often, the type of food I ate frequently, and how exercise affects my calorie consumption. I used an application
on my phone called MyFitnessPal. The list of everything I ate and drank for one week are listed in the table
below:
Data from MyFitnessPal app:
Day 1: Saturday, June 13
BREAKFAST
Oatmeal (150)
Trail Mix (120)
Tea (5)
Sugar (11)

LUNCH
Brown Rice (230)
Dal (170)
Cauliflower (97)
Naan (385)
Aloo Curry (377)

DINNER
Trail Mix Bar
(140)
Deviled Eggs
(80)
Ginger Ale (140)
Coke (240)

SNACK
None (0)

DINNER
Pasta Shells (200)
Cashews (85)
Tomatoes (27)
Tofurkey (260)
Bread (70)

SNACK
Banana (89)

DINNER
Couscous (190)
Zucchini (17)
Gardein Crispy
Fingers (200)
Cranberry
Pomegranate
Juice (140)

SNACK
Sesame Dessert
(240)

EXERCISE
Bike (1,837)

Total Consumed:
2,145 calories
Total Overall:
308 calories

Day 2: Sunday, June 14

BREAKFAST
Oatmeal (150)
Trail Mix (120)
Tea (5)
Sugar (11)

LUNCH
Souplantation
broccoli salad,
blueberry muffin,
vanilla soft serve,
strawberry
lemonade (1,120)

EXERCISE
Bike (1,224)

Total Consumed:
2,148 calories
Total Overall:
924 calories

Day 3: Monday, June 15

BREAKFAST
Oatmeal (150)
Trail Mix (120)
Tea (5)
Sugar (11)

LUNCH
Bartlet Pear (112)
Cereal (220)
Koyo Ramen
(398)

EXERCISE
None (0)

Total Consumed:
1,803 calories
Total Overall:
1,803 calories

Day 4: Tuesday, June 16

BREAKFAST
Oatmeal (150)
Trail Mix (120)
Tea (5)
Sugar (11)

LUNCH
Koyo Ramen
(398)
Tofu (70)
Baby Bok Choy
(22)
Cranberry
Pomegranate
Juice (280)

DINNER
Cereal (240)
Hot Dog Bun
(360)
Kite cream
cheese (78)
Strawberry Jam
(40)

SNACK
None (0)

DINNER
Pad See Ew (570)

SNACK
None (0)

EXERCISE
Run (622)

Total Consumed:
1,774 calories
Total Overall:
1,152 calories

Day 5: Wednesday, June 17

BREAKFAST
Oatmeal (150)
Trail Mix (120)
Tea (5)
Sugar (11)
Clif Bar (250)

LUNCH
Breakfast burrito
(447)

EXERCISE
Weight Training
(90)

Total Consumed:
1,553 calories
Total Overall:
1,463 calories

Day 6: Thursday, June 18

BREAKFAST
Banana Nut bread
(420)
Coffee (2)
Creamer (70)
Sugar (22)
Quaker Oatmeal
(250)
Apple (80)

LUNCH
Caprese
Sandwich (520)

DINNER
Souplantation
broccoli salad,
blueberry muffin,
vanilla soft serve,
strawberry
lemonade (1,120)

SNACK
Popcorn (140)

DINNER
Pad See Ew (570)
Shock Top (168)

SNACK
Clif Builders
Protein Bar (270)

EXERCISE
None (0)

Total Consumed:
2,294 calories
Total Overall:
2,294 calories

Day 7: Friday, June 19

BREAKFAST
Oatmeal (150)
Trail Mix (120)
Tea (5)
Sugar (11)
Croissant (115)

LUNCH
Couscous (190)
Zucchini (17)

EXERCISE
Swim (585)

Total Consumed:
1,616 calories
Total Overall:
1,031 calories

According to several different sources, a person with my height, weight, age, and average physical
activity should be consuming 1,800 2,000 calories a day to maintain my current weight. After counting
calories for one week I noticed that I rarely consumed 1,800 calories in a day. After I calculated the calories
spent on exercise the total calories consumed was even fewer. This means I need to be more aware of eating
habits when I do intense exercise. There was one day during this project where my calorie intake was over
2,000 calories. I was on vacation and I did not eat anything homemade that day. This made me realize that if I

continue to eat the majority of my meals at home and continued my exercise habit my calorie intake should be
within the normal range.
Based on this weeks calorie tracking log and my research I created a low calorie menu for one day. For
breakfast I could have oatmeal with tea. Instead of packaged oatmeal I could change to organic oatmeal that
comes in the bulk bins to reduce waste from packaging. Also, tea would decrease the amount of sugar intake
because I add a lot of sugar and cream in coffee to hide the bitter taste. For lunch a low calorie healthy meal
could be couscous and a vegetable. I like to alternate different vegetables zucchinis, cucumbers, broccoli, etc.
Then for dinner I could have pasta, vegetable, and Tofurkey protein. To increase my protein and health value I
can change the pasta to whole grain instead of regular pasta. I would alternate the vegetable and the type of
Tofurkey protein. This menu is low calorie and healthy.
After one week of tracking my calories and creating a healthy menu, I also created three nutrition goals.
My first goal would be to decrease the amount of sugar on a weekly basis. After entering the food into the
MyFitnessPal app there were several different alerts about the sugar content in the food I was consuming.
According to the app and other web sources I should only be consuming 70-100 calories of sugar a day. In
order to meet my goal I will continue using the MyFitnessPal app to track food and focusing on how much
sugar I consume. My second nutritional goal will be to increase the amount of food I eat on my intense exercise
days. After a long, hard workout I usually feel extremely tired. I think I could increase my energy level if I
increased the amount of food I ate before and after my workout. My third nutritional goal will be to increase
the amount of water I drink on a daily basis. This would help with my hydration during workouts and also
improve my overall health.
Overall, I learned a lot more about nutrition during this project. I became more aware of the calories I
consumed and the type of calories. With this increase in awareness I created goals to improve the type of meals
I ate and goals to improve my overall health. This project will help me continue building a healthier lifestyle.