Diet Analysis I Am Female, 40 Years

Diet Analysis

I am female, 40 years old, and I exercise frequently. My height is 5'5," and my weight is 120 lbs. I undertook the dietary analysis for two days in order to gain more insight into my diet. The diet recorded is indicative of my normal eating habits, and reflects my active lifestyle in its composition.

The total number of calories for the two days was 2088. The total number of carbohydrates was 95.16 grams. The total number of fiber was 71.4 grams. The total amount of protein was 190.3 grams and the total amount of fat was 49.7 grams.

The macronutrient content of each input must be calculated in order to determine my macronutrient distribution. Carbohydrates contain 4 calories per gram; protein the same and fat is 9 calories per gram. My macronutrients per day were as follows:

Fat

Fiber

Protein

Macronutrient distribution (g)

Day 1

Macronutrient distribution (g)

Day 2

Calories

Calories

% calories

Day 1

21.54%

10.40%

37.14%

Day 2

16.38%

17.17%

35.73%

The carbohydrates AMDR range is 45-65% of total calories. I am well below that with my consumption. There was a 1/2 cup of brown rice one day and a roll the next day, but my diet has little carbohydrates in general. The AMDR for protein is 10-35%. I am above that on both days, but not by much. The AMDR for fat is 20-35%, and my intake just gets within the range on the first day, but is below the range on the second day. I feel that within the context of my exercise these totals are not unusual nor unexpected.

Note: the formulas used were straightforward. The totals for each category were added together for the first two rows. The calories were based on the amount of calories per each type as noted above, so Fat on Day 1 would be 29*9 = 232. This figure would then be divided into the total calories for the day: 232/1077 = 21.54%.

4. My BMR is 1294.5. Using the Harris-Benedict equation, my daily caloric needs are therefore 1294.5 x 1.725 = 2265.

This is the amount of calories that I need in order to maintain my weight.

Part 2. Overall, the quality of my diet is good, but not great. There are a couple of points of concern, one with the total calories and the other with the macronutrient distribution. In terms of total calories, I am consuming approximately half of what I should be consuming, according to the Harris-Benedict equation and my BMR. This means that with my current intake level and my current exercise regimen, I should experience weight loss. Perhaps more of a concern is that my calorie intake (averaging 1044 calories per day) is below my BMR. This means that even if I had a sedentary lifestyle I would be in a position where I was losing weight, just at a much slower pace. Ideally, I could give myself a boost by adding healthy calories to my diet. I am not sure that I would attempt to double my caloric intake, as I might prefer not to maintain weight but to lose it. In addition, such a change would be quite dramatic and I am unsure how my body would react to doubling my caloric intake. However, an increase of 20% might be beneficial, especially if there are nutritional deficiencies.

The other issue that I noticed with my diet is that I was off on two of the three elements of the macronutrient distribution. I eat a lot of protein. While my consumption falls just outside of the AMDR for protein, and I supplement my protein with protein powder, I feel that this is justified given my exercise level. Indeed, if I increased my calorie intake without increasing protein, my protein consumption levels would fall within the AMDR for protein.

With carbohydrates, I have generally kept those to a minimum in my diet. Carbohydrates can provide valuable energy, especially for exercise, but they also have a reputation of sticking to people's bodies. My consumption of carbohydrates is therefore below the AMDR for carbs. Given that I need to boost consumption of calories in general, it is reasonable that I do this mainly with carbohydrates. There are ways to do this that will only slightly increase the size of meals, for example adding more brown rice. I would still avoid bread, but could add the healthier, more fibrous carbs like brown rice. Many fat-laden carbs would still be avoided (like tortillas and industrial bread, for example).

I found that my consumption of fat is a little bit below the AMDR as well. Certainly if I increase my caloric intake my fat consumption will be below the optimal, throwing my macronutrient distribution out of balance. As a result of this finding, I will perhaps increase my fat content in my diet. I will not add much fat -- my target would be at the bottom end of the AMDR -- but I can do this with a small piece of cheese or some other natural fat content that would boost my protein. I might also consider adding fat via my carbs with either a fatty bread something like that. The key is that I cannot add too much fat to my diet, and if I do it will be something healthy and natural.