Nutrition Fundamentals & Lab 1 Preparation

Lab 1: Nutrition Assignment Overview

• Due Date: October 3rd at $11:59{ pm}$ .

• Nutrition Log: Record all food eaten over the last $24$ hours. Include:

  • Food Item

  • Time

  • Calories ($ext{kcal}$)

  • Carbohydrates ($ext{g}$)

  • Protein ($ext{g}$)

  • Fat ($ext{g}$)

• Personal Information: Provide your:

  • Date

  • Sex

  • Age

  • Height ($ext{cm}$)

  • Weight ($ext{kg}$)

  • Current Activity Level (light, moderate, or heavily active)

• Fitness Goals Discussion: Talk about:

  1. Your specific long-term/short-term fitness goal(s).

  2. The main energy system(s) used for your goal.

  3. Which macronutrient(s) you should eat more or less of for your goal.

  4. Your daily calorie needs based on your goals, calculated using Table $7.2$ and Table $7.3$ (found at the end of the form). Make sure to show your calculations.

Role of the Personal Trainer in Nutrition

• Main Goal: Help clients with accurate nutrition information for (address misinformation):

  • Physical performance

  • Preventing disease

  • Losing weight

  • Gaining weight

• What Trainers Cannot Do: Personal trainers cannot give "Medical Nutrition Therapy." This means they shouldn't treat diseases with nutrition.

• Macro nutrients: lipids, carbs, protein, alcohol

• When to Refer: If a client has a disease greatly affected by nutrition, a personal trainer should refer them to a nutrition professional.

Step 1: Gather Dietary Intake Data

To give good nutrition advice, trainers need to know what clients currently eat. Here are three simple ways:

1. Dietary Recall:

   • Remember what was eaten in the last $24$ hours.

   • Best for most clients.

2. Diet History:

   • Ask about eating habits: what they like/dislike, eating schedule, and weight changes.

   • Best for most clients.

3. Diet Records (Most Accurate):

   • Clients write down what they eat for $3$ or more days in a row.

   • Downside: People often change what they eat because they are logging it.

   • Only for clients who are very motivated because it takes a lot of effort.

4. Which method is best for this client?

Step 2: Evaluate the Diet

• Compare: Check the client's food intake against recommended guidelines like the USDA’s “My Plate.”

• Three Main Goals for Americans:

  1. Balance Calories:

  • Enjoy food, but eat less.

  1. Eat More Of:

  • Make $\frac12$ of your plate vegetables and fruits.

  • Make $\frac12$ of your grains whole grains.

  • Choose fat-free or low-fat ($1\%$
    ) milk.

  1. Eat Less Of:

  • Drink water instead of sugary drinks.

  • Choose foods with less salt (sodium).

• Computerized Diet Analysis:

  • Gives a quick look at a client's diet.

  • Can also show vitamin and mineral intake.

Step 3: Estimate Requirements

This step involves two main calculations:

1. Figure out Energy (${kcal/day}$ ) for a specific goal.

2. Estimate Macro and Micronutrients.

Weight changes depend on energy balance:

• Weight gain: Eating more food than burning energy.

• Weight maintenance: Eating the same amount of food as burning energy.

• Weight loss: Eating less food than burning energy.

Total Energy Expenditure (TEE) EXAM

TEE is the total calories burned daily, made of three parts:

1. Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR):

   • The largest part, $60-75\%$ of TEE.

   • Affected by: Age, genetics, body size/composition, temperature, training, and how many calories you eat.

2. Physical Activity: most variable component

   • The part that changes the most.

   • Depends on: how intense, long, and often you train, and the environment (hot vs. cool)

3. Thermic Effect of Food (TEF):

   • Extra energy used to digest and absorb
     food.

   • About $7-10\%$ of TEE.

Methods for Estimating Total Energy Requirement

Method 1: Body Weight Multiplication

• Multiply body weight by a calorie factor (${kcal/kg}$ or ${kcal/lbs}$ ) based on sex and activity.

• Example: For a $55{ kg}$ female who exercises daily:

  • $55{ kg}\times44{ kcal/kg}=2,420{ kcal/day}$ .

  • This much energy is needed to maintain her weight and TEE.

Method 2: RMR Calculation with Activity Level

1. Calculate Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR), also called resting energy expenditure (REE).

2. Multiply the RMR by an activity level factor.

• Example: A $29$-year-old female, $55{ kg}$ , exercises $6$ times a week with high-intensity cardio and heavy resistance training.

  • Using an example REE formula:

  • $\text{REE} = (14.818 \times \text{body weight in kg}) + 486.6$

  • $\text{REE} = (14.818 \times 55) + 486.6$

  • $\text{REE} = 815.0 \text{(approx.)} + 486.6$

  • $\text{REE}=1301.6{ kcal}$ (resting daily calories).

  • Assuming an activity factor of $2.4$ (for highly active people).

  • Total Energy Requirement $={REE}\times\text{Activity Level}$

  • $=1301.6{ kcal}\times2.4$

  • $=3123.84{kcal/day}$ (about $3124{ kcal/day}$ ).

  • This is the energy needed to support TEE and maintain body weight.

Nutrients: Micros and Macros

Macronutrients

Macronutrients are eaten in large amounts and provide energy. They include:

• Proteins

• Carbohydrates

• Fats

Proteins

• Main Job: Repair and build tissues.

• Energy: $4{ kcal/g}$ .

• More Needed When: You eat fewer calories or have less stored energy (fat/glycogen), to protect muscle.

• Recommended for healthy, inactive adults: $0.8{ g/kg}$ of body weight (or about $20-30\%$ of daily calories).

• Higher Needs: For better exercise results (health, performance, body shape) or if most protein comes from plants.

• General Suggestions:

  • Endurance Athletes: $1.4-2.0{ g/kg}$ per day (depends on sport, training, calories, and health).

  • Resistance Training: $1.6-2.2{ g/kg}$ per day.

  • Higher end (up to $3.0{ g/kg/day}$ ) is good for fat loss because:

  • It makes you feel full longer.

  • Burns more calories during digestion (higher thermic effect).

  • Helps keep muscle (Fat-Free Mass) during calorie restriction.

• Not Recommended:
  More than $4{ g/kg/day}$ if you have kidney problems, low calcium intake, or don't drink enough fluids.

Carbohydrates

• Main Job: Primary fuel for athletic performance.

• Energy: $4{ kcal/g}$ .

• Role: Replace muscle and liver energy stores (glycogen).

• Typical Intake: Usually $50-60\%$ of total daily calories.

• Daily Suggestions:

  • Endurance Athletes (aerobic exercise > $1.5{ h/day}$ ): $7-10{ g/kg/day}$ .

  • Active Individuals (aerobic exercise < $1.5{ h/day}$ ): $5-6{ g/kg/day}$ .

  • Fat Loss Goals: Calculate protein and fat first, then fill remaining calories with carbs. Often amounts to $3-4{ g/kg/day}$ .

Fat

• Requirement: Small amount needed, but too little can cause issues.

• **Problems from too little fat (<20\% of total calories):

  • Lower testosterone and estrogen.

  • Poor absorption of fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K).

• Energy: $9{ kcal/gram}$ .

• Daily Suggestions:

  • Total Fat: About $30\%$ of total calories.

  • $20\%$ from healthy fats (monounsaturated or polyunsaturated).

  • Less than $10\%$ from saturated fats. (butter, red meat)

  • In grams: Typically $0.7{g-}1.0{g/kg/day}$ .

Micronutrients

Micronutrients are needed in smaller amounts and include:

• Vitamins

• Minerals

• Water (essential, often discussed separately due to amounts needed)

Vitamins and Minerals

• Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs): Recommended daily amounts based on age, sex, pregnancy, etc.

• Personal Trainer's Role: Use diet analysis to compare a client's intake.

Water

• Fluid Needs: Vary greatly based on environment, sweating, body size, activity, etc. No single rule fits everyone.

• Goal: Prevent thirst (which usually means you're already about $1\%$ dehydrated).

• Suggestions:

  • Inactive Adult: About $1.4-2.6{ liters}$ per day.

  • Before Exercise:

  • Drink $5-7{ ml/kg}$ of body weight $4$ hours before exercise.

  • If already dehydrated (dark, little urine), drink $3-5{ ml/kg}$ $2$ hours before.

  • During Exercise:

  • About $\frac23$ to $1$ cup every $15$ minutes.

  • In hot weather, you might need over $1.8{ L/hour}$ (about $7.6$ cups).

  • After Exercise:

  • Drink $600-700{ ml}$ for every pound of body weight lost.

  • Eat salty foods or drink a sports drink to replace lost salts (electrolytes) and help rehydrate.

Weight Management

Weight Gain

• Reasons: Clients want to improve looks or athletic performance.

• Suggestions:

  • To gain $1-2{ lb}$ ($0.5-1{g}$ ) of muscle per week, eat $350-500{ kcal}$ more than your TEE.

  • Very experienced trainees might need less extra energy to avoid gaining too much body fat.

  • Tips: Eat bigger meals, eat more often, choose high-calorie foods (like olive oil, pasta, bananas).

Weight Loss (Fat Loss)

Clients usually want to lose weight for looks or because they are overweight/obese (BMI > $25$ ).

• Main Goal: Help clients eat fewer calories than they burn and build good habits.

• General Ideas:

  • How easily someone loses fat and builds muscle can be genetic.

  • People new to exercise often lose fat and gain muscle at the same time.

  • Eat foods that are low in calories for their size (e.g., soups, salads, veggies, fruits).

  • The diet should be balanced and include a variety of foods.

• Suggestions:

  • Subtract $500{-}1000{ kcal}$ from your daily energy needs to lose $1-2{ lb}$ ($0.5-0.9{ kg}$ ) per week.

  • Avoid diets with less than $1200{ kcal/day}$ .

  • A safe rate of loss is $0.5\%$ to $1\%$ of your total body weight per week.

  • Losing weight too fast can lead to dehydration, missing vitamins/minerals, and losing muscle.

Diets to Avoid (e.g., "TikTok Diets")

Clients should avoid diets that:

• Cut out entire food groups (like no-carb diets).

• Focus too much on one food (like the Cabbage Soup diet).

• Are very low in calories (less than $1200{ kcal/day}$ ):

  • Hard to stick to.

  • Can cause muscle loss.