####################################################################################### ############## To Do ############## ####################################################################################### Mac issues: -Dialog box shows n~ characters on mac, see email for screenshot -Mass slider thumb in the wrong spot on Mac, see malley's machine. >>Also (in case you're not aware of it) the Body Fat slider doesn't render properly and is not usable on Mac. Base diet should be visualized on the plate Zoom in/out for bar graphs alternatively: Readouts by base of bar graph? Time readouts should be Years:Months, not years in decimal Performance: consider profiling or changing clock rate BMI readout is obscured when overlapping the human outline Pilates graphic is transparent in the middle Jumprope lady graphic is not cropped properly ####################################################################################### ############## To Discuss ############## ####################################################################################### Foods should have correct relative sizes? I might also limit the duration of the simulation to 6 to 12 months. It does not seem practical to go beyond a year especially since most of the current data only follows folks for weeks and months. I am not sure that I entirely agree with your calorie expenditures for physical activity. They seem a bit high and in many cases are absolute values. The total caloric cost for weight bearing activities should be based upon a per body weight value. What was your source for this information? I would also limit the age range to the young to middle aged adult since resting metabolic rate changes relative to lean mass outside this range. It might also be fun to include the thermic effect of food intake as part of the daily energy expenditure i.e. when we eat a meal metabolic rate increases to process it. The value varies depending on the composition of the meal but you could just use a value of 15% of the ingested calories. Possible sim names: Food and Exercise Exercise & Eats Calorie/Fitness Diet and Exercise Exercise and Diet Calories in Food and Exercise Exercise and Foods Eating and Working Out Eats and Exercise Calories and Fitness Calories and Weight Rename directory to match new simulation name, once it is selected Clarify the meaning of "lifestyle" vs. other daily exercises Add description to sedentary, moderate activity, etc. Height Incorporate growth or height changes with weight? should we increase this? yes, look on web for height changes since BMI =f(height) BMI: Are we accounting for sex affects on BMI and BMR? -Can we put a chart or weblink to compare healthy or unhealthy BMI? (see categories chart on national heart lung and blood institute bmi calculator page) We are still confused about a delay in weight loss if: all variables remained constant: diet and lifestyle and then we ran a mile, why there is a delay in weight loss. -I think you should be able to do "step day", so you can see the effects of 1 hour activity. Change in intake or expenditure … doesn’t lead to ideal weight loss, since other compartments adjust to compensate Caloric intake changes resting metabolic rate Extra carbs or protein can increase RMR (not agreed upon in scientific community) Is it true that I can eat a hamburger per day above a 'healthy diet', and have a steady weight (though a ~10 lb gain) after about three years? - to see this, click 'reset all', wait until you're 23 years old, then add a hamburger per day. >>The behavior of this has changed since we started keeping BMR constant over weight change >>Is the new behavior acceptable? 3000 kcal/day wrong, should be 2000kcal/day should this be exact? can't force 2000kcal/day and prescribed ffm and have balanced calories As I add the exercise the graphs begin to change, but I can't see whats happening from the getgo because it runs while the exercise window is open. I think this might make it difficult to understand what the starting point is and what the added exercise is changing. >>To address this problem, I started the simulation paused; hopefully the user will be able to pause the simulation before >>adding exercise/diet. If not, we can either pause the sim when they bring up an editor, or add a control to the >>diet selection panel >>Now that the simulation has drag-and-drop for editing diet and exercise, perhaps it should start running? >>Or perhaps the sim should start running as soon as the first item is dropped? >>Or perhaps a wiggle me should be used instead Satisfy learning goal: How long do you have to bike/walk to burn a certain number of calories? the learning goal seems too easy: to figure out "How long do you have to bike/walk to burn a certain number of calories?", you just have to look at the number of kcal/day in the text of the exercise type. might be better to ask how long it would take to lose 10 lbs? How is body fat calculated? How would a student know their % body fat to put in the simulation? Better values/more options for base diets Need more junk food for diet options, like actual student diets: burrito, chips, cookies, tacos, sub sandwich, twizzlers or candies, etc ###################################### # Edit Diet ################### Add a legend for caloric breakdown pie chart Number of calories of healthy diet should be editable Add/Remove items from Edit Diet should be synchronized with Plate graphics I wanted to click on the food item or description rather than the add button. Can you change the interface to something like that. That would clean up this box a bit as well. Add a done button at the top of the diet and exercise boxes. Editors for exercise (change time or intensity) Would it be informative for students to see what 590kcals/day is equivalent to (for example 1 hour of swimming, or 2 hours of pilates?) The energy cost of walking/running is about 1.43 kcal/kg/mile, swimming 4x higher, biking 1/4 value of walking ###################################### # Fat % issue ################### I'm having trouble making sense out of this. It appears that if I add weight my BMR increases tremendously. I thought BMR does not increase unless muscle mass increases. Then I see that adding to my weight does not change my body fat. That seems very strange to me. Shouldn't that be a calculation of my weight and height with a slight scaling due to the muscular slider? The way it's set up, adding to a person's weight immediately causes calorie burn to compensate and they get lose weight immediately. This does not match my understanding. Weight gain should go into fat% to keep BMR basically constant. My biggest concern is the body fat indicator not changing as your guy gets fatter or you set his weight really high. I agree with Wendy that it doesn't make much sense to not have the percentage fat linked up at all to the weight. Description Women Men Essential fat 12–15% 2–5% Athletes 16–20% 6–13% Fitness 21–24% 14–17% Acceptable 25–31% 18–25% Obese 32%+ 25%+ source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_fat_percentage When you get up to 300+ pounds and have a BMI over 30, you should be into the obese fat percentages, but as lower weights, your percentage should be more in the fit ranges. (The default 26% is quite high for a male so should change if you hit male instead of female.) It seems like when you increase the weight we should also increase the calories in the base diet because otherwise the 300 lb guy loses weight very fast ... normally a guy like that would eat a lot more to maintain his weight. Basically this would be his BMR plus Lifestyle calories. Then be able to add OR subtract from that base diet. This would get away from the unrealistic rapid weight loss by a very overweight person. I found this page somewhat helpful in thinking about the above. http://weightloss.about.com/od/eatsmart/a/blcalintake.htm 1. Percent body fat should change as body weight changes. This change probably be based upon the concept that one pound of fat gain/loss requires a gain/loss of about 3500 calories. It should be noted that weight loss by diet only, results in a loss of both fat (75%) and lean tissue (25%) whereas weight loss via diet and exercise results in a maintenance of lean tissue and a loss of only fat. Food composition should lead to a change in the Fat Free Mass % check with fran, bill & kate regarding change in % fat http://sportsmedicine.about.com/od/fitnessevalandassessment/a/Body_Fat_Comp.htm Can I Change My Body Composition? Yes. To increase or decrease your percent of body fat you need to create the right balance between the calories in and calories out. The best way to do this is to decrease daily calories by about 500 and increase your exercise. Aerobic exercise along with strength training is ideal. If you are beginning a new exercise program, you are advised to first consult your physician. KG gained per day should be a function of caloric distribution over lipids, carbs and protein ####################################################################################### ############## Decided Against ############## ####################################################################################### Remove unused column from food properties file (calories computed from fats, carbs, proteins) It might be good to keep these value for future usage To emphasize the meaning of the bar charts, you might have big labels on the left and right of the center line of the bar chart: 'Diet' on the left and 'Exercise' on the right (perhaps with the 'edit' buttons below the labels) >>I think this is clear from the items, bar chart composition and edit buttons Possibly visualize balance of caloric intake as scale