Blog Post #2: Setting Up for Success

 Good morning everyone! 👋 

I just wanted to give you a quick update on my progress and set-up of my Genius Hour Project! 

Today, January 18 is the first day of my first nutrition plan that I will be following for the next two weeks. Yesterday I went to the grocery store and stocked up on low calorie/high protein foods, and began tracking my food on MyFitnessPal. 

There are many different definitions as to what a "Low Calorie" diet is and this can differ for different people. I was reading "What is a Low-Calorie Diet?" on the website Very Well Fit (Check it out here), which states that the goal of a low-calorie diet is to put yourself in a calorie deficit. One can be in a deficit by finding your maintenance calories, then subtracting 100-500 calories, depending on your goals. I decided to use a calorie calculator to determine my maintenance calories, then decided how "low" I wanted to go.

Maintenance (2250 Calories) - Deficit (500 Calories) = Low Calories Intake (1750 Calories/Day)

I want to try this calorie deficit out for the first few days, if I find that I am still hungry, I will bump it up until I find that I am eating enough, but still within a calorie deficit. (Note: everyone's caloric intake is different, based on height, weight, activity level, etc.)

This past weekend I downloaded various habit/mood trackers and tested out the features available on each one. I decided that the app "Bearable" had the most features that I could take advantage of during this project. You can take a look at the app's details and features here!

The factors that I will be tracking include:

  • AM & PM Mood/Feelings
  • Any Symptoms (Such as headaches, nausea, stress, etc.)
  • Sleep Time & Patterns
  • Energy Levels (Feelings & Activity level from the Fitness App on Apple Watch)
  • Exercises (Walks, Workouts, etc. from the Fitness App on Apple Watch)
  • Daily Activities (Class, Work, Hobbies, Busy/Quiet Day, etc.)
  • Step Count (From Apple Watch)
  • Heart Rate (From Apple Watch)
  • Weight Fluctuations
  • Food Tracking (On MyFitnessPal)
  • Water Intake (On MyFitnessPal OR on Bearable)
  • Other Notes (List any other factors that I find relevant)
I created a spreadsheet in which I will be inputting all of these factors. Each day I will track these factors on my phone in the bearable app and on MyFitnessPal, and then every few days I will input the data into the spreadsheet. I have included a screenshot of the first week from my spreadsheet and have link the entire spreadsheet below the photo, if you would like to see the full way I will be tracking my progress!


I will be sharing my progress each week by posting my weekly spreadsheets to see how my body reacts or changes based on the different eating habits.

I'm excited to share my journey and progress with you!

See you soon!😊🍎

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