We have talked a bout nutrition tracking, menu creation, meal plans, and controlling what we eat. Now lets talk about Tracking Exercise and how it effects our caloric intake.

Every time we exercise, we expend calories. This is know as a calorie deficit. Setting a calorie level for weight loss, weight gain or maintaining the same weight isn't as easy as pulling a number out of a hat. There is a long complicated formula for determining how many Calories you need each day, and for most of us this number changes day by day. There are many things that effect how many calories our bodies need each day.


Remember when we first logged on as we opened the software? There was a section asking for our present weight, desired weight and how much we wanted to gain or loss each week. It also asked about our frame size, BMI (Body Mass Index), our daily activity level, our height and our age. These are all elements that have to be considered To determine how many calories we need. For women, pregnantcy and nursing are also considerations. Our calorie needs change every day based on these factors. If we are serious about controlling our nutrient intake, we need to do a full calculation each day of all these factors. We can do them very laboriously with a calculator, pen and paper, or by using well designed software that takes these and many other factors into consideration.


Each type of exercise has a different calorie expenditure, and again different for each of us based on several factors. With this software we have an option of selecting either a general probability based on our life style, or calculate our caloric need based on our actual activity. When we talk about exercise we generally think of something we go to do such as walking, running, biking, weight lifting, etc. These and many more are included in the list. Also included in the list are normal daily activities we don't normally consider such as eating, sleeping, working at a computer, mowing the lawn, ironing, cooking and may other everyday things we might not have considered. We have all heard sex is the best exercise. That is included too. If you are going to try to base your daily caloric intake on your actual activity, everything needs to be considered. When I went through the list, I was amazed. There was so much to choose from , I couldn't find anything I do that wasn't included. (Now that I have said that, I am sure there be some one e-mailing me with something very obscure that isn't included.)

Each person in the family will usually be doing something different. Those who are tracking will want their own activities record. With the Exercise manager in the NB6 Personal Plus we can track up to 10 family members separately. This is a very powerful tool for body builders and those serious about weight control. What I think is far more important is the control it gives to those of us controlling what we eat for health reasons. The purpose of software is to make our life easier. You can use a couple features or all of them depending on your particular needs. I found at first it took me extra time to learn, set it up the way I wanted it, and use the software. Now it takes just a few minutes a day and the rewards in better health are well worth it.