MyPlate Assignment
N331 Life Cycle Nutrition Spring 2012
Note: Items logged on the charts below may be handwritten.
Overview directions: This assignment involves five steps:
1) Keep two 24-hour logs of your food intake. For purposes of this assignment, do not include
dietary supplements.
2) Keep two 24-hour logs of your activities. These should be the same two days on which you
record your food intake!
3) Generate an eating plan and analyze your food intake and physical activity according to MyPlate
online (www.myplate.gov).
4) Go to “My Reports,” provide the info requested, and print out your food intake and physical
activity along with your personalized plan.
5) Using your results, evaluate the quality of your food intake and your activity level.
Detailed directions:
1) On the diet logs attached, record everything you eat in two 24-hour periods, carefully noting
amounts. Remember to keep track of beverages and condiments, too. The more accurate you
are in recording amounts, the more accurate your analysis will be. For help in judging
portion sizes, you can use the “Size Up Your Servings” handout available in the Oncourse
Resources folder (i.e. 3 oz of meat is like a deck of cards…).
2) On the activity log attached, write down every activity you do beginning at 7 a.m. on one day
and ending at 7 a.m. the following day. Remember to include all activities of daily living such as
dressing, showering, driving a car, reading, etc. Include work and recreational activities, and
include weekly activities that don't occur every day. The log gives you an example of how to
convert weekly activities into hours/day.
3) Generate and eating plan and analyze your diet according to the SuperTracker
https://www.choosemyplate.gov/SuperTracker/ Look on the right side of the page, under the
heading Get Started. Click on Create Your Profile or choose the general plan. If you create your
own profile, the system will tailor advice specifically to you, and will store your information so you
can track your progress. If you choose the general plan, you will get a plan for a 2000-kcalorie diet.
Analyze your two days of food and physical activity by following the directions for Food Tracker
and Physical Activity Tracker.
4) Within the SuperTracker, follow the link for My Reports. You should use this information to
help evaluate your diet (step 5).
5) Type up and include your evaluation of your typical eating and exercise patterns. Consider
your level of intake of nutrients, intake of kcalories, and energy expenditure (energy balance).
Note at least one positive aspect of your eating and exercise habits and one suggestion for
improvement.
6) Be sure to include all computer-generated printouts (your eating plan, Food Details, Physical
Activity) with your project when you turn it in.
Your diet/activity logs are on the following pages
Diet Log
Day 1/Date
Name
Time
startend
Meal
or
snack
Place
Food
Amount
Posture
Associated
activity
Social
situation
Mood
Hunger
level
Diet Log
Day 2/Date
Name
Time
startend
Meal
or
snack
Place
Food
Amount
Posture
Associated
activity
Social
situation
Mood
Hunger
level
Activity log
Name
Record your activities below based on a weekly or daily basis. Remember to include activities of daily
living, e.g., dressing, showering, driving car, cleaning, shopping, socializing, reading, etc. Include your
work and exercise/recreational activities. For example: Lift free weights for 15 minutes, 3 times per week.
Shower 20 minutes daily.
Next convert your activity into hours/day. Enter this information into the shaded column. Using the two
activities above as an example, free weights would be 45 minutes total for the week. Divide this by 7
days/week, and it is 6.4 minutes per day. Divide this by 60 minutes/hr, and you lift weights 0.1 hr/day.
Showering 20 minutes per day: divide by 60 minutes/hr, and you shower 0.33 hr/d.
Here is an example
Activity
Duration
Frequency
Ave.
hr/da
Activity
Duration
Frequency
Ave.
hr/da
Free weights
15 min
3 x week
0.1
Clean
1½ hr
1/week
0.21
Shower
20 min
daily
0.33
Read
2 hr
4d/wk
1.14
Frequency
Ave.
hr/da
Now, add your activities below.
Day One
Activity
Duration
Day Two
Frequency
Ave.
hr/da
Activity
Duration