1.

provide a background of your nutritional status and food habits before this semester

As a person that goes to the gym, I was very cautious of my nutrition in order to gain muscle.
Before this course, my primary goal was to gain weight through muscle while trying to be as
light as possible to make parkour, my other hobby easier. I’d say just before quarantine I had
very active to extra active physical activity throughout the day as at that time I also applied for a
sports organization.

My daily routine consisted of school (I try to walk to school every day), going to the gym every
other day, training for a sports organization three times a week, parkour training about 1-2 times
a week. This is also taking into consideration that I have 5 lab classes and the majority of them
were standing and walking classes especially in the PFP.

As much as I love to cook, at this time I had no time or will to cook the majority of the time, so I
tend to take out food a lot which also compromises the quality of foods as well as the amount of
food I was intaking. In hindsight, I should have not taken on too many physically demanding
tasks because I was sure that I was not getting enough calories I needed per day.

An average meal plan that day would consist of bread and coffee in the morning, snacks, lunch
bought at CASAA, snacks, dinner at a fast-food restaurant, and snacks in the evening. Using
myfitnesspal, an average day would look like this:
Based on my weight and physical activity at that time, I estimate using the factorial method:

Weight (last weight I remember): 72kg

Height: 5’6 (168cm)

Health goal: Gain weight healthily

DBW: 168 - 100 = 68kg

Adjusted DBW = 68 - (68*0.10) = 61.2

TER 1 (regular): 61.2 * 40 = 2448

TER 2 (for weight gain): 72 * 40 = 2880 + 500 = 2580 = 3380

After computing these I see that I really did not have enough calories and that may have been
one of the primary reasons why I could not gain weight considering the PA factor I added may
have been an underestimation.

2. during this semester, were there changes done to improve or maintain your nutritional
status? explain it based on fn 122 principles

In general, since the semester is taking place within the pandemic, there has been a lot of
lifestyle changes on my part. The first is that being at home (I used to live at a condo near UP)
almost every day gives me access to cook my own food and enjoy home-cooked meals from my
mom. My family in general likes to prepare in excess, thus I can easily reach any amount of
calories without the problems of socio-economic accessibility. My physical activity has also
greatly decreased to general exercise every other day for building muscle and strength.

In the case of whether FN 122 has changed my perspective on nutrition, yes it did. As
previously mentioned I could not figure out why it was hard for me to gain weight and FN 122
has given me perspective on how to achieve this. Though due to the dramatic change in lifestyle
and diet, I was finally able to gain weight though I cannot tell whether that is muscle or fat due to
lack of resources. Nevertheless, I am not too concerned about those things at the moment due
to the inaccessibility to physical activities.

In terms of practical knowledge I learned, I realized that calories needed to be distributed

properly based on their macronutrients. Before the course, being part of the bodybuilding
community, it was always echoed that much emphasis is needed on protein intake. This is
justifiable since protein helps repair and strengthen muscle tissue. This however made me
negligent of my intake of other macronutrients. I have come to realize that some days before
when I did not feel like I have the energy for exercise, was probably due to inadequate intake of
carbohydrates that day. I have also seen the importance of fats (considering its bad reputation)
as many essential fatty acids are needed by the body to maintain processes. I have now
learned that a caloric distribution of:

CHO: 55-70%

PRO: 10-15%

Fat: 20-30%

Is needed for a balanced diet. So now I take into consideration the number of macros I eat in a
day as well as others. Though honestly, I don’t really plan my meals by quantitatively measuring
them ect. But the learned lessons can be applied in practical knowledge to consider the things I
eat in a day as well as when I’m cooking so that my meals are well rounded.

3. make a personal nutrition improvement plan, explain the plan using fn 122 principles.
Personal nutrition plan!

- Try to explore more plant-based dishes

- As a part of the bodybuilding community and an environmental advocate, I was
really struggling with how to intake a more plant-based diet while not
compromising the quality of my protein intake. Learning about complementary
and supplementary protein sources has been a great and practical lesson to me
and I will continue to explore more dishes that maximize plant-based ingredients
while not compromising protein intake quality.

- I might try planning my meals by the numbers soon

- I might try actually making meal plans that suit my lifestyle. At the moment
there’s too much going on such as school and family that I need to do. Once
everything eases down I will start planning my meals properly to complement
new fitness goals.

- When this pandemic ends I will reconsider my physical activity per day as well as my
nutrient intake.
- As mentioned before, I lacked too many calories to keep up with the amount of
physical activity I had per day. Thus, when this pandemic ends and I get to enjoy
my physical hobbies again, I will plan my meals based on my budget and plan
how much physical activity I should be doing for a day to better ensure that my
body is getting enough nutrients for basic processing and overall health.

- Eat more unrefined carbohydrates

- I have observed due to the quarantine I have been more stressed lately which
has resulted in me craving a lot of sweets. I feel like this continuous craving may
also be due to my intake of refined carbs that cause major spikes in blood sugar
levels which leads to an immediate crash, thus making me want more. I plan to
incorporate more fruits as sources of carbohydrates which are great whole food
alternatives that will be digested by the body slower and also contain much fiber
for health.