Brief Description of the Goals That You Set. How Many Weeks Did You Use Supertracker?
1. Description: Brief description of the goals that you set. How many weeks did you use SuperTracker?
I began the assignment by setting up 3 goals, first to maintain current weight of 122lb; second was to have at least 150mins/week physical activity; and the third was to meet the grains and Vegetable intake target which is 6onces of grains and 2 ½ cups of Veggies per day. I use the tool for 2 weeks for this assignment and found it very useful in helping me meet the goal especially with the grain and vegetable intake.
2. Outcomes: Description of your desired outcomes related your effort. Show how you’ve used the Supertracker to develop these outcomes. What is your BMI? What does Supertracker recommend for your body type, both food AND exercise.
Based on my current weight (122lb) and BMI (19.1), my goal was to maintain the current weight, but my desire is to increase physical activity and increase intake of grain and vegetables. Supertracker recommended 1800 as my daily calorie intake and for the most part of the 2 weeks I didn’t meet the daily calorie with the normal food I eat, so I had some room to eat a little bit of ice cream after dinner.
3. Efforts: Description of your actual efforts.
Based on my 3 goals the efforts are as follows:
Maintain current weight and BMI: I watch the food, calorie intake per suggested by the supertracker, I logged my meals in the tracker tool religiously, as well as making sure that I completed the activities as committed to myself.
At least 150mins/week physical activity: Since I’m a working mom who’s also taking college courses, finding time to exercise became very challenging for me in the past few years. With that in mind I set a goal for myself that is relatively achievable, and I asked co-workers to join me for a walk after lunch everyday, so I’ve been going for 45min walks since I started the assignment and will continue this.
6onces of grain + 2 ½ cups of Vegetables per day: This was also a challenge for me initially, because I don’t like whole grains. But in order to make a change, I started eating brown rice to substitute white rice. I also added spring mix salad and raw cucumber to my dinner.
4. High Point: Describe the high point of your experience.
High point in this exercise was that I took a liking to arugula and I came up with a simple recipe that is arugula & cucumber with vinegar dressing, by the end of week one I was actually eating more veggie than my original goal. This will help me keep up with the high vegetable diet.
5. Low Point: Description of the low point of your experience.
I was disappointed that I have to stop at week two due to a one week business trip. This is the lowlight of the experience, because when we engage in these type of exercises it take time to ram up and get use to the new life style, originally we set goals and make efforts to reach the goal. After a few weeks of strictly following the routine it will more or less become a habit and the body and mind have build the momentum to keep going. Having to stop after two week cuts off the momentum and I will have to rebuild it when I’m back.
6. Advice: Discussion of your advice for future students who may engage in this learning activity.
I have two advices to offer to future student. First is to set realistic and achievable goals, once goal is achieved or even overachieved one is more likely feeling encouraged and would want to keep going and set a high goal. Secondly, try to continue the activity for longer period of time until your body and mind develop a momentum and start treating these activities as part of normal daily routine, so all the work don’t goes to waste.
7. Summary Reactions: Your overall summary reactions to the entire experience.
My overall impression of the experience was positive, the fact that I was able to achieve all of my goals and even overachieve two of them is very encouraging. Through this exercise I was able to discover a good salad receipt to help me keep up with the vegetable consumption