System for Calculating and Managing Kilocalories Consumed and

Spent through Various Domestic, Physical and Sports Activities

Rui Claudino, Pedro Passos and Gonçalo Mendonça

Human Kinetics Faculty, University of Lisbon, Estrada da Costa, 1499, 002 Cruz Quebrada, Dafundo, Portugal

Keywords: Consumption, Energy Expenditure, Food Composition, Motor Activity, Body Mass, Information System,

Responsive Webapp, Single-Page-Application, MVC Framework Pattern.

Abstract: In times like the ones we are experiencing in the present year of 2020, motor activity is limited, predisposing

to sedentary lifestyle and the imbalance between caloric consumption / energy expenditure, favoring the

obesogenic phenomenon. To alleviate these circumstances, each individual must be able to obtain information

on energy intake and energy expenditure on a daily basis, to control the caloric value of each meal and

determine the daily energy expenditure of motor activity. The information on the caloric value of foods can

be obtained from the food composition table (Regulation - EU, no. 1669/2011). Information on the caloric

expenditure of motor activities is also characterized (Ainsworth, Haskell, Herrmann, Meckes, Bassett, Tudor-

Locke et al., 2011). It is only necessary to consider the duration of activities and body mass. To obtain these

values and establish, in real time, a comparison between the energy intake and the energy expenditure, we

created a system, represented by a responsive WebApp, with the possibility of being accessed by several

devices, as well as tablets and mobile phones. The WebApp uses Ajax, jQuery, PHP, SQL and JSON

technologies and a MySQL database. The system also includes a backend, supported by a proprietary Model-

View-Controller framework, for parameterization.

1 INTRODUCTION

In times of recollection, as we experience today, our

motor activity is quite limited, due to the confinement

of the small dwelling spaces where we live in. These

constraints make us more sedentary, with all the

resulting consequences related to the health and well-

being of each one of us.

In parallel with the decrease of daily physical

activity, we maintained (in some cases, even

increased) daily food consumption, which affects the

caloric consumption / energy expenditure balance.

This behavior may have undesirable consequences

for health, individual well-being and overall quality

of life. Last instance it is a driven force linked to the

obesogenic factor.

One way to alleviate the previous problems would

be to obtain information on daily food consumption

and, in parallel, obtain information on energy

expenditure through motor activities of a domestic

nature, physical activity practices, or even sports

practices, that each of us perform during the day.

This information can help to control the caloric

food consumption of each single meal and help to

translate that into daily energy expenditure associated

with the different daily activities. Thus, allowing each

one to decide what to eat and what to engage with

motor, physical and sports activities.

The information on caloric consumption can be

obtained by calculating the kilocalories existing in the

most varied foods, multiplying it by the amount

consumed, using solid and / or liquid volume units.

The information on energy expenditure is obtained by

calculating the kilocalories resulting from the

expenditure of metabolic units per minute, for several

motor, physical and sports activities, already

characterized at this level (Ainsworth, Haskell,

Herrmann, Meckes, Bassett, Tudor -Locke et al.,

2011). For these activities, the total caloric

expenditure will be calculated by multiplying the

referred values by the duration of each motor activity,

taking into account the individual body mass.

As there is not an easy and accessible way to

obtain these values and establish, in real time, a

comparison between energy input and expenditure,

we decided to create an information system to support

the process of collecting, storing, calculating,

presenting and comparing the results. This makes it

152

Claudino, R., Passos, P. and Mendonça, G.

System for Calculating and Managing Kilocalories Consumed and Spent through Various Domestic, Physical and Sports Activities.

DOI: 10.5220/0010112101520155

In Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Sport Sciences Research and Technology Support (icSPORTS 2020), pages 152-155

ISBN: 978-989-758-481-7

possible not only to obtain the data, but also to

manage the information and use it to make final

decisions about which foods to eat and what motor

tasks to perform.

In order to operationalize this system and allow it

to go into production, a frontend was developed,

represented by a Web application, specifically a

WebApp, supported by a responsive single-page

application (SPA). This feature allows access to both

a desktop computer and a laptop, as well as mobile

devices such as tablets and mobile phones. The

WebApp uses Ajax technology, combined with the

jQuery JavaScript library, the PHP programming

language, the SQL language, to query the database

and objects in JSON format, for interoperability

between the database and the HTML markup

language.

The system also includes a backend component,

for the corresponding management and

administration. The implementation of this

component was made using a proprietary framework,

supported by a Model-View-Controller (MVC)

pattern, which was assigned the name Agon and

where the entire system is parameterized. To support

the two components of the system, a MySQL

database was created where all foods were inserted,

as well as physical and sport activities, in the

respective data model tables, defined for this purpose.

Bearing in mind that the system is intended to

reach the largest number of users, it offers the

possibility to use both Portuguese and English

languages, depending on the user preference.

Currently, the system does not yet allow several

meals per multiple days to be saved. In the future it

will be necessary to create a feature to register users

and allow them to access their reserved areas. At this

point, we expect the users to be able to keep a record

of the energy supply, as well as the caloric

expenditure and therefore monitor the respective

evolution, during the intervals of time they consider

necessary. To make the system even more

international and global, more languages are expected

to be included further on.

2 METHODOLOGY

2.1 Variables

To calculate the caloric intake, the nutritional

information of each food was used, as defined in the

table of food composition, according to the EU,

Regulation N.º 1669/2011. For each 100 g or 100 ml,

this table characterizes food using, all together 40

constituent elements, including the energy value

expressed in terms of calories.

For the calculation of energy expenditure, we are

using the codes and metabolic units (MET) indicated

by Ainsworth, Haskell, Herrmann, Meckes, Bassett,

Tudor-Locke, et al (2011), as established for motor,

physical and sports activities. For a personalized

energy expenditure, the authors also refer the need to

take into account not only body mass (BM), but also

the total duration (TD) of the activity in minutes.

2.2 Processing of Food Data

Processing of food data. Through the WebApp

frontend component, each user can choose the foods

ingested or to be ingested, from a total of one

thousand and one hundred and forty-six (1146)

possible foods, previously saved in a MySQL

database.

For this, the user must press the button to add the

food and following that a form will appear, as a

modal. Then the user must enter in the search field at

least the two initial characters of the desired food.

When executing this operation, the system triggers

the well-known typeahead functionality, showing in

the next field of the form, a list, with all the food

options registered in the database that begins with the

characters typed or that are being typed. For this to

happen in real time, the WebApp uses Ajax

technology, combined with the jQuery JavaScript

library, the PHP programming language, the SQL

language, to query the database, and objects in JSON

format, to exchange the data between the database

and the HTML markup language. From the presented

list of foods, the user selects only one.

The following field is numerical and is intended

to be filled by the user with the amount consumed of

the previously selected food.

The final field must be filled with the type of

measurement unit used in the previous field. Here, the

user has the possibility to choose between grams,

kilograms, liters, deciliters and milliliters, by

selecting the corresponding radio button.

To register the data associated with the selected

food, the user must submit the form by pressing the

'add' button and thus sending the data to the database.

With this operation, a food is added to the database

table associated with the user.

After submitting the form, a data table is

presented on the same screen, with the associated

records of the submitted data and also with the energy

value of the chosen food, calculated accordingly to

the amount eaten and presented in the form of

calories.

System for Calculating and Managing Kilocalories Consumed and Spent through Various Domestic, Physical and Sports Activities

153

For each submission of a new food, a line is

added. As soon as this data table has two or more

rows, the total calories consumed is calculated and

displayed at the bottom of the data table in question.

If the user finds that he does not want to consider one

of the records, he has submitted, he can delete it, by

simply choosing the corresponding food button which

is located at the last column of the data table. He can

also delete all food records to calculate a new meal

and related calories.

2.3 Processing of Physical Activity

Data

To determine the energy expenditure associated with

motor, physical and sports activities, the user

proceeds in a similar way as he did previously for

food. However, the user will have to select the

activities option at the menu to use the corresponding

features.

As soon as the user enters this part of the

WebApp, for the first time, the system detects that he

has not yet indicated the respective body mass and

requests the necessary information. For that purpose,

he is going to use a form with a single field, which

appears again as a modal. Right after the form

submission, the body mass value is stored in a session

variable created when the user accessed the WebApp.

The body mass value remains stored in this session

variable until the user leaves the WebApp, closes the

browser or intentionally changes the body mass

value, using the same procedure.

After this first procedure, the user can choose one

of the activities, previously introduced in the

databases.

Here, the procedures are very similar to food

registration, but much simpler and less technically

demanding.

Thus, to register an activity already performed or

to be performed, the user needs to press the button to

add the activity. A form will appear again, but with

only two (2) fields to fill in. The first will present the

list of physical activities and one of them must be

selected. Then, in the second field, the duration of this

activity in minutes must be indicated.

After filling in these two fields, the form must be

submitted, pressing the corresponding 'add' button, so

that the data associated with the activity can be

registered in the database.

As for food, whenever the form submission is

successful, a data table appears on the same screen,

where the lines represent the characteristics of the

activities submitted, namely: i) the value of the

metabolic units; ii) the calories expended per minute

of activity (according to the value of the metabolic

units); iii) the duration of the activity in minutes; and

iv) in the last column of the data table the calories,

calculated accordingly to the previous values when

combined with the user's body mass.

For each submission of a new activity, a line is

added to this second data table and also here,

whenever it presents two or more lines, the sum of the

duration of activities and the total sum of calories

expended in the registered activities are calculated

and presented.

The procedure for eliminating registered activities

can also be carried out by choosing the button

corresponding to the activity to be deleted that is

located at the last column. There is also the option, to

delete all records of previously registered activities,

in order to calculate the kilocalories spent on another

set of activities.

3 OUTPUTS

In addition to the data and information presented in

the referred data tables, it is also possible to present a

small dashboard, where only the values of calories

ingested through food and calories spent through

physical activities are placed, to check to what extent

there is a balance between the two. These values are

updated in real time, whenever the user adds more

food or activity.

Hopefully with these results the users can become

more aware of their eating habits and physical

behaviors. They can also make decisions about the

need to increase or decrease food intake and increase

or decrease the need for physical activities, to

maintain the balance between energy input /

expenditure, so necessary for maintaining a good

health, quality of life and individual well-being.

4 LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE

DEVELOPMENTS

The present system also has some limitations. First

being the reduced number of activities mainly

physical and sports activities. Future versions will

significantly increase the range of other activities.

The impossibility of maintaining a history of the

records is another issue in development. Our option

for this first version was to create a light, agile system

without many features, to keep it easy to use at the

expense of other features (e.g., maintaining the

historical record). In addition, the need to develop it

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in a very short time frame so that it becomes available

and useful during the times we are living, influenced

this limitation.

Another issue under development, is the lack of a

personal reserved area, through a username and

password that will have to be created, precisely to

allow historical records, among other features.

The possibility of historical records, allows the

creation of time series that provide indications of the

user's behavior, not only in real time, but also at

different time frames.

The representation of data on the form of data

graphical visualization and information, as well as the

possibility of creating detailed reports, are also one of

the handicaps at the current version of this system.

In terms of design and graphic concept, there is still a

significant amount of developments in progress,

namely in the creation of interfaces oriented to the

concept of user centered design, which should be

combined with greater efficiency not only in terms of

usability, but also of user experience (UX), while

trying to facilitate the application use.

The lack of languages other than Portuguese and

English somewhat limits the globalization and

internationalization of the system, by a wider

audience.

The small number of tests is still a limiting factor

in order to obtain a more robust WebApp, capable of

moving towards other levels of maturity. To mitigate

this limitation, updating the application is something

that we will do frequently in the future.

The backend part, intended for administration,

will also have to undergo the corresponding changes

and developments in order to support the features

now stated.

To complement this WebApp, we still need to

develop a hybrid or by preference a native app, to

install on mobile devices with MAC OSX and

Android operating systems, thus taking advantage of

the possibilities from the graphic components offered

by the operative system resources.

REFERENCES

Ainsworth B. E., Haskell, W. L., Herrmann, S. D., Meckes,

N., Bassett, D. R., Jr., Tudor-Locke, C., et al. (2011).

Compendium of Physical Activities: a second update of

codes and MET values. Medicine and science in sports

and exercise. 2011 Aug; 43 (8): 1575-81. DOI:

10.1249/MSS.0b013e31821ece12

Regulation (EU) N.º 1169/2011 of the European Parliament

and of the Council of 25 October 2011.

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