*Total Metabolism Forecaster Thread*

[Robby Coker]

I have decided to create a new thread for Total Metabolism Forecaster.

The other thread had some problems as the initial post had a dead link to the first 1.0 beta version, and other pages had dead links as well to previous versions I pulled off when I released new versions.
Here is a link to that other thread:
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?t=114544451

I want to note something here, and I apologize that I did not do it in the other thread, but I am going to do it in this one.

Whenever I release a new version of Total Metabolism Forecaster, I may take the previous version down.

The main reason is that if the previous version had some bugs, labels that were not clear or easy to understand, and any other issues that may have affected the functionality and usability of the program in general, then others will not have to download that version. They will be able to download the latest version with the fixes, optimizations, and any new features that may have been added.

Therefore, if a download link does not work in whatever page of the thread you are in, go to the latest page of it to find the most current version of Total Metabolism Forecaster.

Anyway, if you find any bugs or run into any issues whenever you are using the program, have feature requests, or any questions, post them here or PM me.

[Robby Coker]

Total Metabolism Forecaster 1.1 is now ready.

Lots of things have been modified, and there is now a devoted activities section in the Standard Parameters area.

So, here's a list of the following updates, taken from the readme file:

03/19/09 - Changes from Version 1.09 to Version 1.1
================================================== ==

* I completely overhauled the Activity Level parameter in the Standard Parameters area and changed it into a whole section for activities. In this section, you can enter 9 different parameters for activites. The first 2 are for occupational activity, and the next 7 are for exercise.

* In the Occupational Activity part of the activities section, the Activity Factor field is set up where a list of selections show up by clicking on an icon to the right of the field. The list of activity factors that was at the top right above the Standard Parameters area is now gone.

* Other fields that involve entering text are also now set up where a list of selections show up if you click on an icon to the right of that given field.

* I completely overhauled all of the formulas for the labels that contain them. I optimized them and was able to make them considerably shorter.

* In the Standard Parameters area, I changed Resting Metabolic Rate to Resting Energy Expenditure.

* For the Metabolic Speed Adjustment parameter, I added Ectomorph, Mesomorph, and Endomorph as selections.

* In the Total Metabolism area, I changed Daily Energy Intake to Resulting Energy Intake.

* I got rid of the Body Mass Index (BMI) display. The program still uses BMI as part of its mechanics, however. It is just no longer displayed.

* Regimen Forecaster has been moved to the bottom below the Extended Parameters area, and a few minor changes were made in it as well.

* Starvation Reponse has been changed to Starvation Mode.

* Energy Deficit and Surplus scenario labels in both the Total Metabolism area and Regimen Forecaster now have At's before them. No has been changed to Without. A scenario, by the way, is either Starvation Mode or Adaptive Thermogenesis depending on the type of energy balance.

* When At Maintenance in the scenario label in the Total Metabolism area has been changed to When Eating At Maintenance.

* Metabolic Score has been changed to Metabolic Rating.

* Total Thermogenic Effect of Food label in the Total Metabolism area now changes display based on type of energy balance. The word "Total" in this label was removed.

* NOT POSSIBLE is now displayed in the Total Daily Energy Expenditure, Metabolic Rating, Actual Energy Balance, and Resulting Energy Intake fields if an Energy Deficit entered by the user puts the Resulting Energy Intake at less than 0.

* For Actual Energy Balance in the Total Metabolism area, the values are now passed values from the values in the program mechanics containing the functions.

* Four new pictures were added, and two were removed.

* The weight-lifting parameter in the Extended Parameters area was modified. You no longer enter anything into it. It now displays the parameters you entered into the activities section for weight-lifting. Then the percentage increase shows up below it.

* For the smoking parameter in the Extended Parameters area, I lowered the percent increase per cigarette from 0.5% to 0.22%. jls from answerbag.com mentioned that smoking increases metabolism by 7%. So, I set the percent increase per cigarette based on high end cigarette consumption per day by smokers, which is around 32. The cap is still at 16%, though.

* Some of the label names in the Extended Parameters area were changed.

* The percentage formulas in the Extended Parameters area were redone. They are now displayed percentages. These percentage values are passed percentage values from the percentage values in the mechanics, which the total maintenance level formulas use.

* Most pop-up text boxes were removed as I felt that they were no longer needed. I only kept a few, however, for certain fields that I thought needed them.

* I did some extensive modifications to the mechanics of the program to organize and optimize it more, and fix some minor bugs.

* Data validation routines were completely redone.

* Some other minor changes and fixes


You can currently get it from here:

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showpo...&postcount=602

[HumanMobility]

what is the starvation mode stuff about?

[Robby Coker]

what is the starvation mode stuff about?

If you don't know what starvation mode is, starvation mode is your body's way of conserving fat stores when you cut Calorie intake too much.

[Ted Nugent]

i love the updates man, sick program! quick clarification question, the calculated values for weekly weight loss..do they include the calories burned through the exercise totals i entered? ex. say according to the program i need to eat 2100 cals to lose 1.3 lbs a week, does that mean i would have to add in 400 cals that would burn through exercise so my defecit would not be huge, or is it allready calculated in?

[Robby Coker]

i love the updates man, sick program! quick clarification question, the calculated values for weekly weight loss..do they include the calories burned through the exercise totals i entered? ex. say according to the program i need to eat 2100 cals to lose 1.3 lbs a week, does that mean i would have to add in 400 cals that would burn through exercise so my defecit would not be huge, or is it allready calculated in?

They include it. All Calories burned from exercise get factored into your total maintenance energy expenditure (TMEE).

[HumanMobility]

If you don't know what starvation mode is, starvation mode is your body's way of conserving fat stores when you cut Calorie intake too much.

I understand that, I'm just wondering how does one know which is their situation, and what the % means.

[Ted Nugent]

They include it. All Calories burned from exercise get factored into your total maintenance energy expenditure (TMEE).

awesome thanks man!

[Robby Coker]

I understand that, I'm just wondering how does one know which is their situation, and what the % means.

The % indicates level of starvation mode.

As far as how you can tell if you're in starvation mode or not, you will generally not lose weight at the expected rate as you should at a given intake. Let's say, you cut 1250 Calories from your total maintenance energy expenditure. If you enter starvation mode, and your body slows down metabolism pretty aggressively, then whatever intake you're eating at at that given moment may only be producing an "actual" deficit of more like 700 Calories/day rather than 1250. So, instead of losing 2.5 lbs/week, you're only losing 1.4 lbs week as the intake where you were expected to lose 2.5 lbs/week at.

Also, you may have physical symptoms of starvation mode such as lethargy, sometimes moodiness, famished feeling, low blood sugar feelings, feeling of not wanting to do anything & having preference of lying down instead, etc. The degree of those feelings, especially the degree of preference of wanting to lie down instead of doing stuff may be a guide in giving you an indication as to what % starvation mode you might be in.

[Elmy]

Yeah buddy! Been looking forward to this big time, reps on spread my man!

[Robby Coker]

bump

[Robby Coker]

For those who are using the ECA stack for fat-burners in your cutting program, do not count the "C" Caffeine component as a fat-burner for the fat-burner parameter. Only count the "E" and "A" parts.

Count the "C" part as part of your caffeinated beverages. For example, if it's 200mg, count it as 2 servings of caffeinated beverages.
1 cup of coffee typically has 100mg of caffeine on average, so 100mg of a caffeine tablet/cap generally equals 1 serving of a caffeinated beverage.

Also, fish contains 1000mg of Omega 3 fatty acids on average per 3.5 oz. So, if you eat fish about everyday, count each 3-4 oz. serving of fish as 3.3g of Fish Oil in the Fish Oil parameter field.

Additionally, nuts (such as walnuts, pecans, soybeans) contain 1400mg of Omega 3 fatty acids on average per 1/4 cup. So, if you eat nuts about everyday, then count each 1/4 cup serving as 4.7g of Fish Oil in the Fish Oil parameter field.

I will note these in the Readme for the next version.

[woodplock]

Hey, im having problems entering in the data that doesnt have a drop down menu. The data which I cant enter are the things like height, weight, number of hours I work a week, etc. Im kind of new to excel so it could be something really simple, also im using windows vista, not sure if that matters or not. Thanks.

[Greater Deity]

Got it running in VMWare. I'll start examining this now; seems really cool!
- Deity

[Robby Coker]

Hey, im having problems entering in the data that doesnt have a drop down menu. The data which I cant enter are the things like height, weight, number of hours I work a week, etc. Im kind of new to excel so it could be something really simple, also im using windows vista, not sure if that matters or not. Thanks.

A couple of others PM'ed me earlier reporting this problem with the current version.

I went to an Excel forum describing the issue. I put the program up so other members on there could test it out on different versions.

They said that, because LB is selected as the default Units:
When someone goes and tries to input weight in kg or height in cm without first changing the Units to KG in the drop-down, then he gets the error message.

I plan to change it where you have to enter in your desired Units manually, so the program will begin on the Units field rather than the Gender field. If this solves the problem, I will probably do a version 1.1b release. It will have this change along with perhaps a few other minor ones.

But for now, I have made this change on the current version, and you can download the current version with this change at this link to see if this change works for you:
http://www.fileden.com/files/2009/1/...%5BTest%5D.zip

[woodplock]

I DL'd that one but I was stil having the same problem. I went to another computer thats running XP and it ended up working.

One more thing though, all the way on the bottom under the regimen forcaster its giving me errors when I type in my goal weight or desired weight. Its saying something along the lines of it has to be up to 999 lbs even though it is ( Im putting in 150). Any ideas?

Other than that everything works fine, at least with XP. Solid looking program!

[amj0883]

I am having the same problem - it will not let me enter in my height, weight, etc...

Good job Robby - this looks great!

[Robby Coker]

I am having the same problem - it will not let me enter in my height, weight, etc...

Good job Robby - this looks great!

What version of Windows, and what version of Excel?

What you may want to try first is delete the Units field, and then select your desired Units from the list. After that, put in your height and weight. See if that helps.

[amj0883]

The computer I am on has Excel 2003

[Robby Coker]

I DL'd that one but I was stil having the same problem. I went to another computer thats running XP and it ended up working.

I'm not sure why it isn't working for you on Vista.

I'm going to see if I can test the program out on a computer running on Vista in our house and see how it does.

One more thing though, all the way on the bottom under the regimen forcaster its giving me errors when I type in my goal weight or desired weight. Its saying something along the lines of it has to be up to 999 lbs even though it is ( Im putting in 150). Any ideas?

Are sure you're typing in 150 for Goal Weight and not Desired Rate?

For Goal Weight, 999 is the cap for LB, and 454 is the cap for KG.

For Desired Rate, 7 is the cap for LB, and 3.18 is the cap for KG.

Other than that everything works fine, at least with XP. Solid looking program!

Thanks.

As I mentioned, I'm going to see if I can test it out on one of our systems with Vista.

[Robby Coker]

The computer I am on has Excel 2003

The program was created on that version. Are running Windows XP or Windows Vista. My computer runs on Windows XP Professional.

[Elmy]

For those having problems, make sure you aren't just entering your stats and clicking somewhere else. Enter the desired number and hit enter, then move on to the next. I had that problem at first as well but this was the solution for me.

[Robby Coker]

With the suggestions I posted based on the response I got from the Excel forum and the one posted by Elmy, how is the program working for you guys now, who were having issues before?

[Robby Coker]

I pretty much have the next version of Total Metabolism Forecaster done.

This will be the first version that will contain a FAQ. Therefore, from this version on, if you run into any trouble, please read this document first. If your problem is still not solved, then post it on here.

Anyway, I just have to port it to Open Office, finish writing the FAQ, and update the readme file.

[Robby Coker]

The new release of Total Metabolism Forecaster is now ready.

The following is a list of updates, taken from the readme file:

03/24/09 - Changes from Version 1.1 to Version 1.11
================================================== =

* I added two new selectable intensity levels for the Intensity Level field for the weight-lifting part in the Exercise section. Additionally, the name of one of the existing ones were changed. The five intensity levels go like this: Light, Lgt-Mod, Moderate, Mod-High, High.

* The program now begins on the Units field, though the default is still set at LB. Those intending to enter in Height and Weight in units other than inches and pounds were having problems data into these fields because they were forgetting to change the Units to their desired one.

* Data validation routines for fields where you enter values in and have data validation ranges based on whatever units are selected were set back to their previous ones as some likely began having problems with the different routines.

* The caffeine intake section in the Extended Parameters area was modified. There are now four different parameters. The label was also changed to Average Caffeine Intake/Day.

* One new picture was added for the caffeine intake section in the Extended Parameters area.

* There was a minor bug in the Total Metabolism area where the #VALUE! error would appear in the Resulting Intake field if you entered a deficit in the Energy Balance field that put the Resulting Intake at less than 0. This only happened with the Energy Unit set at Joules. I fixed it, and the Resulting Intake field now displays NOT POSSIBLE under this condition.

* There was a minor bug in the Regimen Forecaster where the #VALUE! error would appear in the Energy Needs label if you entered a value besides a number in the Desired Rate field. I fixed it, and the label now remains as Energy Needs if any value other than a number is entered into it.

* There was a minor problem with the switch function where the program would still work with only Weight and Body Fat % entered into their respective fields even though there was no Gender entered into its respective field. Basically, the program would work, but the calculations would not be quite accurate because certain functions use Gender. I fixed this, and for those using body fat percentage, entering your Gender is now also required along with the Weight and Body Fat %.

* Few other changes


You can get it from here.

[ArmyROTCCadet05]

how accurate are your calculations .. not quite sure I follow?

[Robby Coker]

how accurate are your calculations .. not quite sure I follow?

For one, it depends on if you use body fat % or not. If you enter in your body fat %, it's going to be more accurate because with your body fat % input, it uses the Resting Energy Expenditure (REE) function that takes Lean Body Mass (LBM) into account.

If you do not enter a body fat %, then it uses the REE function based on your Gender, Age, Height, and Weight, which is usually somewhat less accurate than the one that goes by body fat percentage/LBM. That's why, in the readme file, I REALLY stress about getting body fat % accurately measured.

Take two people who are 6' and 200 lbs. One is 24% body fat and another one is 12% body fat. They are going to have a very different REE based on LBM. However, the REE function based on Gender, Age, Height, and Weight will register them at the same REE.

Also, once a devoted section for activities was created in the Standard Parameters section, I believe this has helped improve the accuracy.

Versions before 1.1 had you enter only an activity factor, and some people have a tendency to overestimate their activity level, thus inflating their Calorie requirements somewhat.

[StillWorkin]

??????

[ArmyROTCCadet05]

For one, it depends on if you use body fat % or not. If you enter in your body fat %, it's going to be more accurate because with your body fat % input, it uses the Resting Energy Expenditure (REE) function that takes Lean Body Mass (LBM) into account.

If you do not enter a body fat %, then it uses the REE function based on your Gender, Age, Height, and Weight, which is usually somewhat less accurate than the one that goes by body fat percentage/LBM. That's why, in the readme file, I REALLY stress about getting body fat % accurately measured.

Take two people who are 6' and 200 lbs. One is 24% body fat and another one is 12% body fat. They are going to have a very different REE based on LBM. However, the REE function based on Gender, Age, Height, and Weight will register them at the same REE.

Also, once a devoted section for activities was created in the Standard Parameters section, I believe this has helped improve the accuracy.

Versions before 1.1 had you enter only an activity factor, and some people have a tendency to overestimate their activity level, thus inflating their Calorie requirements somewhat.

I like to underestimate my activity so that if I don't gain, I can adjust my calories so that I can hit a caloric intake that will allow me to gain slowly without adding unnecessary weight.

[Robby Coker]

bump