*Total Metabolism Forecaster Thread*

[Jonny92]

That would be great if you would send me the files unzipped.
I'll send you my email address by private message

[IbramGaunt]

I am comparing the calroic requirements from your speadsheet to one of the standard formulas and I'm not sure which to follow. Your spreadsheet suggests a calorie intake of about 3500 for a bulk while all the other formulas suggest 3000.

If I have entered all the necessary data into your spreadsheet do you believe it is much more accurate than standard formulas?

[Robby Coker]

I am comparing the calroic requirements from your speadsheet to one of the standard formulas and I'm not sure which to follow. Your spreadsheet suggests a calorie intake of about 3500 for a bulk while all the other formulas suggest 3000.

If I have entered all the necessary data into your spreadsheet do you believe it is much more accurate than standard formulas?

For bulking, you shouldn't gain at a rate of more than 1/2 pound per week.

Start with the 3000 intake and track weekly weight changes. If you are able to weigh in daily, I suggest using a 10-day moving average of the weigh-ins to track progress more precisely. If you are not gaining weight, then try the 3500.

[mrkotfw]

For bulking, you shouldn't gain at a rate of more than 1/2 pound per week.

Start with the 3000 intake and track weekly weight changes. If you are able to weigh in daily, I suggest using a 10-day moving average of the weigh-ins to track progress more precisely. If you are not gaining weight, then try the 3500.

Amazing software. Though, the fonts seem to be out of proportion. Is it possible to change it?

Edit: I forgot to mention that I'm using OO.org ver.

[IbramGaunt]

For bulking, you shouldn't gain at a rate of more than 1/2 pound per week.

Start with the 3000 intake and track weekly weight changes. If you are able to weigh in daily, I suggest using a 10-day moving average of the weigh-ins to track progress more precisely. If you are not gaining weight, then try the 3500.

This confuses me! Why should I use the spreadsheet if you say to just ignore the results and just monitor your weight change?

[StephanieShine]

Thanks again for this newest verison! I have been diligently downloading each update as it comes out for over a year now. This thing just keeps getting better and better! I think I might be the only person who still uses Regi Tracker??

I have developed my own system for managing my metabolism by using the two excel sheet together. Right now TMF says my metabolism should be 113% but Regitracker is saying its actually 68%. This is a big difference but I have learned that sleep and stress also play a huge role in metabolism. Maybe you could add a "stress meter" to TMF. Maybe on a scale of 1 to 10 how stressful is your job/life. Each point would lower your metabolism slightly.

[Robby Coker]

Amazing software. Though, the fonts seem to be out of proportion. Is it possible to change it?

Edit: I forgot to mention that I'm using OO.org ver.

Make sure you have Open Office version 3.2 or later. Because the Open Office port of the current version of TMF was done on Open Office 3.2, some things do not display properly on older Open Office builds.

If the font size is too small, push CTRL and then roll the mouse roller forward. This should zoom in increasing the font size.

[Robby Coker]

This confuses me! Why should I use the spreadsheet if you say to just ignore the results and just monitor your weight change?

I only suggested that you start out at the lower Calorie intake level first, and if you do not gain or gain at your desired rate with it, then use the one that you got with the spreadsheet and work from there.

Thanks again for this newest verison! I have been diligently downloading each update as it comes out for over a year now. This thing just keeps getting better and better!

Thanks.

I think I might be the only person who still uses Regi Tracker??

I have developed my own system for managing my metabolism by using the two excel sheet together. Right now TMF says my metabolism should be 113% but Regitracker is saying its actually 68%. This is a big difference but I have learned that sleep and stress also play a huge role in metabolism. Maybe you could add a "stress meter" to TMF. Maybe on a scale of 1 to 10 how stressful is your job/life. Each point would lower your metabolism slightly.

How many weeks have you been using RegiTracker?

If you did not have a carry-over average of your weight and Calorie intake before using RegiTracker, you have to track for at least 6 weeks before the Moving Average - Body Weight field will be reflective of your real body weight. This is important for calculating metabolic rate.

Do you weigh under the same conditions each morning? This is important as well.

Body temperature is also affected by stress levels and is one indicator of thyroid function. Stress can have an effect on thyroid function and tends to be a contributing factor to thyroid disorders.

As far as sleep, it and stress are like a cycle. High stress messes up sleep patterns, and poor sleep contributes to additional stress.

[phoneez]

I just wanted to thank you for this comprehensive forecaster. I am on an SSRI for fibromyalgia and never thought about its implications for nutrition, as well as the many other factors you bring to the forefront. Thank you again. I look forward to working through the literature to acquire a better working knowledge of the relationship between nutrition and other life-style factors.

Keep it up!

[nathanpie]

For the "Per Pound" selections, Protein recommendations are calculated based on the general 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight guideline. For dietary fat grams, what you entered for it in the macronutrient ratio sections is used. If you did not enter a dietary fat %, then the percentage for the typical American Diet is used. Then, from both of these, carbohydrate grams are calculated.

The following is from the Readme:

For the "Per Pound" selections, Protein grams are calculated on a per pound basis. Then the Dietary Fat grams are calculated based on the Macronutrient Ratio input percentage for Dietary Fat, or the one for the typical American Diet if there was not one entered in. Then the Carbohydrate grams are calculated from those (the rest from Carbohydrates). For the Standard Parameter Inputs selection, the Macronutrients are calculated from the Macronutrient Inputs in the Standard Parameters area.

For the "Per Pound" selections, if Calories from protein are less than Calorie needs or Carbohydrate grams are less than 20, then the message "Needs Too Low!" will appear.

For the "Per Pound Of Lean Body Mass" selection, if you did not enter a body fat percentage, then the message "No BF% Input!" will appear.

For the "Per Pound Of Target Lean Body Mass" selection, if you did not enter a body fat percentage, then the message "No Target LBM!" will appear.

For the "Standard Parameter Inputs" selection, if you did not enter any Macronutrient Ratios in the Macronutrient Ratios section in the Standard Parameters area, then the message "No Macro Inputs!" will appear.

Hi first off thanks for the calculator it seems great. However I was wandering if you could help me I’m about 2 weeks into my cut using your calculator.

I didn’t enter a macronutrient ratio and I have just been using the values it gives me from default.

It seems to be working well for my cut however soon I wish to bulk and while experimenting I was getting some pretty high fat numbers.

Is it better to use the calculators default values or enter my own ratio? If so could you recommend any good ratios for cutting and bulking? Thanks

[Robby Coker]

Hi first off thanks for the calculator it seems great. However I was wandering if you could help me I’m about 2 weeks into my cut using your calculator.

I didn’t enter a macronutrient ratio and I have just been using the values it gives me from default.

It seems to be working well for my cut however soon I wish to bulk and while experimenting I was getting some pretty high fat numbers.

The program uses the macronutrient values for average protein, carbohydrate, and dietary fat intake for the standard American diet as the default. In the standard American diet, fat intake is quite high at around 40% of daily diet on average.

Is it better to use the calculators default values or enter my own ratio? If so could you recommend any good ratios for cutting and bulking? Thanks

I'd recommend entering in the ratio for your current dietary composition.

As far as the optimal ratios, certain things factor in such as workout routine, insulin sensitivity, etc.

You are looking to lose as much body fat as possible while losing as little muscle as possible for each pound of body weight (fat to muscle loss ratio).

To achieve this, the most important thing is getting enough protein. The common recommendation is 1 gram per pound of body weight (sometimes 1.5 grams per pound if bulking). The % of daily Calorie intake this ends up being depends on your body weight and Calorie target. You will also need enough dietary fat to keep your testosterone levels up. Dietary fat should never go below 20% on any diet. After meeting your protein and fat requirements, rest of your Calorie intake usually comes from carbs.

[lod254]

Since this is now on page 26, here are the links to the current version of Total Metabolism Forecaster.

TMF v1.982 (MS Excel)
TMF v1.982 (MS Excel 2007+)
TMF v1.982 (OO.org)

Where is the full readme? I don't understand all of the fields.

[Robby Coker]

Where is the full readme? I don't understand all of the fields.

It's in the DOCS folder.

[dantheram]

It's in the DOCS folder.

Hi, firstly thanks for the work you have put in with the forecaster.

I'm using it in open office 3.3.0 and the font is too large in the in the frozen cells at the the top. Any fix for this?

Many thanks,

Dan

[Robby Coker]

Hi, firstly thanks for the work you have put in with the forecaster.

I'm using it in open office 3.3.0 and the font is too large in the in the frozen cells at the the top. Any fix for this?

Many thanks,

Dan

What's your screen resolution?

[ANIMALISTIKZ]

Can i view this without excel.. ?

[Robby Coker]

Can i view this without excel.. ?

If you do not have Excel, there is a version for OpenOffice.org that you can use.
TMF v1.982 (OO.org)

You will need OpenOffice.org 3.2 or later. It can be downloaded from here.
http://www.openoffice.org/

[ANIMALISTIKZ]

If you do not have Excel, there is a version for OpenOffice.org that you can use.
TMF v1.982 (OO.org)

You will need OpenOffice.org 3.2 or later. It can be downloaded from here.
http://www.openoffice.org/

gotcha, thank you

[lod254]

It's in the DOCS folder.

Thanks. I had only downloaded the excel file.

[dantheram]

What's your screen resolution?

Default Macbook Pro resolution (i'll check exactly what this is later) It fine apart from the cells at the top the text is just too big.

[ANIMALISTIKZ]

not sure i totally agree with this calculation.. it estimates that i eat around 3500-3700 cals a day to have a cal surplus of 500 cals.... no thermogenic effect, and i filled out everything, even slow metabolism. I normally eat around 2700-3k on a bulk and gain fat...

[Robby Coker]

Default Macbook Pro resolution (i'll check exactly what this is later) It fine apart from the cells at the top the text is just too big.

At least 1280x1024 is recommend. This is what it was created on.

The default zoom is 115% for optimal visibility.

However, if your screen resolution is lower (e.g. 1024x768 or less), you can zoom out. To do this, go to the menu bar and click View. Then click on Zoom. Enter in (if using Open Office) or select (if using MS Excel) a lower percentage. Start with 100%.

Using a mouse, the shortcut way of changing the zoom is holding the CTRL button on the keyboard and using the mouse roller.

However, currently, on a few lines, the text will automatically wrap making those lines more difficult to read. For the next version, these will need to be set to shrink text font automatically in order to fit within the cell.

not sure i totally agree with this calculation.. it estimates that i eat around 3500-3700 cals a day to have a cal surplus of 500 cals.... no thermogenic effect, and i filled out everything, even slow metabolism. I normally eat around 2700-3k on a bulk and gain fat...

The lower metabolic rate may be from past yo-yo dieting, or weight cycling, where you lose a large amount and then gain it back and lose it again and gain it back, and so on.

I'd recommend measuring your body temperature before getting out of bed each morning as body temperature is reflective of thyroid function. Your thyroid gland affects basal metabolic rate. 97.8 to 98.2 degrees Fahrenheit is optimal. There is a section for morning body temperature in the program.

Yo-Yo dieting tends to cause a starvation response and may interfere with the functioning of the thyroid gland and can be one cause of hypothyroidism.
http://www.thedietchannel.com/Yo-Yo-...Diet-Cycle.htm
http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=...nt_Therapy.pdf

[mrkotfw]

I apologize if this has been asked already, but some fields such as finding how much protein in grams I need to consume, the amount of calories for cutting, etc.

I entered all the fields necessary. Am I missing something?

[Robby Coker]

I apologize if this has been asked already, but some fields such as finding how much protein in grams I need to consume, the amount of calories for cutting, etc.

I entered all the fields necessary. Am I missing something?

These are in the Regimen Forecaster area. To get there quickly, click on REGI FORE in the Navigation Panel.

For the font size issue, in your case, they display too large causing them to automatically wrap. To zoom out to reduce the font size, hold CTRL on the keyboard and roll the mouse roller backward.

What is your screen resolution?

At least 1280x1024 is recommended as this is what the program was created on.

The default zoom is 115% for optimal visibility.

However, if your screen resolution is lower (e.g. 1024x768 or less), you can zoom out. To do this, go to the menu bar and click View. Then click on Zoom. Enter in (if using Open Office) or select (if using MS Excel) a lower percentage. Start with 100%.

Alternately, you can use the CTRL plus mouse roller method that I mentioned above.

However, currently, on a few lines, the text will automatically wrap (as shown in the screenshot above) making those lines more difficult to read. For the next version, these will need to be set to shrink text font automatically in order to fit within the cell.

[Robby Coker]

Since this is now on page 27, here are the links to the current version of Total Metabolism Forecaster.

TMF v1.982 (MS Excel)
TMF v1.982 (MS Excel 2007+)
TMF v1.982 (OO.org)

[amiee3377]

Robby Thank you for helping us!

I'm new and every time I download the Excel file it looks like gibberish. Can someone help me with that? Thanks

[Harlequinn]

Hi i tried using your forecaster and it was pretty hard to understand/use still not able to do anything with it really do you have a tutorial vid or faq

[Robby Coker]

Robby Thank you for helping us!

I'm new and every time I download the Excel file it looks like gibberish. Can someone help me with that? Thanks

What is your screen resolution?

Hi i tried using your forecaster and it was pretty hard to understand/use still not able to do anything with it really do you have a tutorial vid or faq

A FAQ and Readme file are in the DOCS folder.

[Robby Coker]

Progress on the upcoming version has come along decently so far. However, for the last several weeks, I have been a bit busy, so I haven't been able to do much on it over that time.

As of now:

User input, Standard Parameters (this is now going to be called General Parameters), Auxiliary Parameters, and Metabolism (as of now, this will be called Metabolic Calculations) areas are now functional

The data entry fields and displays for the Regimen Forecaster area have now been implemented though the refeed part still needs to be implemented.

The navigational bar is partially working but needs buttons. As of now, you can go forward to or back to the previous area. You can also go back from one section to the user input area or right to the Regimen Forecaster area. The bar will also display REE, cumulative activity factor, total maintenance energy expenditure, and Calorie needs to lose or gain a given amount of weight.

The following I have left to do is:

Finish up the Regimen Forecaster area
Complete the navigational bar
Data validation
Label changes
Complete the formatting and conditional formatting
Images and logo
Some other optimizations
Bug testing

Another thing I'm planning on doing is modifying the REE and activity level sections so that it can account for growing teenagers. As of the date when I put out the last version back in the summer, I wasn't aware of the growth requirements for teenagers until I came across this thread in November.
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?t=128727231

[ra2commando]

Hello Robby,

Thanks a lot for your excellent work!

I'd like to ask you - for you Antidepressant section the effect of drugs is to slow down the metabolic rate. Does the same thing happen with 5HTP, melatonin, or other sleep supps (like valerian, etc).


For some reason, I can't seem to get the forecast to quite align for me =)