This document discusses strategies for incorporating mobile applications and web tools to calculate health and fitness metrics in a college wellness course. It describes how traditional methods of calculating BMI, waist-to-hip ratio, calorie needs, heart rate zones, and food/activity tracking were error-prone. The document summarizes several free mobile apps and web tools that automate these calculations and make the process simpler and more engaging for students. Using these tools allows students to focus more on understanding health impacts rather than spending time on manual calculations.

1. Angela Kennedy
FRIT 8132

2. o Grade level: College freshman and sophomore students
o Average classroom size: 15-25 students
o Subject: Wellness, a course that provides information
about the benefits of an active lifestyle, good nutrition,
stress management, and techniques for assessing health,
fitness, and implementing safe and effective personal
programs

4. Demographics
o 2-year public liberal arts college in a mid-size city in Georgia
o 67% African American and 33% Caucasian
o 65% female and 35% male
o 25% of student population are military members, military
spouses, military dependents and veterans.
o This is an entry-level course with students having diverse
skillsets. Many students are concurrently enrolled in LSS math,
reading, and English courses.

6.  Students are required to calculate BMI, waist-to-hip ratio, daily
recommended caloric intake, track physical activity, target
heart rate ranges, and track activity and food consumption
during this course.
 Some students, especially those who have poor math or
reading comprehension skills struggled with these tasks and in
some cases, would not attempt them.
 Before incorporating web and mobile applications into the
design of this course, students were required to calculate
these values as shown on the following slides.

8.  Students once used charts like this to determine their BMI.
 Errors were common both in identifying and transcribing the correct value.

9.  The waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) is computed by measuring the waist at the navel
and the hips at their fullest point. The waist circumference is then divided by
the hip measurement to determine the WHR.
 The ratio is compared to a chart like the one below to determine disease risk as
a consequence of having a high WHR.
Male Female WHR Disease Risk Factor
0.95 or below 0.80 or below Low Risk
0.96 to 1.0 0.81 to 0.85 Moderate Risk
1.0+ .85+ High Risk

10.  As shown, the process for determining one’s target
heart rate ranges takes several calculations, and even
one miscalculation skews all subsequent ones.
1. Estimate your own maximal heart rate (MHR) by subtracting age from 220
2. Estimate resting heart rate (RHR) by taking pulse for 15 seconds and multiplying by 4
3. Heart Rate Reserve (HRR) = MHR - RH
4. Training Intensity (TI) = HRR x % TI + RHR. Determine 40%, 50%, 65%, and 80%
5. Cardiorespiratory training zone (CTZ). The recommended training zone is between 60%
and 85% TI's. Older adults, inactive individuals, and those in the poor or fair
cardiorespiratory fitness categories should follow a 40% to 50% TI during the first few weeks
of the exercise program. Determine personal CTZ’s as follows:
• Low-Intensity CTZ = 40%-50% TI
• Moderate-Intensity CTZ = 50%-60% TI
• Vigorous-Intensity CTZ = 60%-85% TI

11.  As shown, the process for determining one’s daily caloric requirements is
involved and requires a number of calculations. It poses a challenge for many
students.
A. Current Body Weight:
B. Typical daily caloric requirement without exercise to maintain body weight. See Table 6.1
C. Selected physical activity (e.g. jogging-note if you choose more than one physical activity you need to
estimate the average daily calories burned as a result of each exercise by performing steps C-J and adding
them all to L.)
D. Number of exercises sessions per week:
E. Duration of exercises session in minutes
F. Total weekly exercise time in minutes (D x E)
G. Average daily exercise time in minutes (F/7)
H. Caloric expenditure per pound per minute (cal/lb/min) of physical activity. See table 6.2
I. Total calories burned per minute of exercise (A x H)
J. Average daily calories burned as a result of the exercise program (G x I)
K. Total daily caloric requirement with exercise to maintain body weight (B + J)
L. Number of calories to subtract from daily requirement to achieve a negative caloric balance (current
body wt x 5)
M. Target caloric intake to lose weight (K - L)- note total caloric intake should never be less than 1200 for
women & 1500 for men

12.  By providing basic information such as gender, height, age, weight,
pants size, weight goal, and current physical activity level, the free BMI
Calculator generates all of the information discussed over the previous
4 slides and provides explicit, personalized information about each,
along with a personal summary as shown in the below screen prints.

13.  Students avoid common calculation errors, which skew the results.
 Students engage in “what if” scenarios, where they can see how a 10
pound weight loss or an increase in pants size might impact their
health.
 Because they are not spending so much time trying to understand the
calculations and double-checking their numbers for accuracy, students
concentrate on and better understand the impacts of these values to
their health, which really should be the focus of their studies in this
course.
 Due to the accessibility and simplicity of the tool, students report they
enjoy using this tool and plan to do so after the course ends.

15.  Pedometers are required for this course, so students can track
their daily physical activity levels, which include counting steps
walked.
 A moderately priced pedometer costs around $40. These
typically track steps, distance, calories, may have a daily auto
reset, and generally, a 7-day or less memory.
 Due to cost, some students will not purchase a pedometer,
meaning they’ve lost one of the most important opportunities to
analyze their current physical activity patterns.
 Another issue with traditional pedometers is students often
forget to wear them.

16.  Android-based
 measures steps, miles, calories burned, and time walked
 results can be shared on Facebook
 data can be extracted into cvs files
 daily, weekly, and monthly charts can be generated to view progress

17.  iPhone-based
 measures steps, miles, calories burned, time walked, and uses GPS to display routes with
markers
 tracks body composition progress
 results can be shared on Facebook, Twitter, or via email
 daily, weekly, monthly, and 90 day charts can be generated to view progress

18.  Students are comfortable with this technology, so those who may feel
uncomfortable setting up a traditional pedometer do not have similar issues
with downloading an app.
 The mobile apps offer more features than moderately priced traditional
pedometers.
 Students avoid common transcription errors, which skew the results.
 More students complete the assignment because the apps are convenient and
there is no additional piece of equipment to be purchased or forgotten.
 Due to the accessibility and simplicity of the tool, students report they enjoy
using this tool and plan to do so after the course ends.
 The apps are free, so there is no additional expenditure for monitoring daily
physical activity.

20.  Students record all foods and beverages consumed along with daily calories,
carbohydrate, protein, and fat values.
 This once required using calorie counters found in the text, looking at food labels, and
possibly other online counters to find the nutritional values and record them into a table
like the one displayed here.
 Databases were seldom updated, and the text is often limited, so values recorded were
often incomplete or inaccurate.
 As shown, the process for transcribing and calculating these values lends itself to
transcription errors.
Food Servings Calories Carbs Proteins Fats
Total Daily Values:

21.  This free app is a calorie counter and food tracker. The user only has to enter
the food or beverage and amount consumed.
 Daily calorie goals and number of calories eaten can be viewed at a glance.
 Daily and weekly summaries can be produced and shared on Facebook.
 2,000,000+ food database is available and updated frequently.
 Body weight and measurements can be entered and tracked.

22.  Students avoid common calculation errors, which skew the results.
 Students engage in “what if” scenarios, where they can see the impact of making one
food choice over another because they always have the app available anywhere they go.
 Since students have the app available everywhere they go, they can immediately record
food and beverages consumed rather than having to remember to do so later. This leads
to greater adherence and more accurate tracking.
 Because they are not spending so much time trying to understand the calculations and
double-checking their numbers for accuracy, students concentrate on and better
understand the impacts of these values to their health, which really should be the focus
of their studies in this course.
 Due to the accessibility and simplicity of the tool, students report they enjoy using this
tool and plan to do so after the course ends.

24.  Access to the computer lab for practice using the web
applications is intermittently an issue.
 Students who bring laptops to class may need to update
browsers, Java, etc. in order to use the applications.
 Occasionally, a student will not have a smart phone.
However, purchasing a traditional pedometer is always an
option for these students. Other diet trackers that are web-
based are also presented to the students.

25.  More students who might not have otherwise completed these tasks are
engaged when using these applications.
 Using these apps allow students to spend more time analyzing the results of
their logs, rather than having to first learn how to calculate these values and
then take additional time to double check the accuracy.
 Because of the automated calculations, the instructor can concentrate on
offering suggestions for improvement, rather than double checking work for
incorrect calculations that can completely skew the results.
 Students enjoy using the applications and gain a greater appreciation for their
utility not only in the classroom but long-term.

26.  Accupedo’s screen prints retrieved from
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.corusen.accupedo.te&feature=more_
from_developer#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEwMiwiY29tLmNvcnVzZW4uYWNjdXBlZG8ud
GUiXQ
 Body Mass Index Table retrieved from
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines/obesity/bmi_tbl.pdf
 Free Pedometer’s screen prints retrieved from
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pedometer-free/id362306160?mt=8
 Hoeger, W. and Hoeger, S. (2012). Fitness and wellness (10th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw
Hill.
 My Fitness Pal’s screen prints retrieved from
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.myfitnesspal.android
 Royalty-free images and clip art used were retrieved from www.iclipart.com
 WebMD’s BMI Plus Calculator screen prints retrieved from
http://www.webmd.com/diet/calc-bmi-plus