Development of new tools to assess energy balance in practice

Abstract

The assessment of energy balance is time consuming and expensive. Predictive equations and tools are useful to estimate total energy expenditure (TEE) and energy intake (EI). We developed a wheel to estimate TEE using cascaded circular slide rules. Resting energy expenditure (REE) was predicted using the recommended Mifflin‐St Jeor equation (MSJE), where the variables of height (55‐85 inches/140‐220 cm); weight (90‐500 lb/45‐230 kg), age (15‐100 years), and gender were integrated on the moveable layers by logarithmic scales. The resulting REE on the final layer was multiplied by Physical Activity factors of 1.2 (sedentary), 1.4 (low active to moderate), and 1.6 (very active) to complete the estimation of TEE. We also developed a wheel to estimate the difference in EI using the weight gained or lost (lbs) by time (days/weeks/months/years), in which the resulting ±kcal/day is identified on the logarithmically scaled wheel based on the generalized formula of ~3500 kcal/lb. Both wheels have been applied in practice by dietitians and the proof of concept study demonstrated that they are user friendly and often preferred to calculators and computer programs. Research supported by NIH Grant # R01 HL34589.