Breaking Down Cronometer's Energy Summary
This month we’re talking to you about energy and as such we felt it was important to highlight the first Diary Header within the app – The Energy Summary.
If you’ve seen these numbers before and wondered what they are all about we have the answers!
Energy Consumed
Calories (kcal) or kilojoules (kJ) Consumed is the total energy in the foods you logged in your diary for the selected day.
Macronutrients are broken down as percentages of total energy and appear as the three different colours on the wheel surrounding the number.
Blue signifies carbs, green for protein and fats are coded red. If you click on this circle you’ll get more detailed numbers; these include the number of calories that came from each macronutrient and the percentage of calories.
You can also access your Daily Report from here which lists all the nutrients in detail.
Energy Burned
Calories (kcal) or kilojoules (kJ) Burned is the total energy you burned for the day.
At the beginning of the day, this will include your Basal Metabolic Rate and Activity Level. Throughout the day, your energy burned will go up as you log Exercises and foods in your diary (through the thermic effect of food) if you’ve included these in your energy settings.
The purple portion of the ring signifies your BMR, we add this value first thing in the morning even though you haven’t technically burned it yet so you know your caloric “budget” for the day – like knowing how much money you have in your bank account to spend.
The orange portion represents Exercise you’ve manually added or Imported Activity from your wearable.
Teal is Activity Level – you chose this when you created your account. It’s not pictured here because an Apple Watch is synced and we recommend choosing Activity Level set to “None” when you’re importing exercise.
Energy Balance/Budget
Here, you can see the balance/budget between your Calories or kJ Consumed and Burned, in relation to your weight goal if you have set one.
Energy Balance = Burned – Consumed +/- Weight Goal.
Your weight goal can be changed in your Energy Settings.
It can be a lot to take in, but this piece is crucial for those looking to gain, maintain or lose weight.
