Welcome to Zonecalc

May 28, 2010 by Mike · Leave a Comment
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Who the heck are you and why should I care what you have to say?

I actually went to school for this stuff! – I have a BS in Exercise Science (yes its a real major).  The BS is appropriate because when I went to school there was a huge disparity between the knowledge of the professors and the practical application of that knowledge to the fitness, athletic, and public health world.  Yet, with all of that uncertainty professors taught dogma as fact to a generation of future fitness professionals.  Although I received a CSCS certificate from the NSCA I did not pursue a career in the field and let my certification run out ($150/year plus sanctioned classes…pass).   I have kept an eye on the latest and greatest trends in the nutrition, health and fitness world.  One thing that comes to mind every time there is a new ‘breakthrough’ is  immortal line:

“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE / Hamlet Act 1. Scene V abt. 1601

I take out “philosophy” and substitute Nutrition, Exercise Science, Biology, etc… depending on what degree or certificate the expert wants to attach at the end of his or her name.  This is a very interesting time where a lot of research is finally confirming things that athletes, coaches, people and parents have all instinctively known.  There is also plenty of money and interest floating around that makes it worthwhile for some very good authors to explore this world.

The one recurrent theme is that the more we find out the less we knew, I won’t over-rant here but I think the above quote really hits the nail on the head.  Keep your BS detector tuned and you won’t be trying to survive on 7 grapefruits a day.

I am a legendary cheapskate-  Not the type that will drive 5 extra miles to save 2 cents per gallon, but the type that refuses to waste anything of value (including food), plans routes to maximize right hand turns (thank you Fedex), and likes to save money by doing everything I am capable of myself.

I am also a foodie- Not a fancy pants Zagat’s foodie, but a  get in tune with your food supply do it yourself foodie.

I set this site up for anyone trying to save some money and watch what they are eating.  The instructions for the Barculator are on the next page over.  I also have a super recipe for 40/30/30 bars on another page although downloading the Barculator is the way to go when it comes to changing ingredients and fine-tuning your recipies.

To download the Barculator itself just enter your email and you will be sent the download link.  Send anyone you want to the download page, just do it quickly as I may pull the calculator and your friends will be harassing you to use your PC!

Once downloaded you will not have to come back to the site to use it, it will be on your local PC.

It is a very small program and doesn’t use up much computing power, in fact, if you can read this your computer has the power to run the program.

Ideas and suggestions are appreciated.  If you come up with any astounding recipes send them to me and I will post them here for all to see thereby ensuring your immortality.  Or you can hang out in the forum area to discuss amongst yourselves if you don’t feel prime-time ready.  By the way, don’t be an ass in the forums.

Barculator Instructions

June 8, 2010 by Mike · Leave a Comment
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The Name – Why so weird?  I had a friend overseas complete the flash programming for this based off of a spreadsheet I sent him.  I meant to write Bar Calculator, instead I wrote barculator.  After saying and thinking it a few times, I’ve grown to enjoy the raw 80’s vibe just saying the name brings to my senses.  Enough crazy, onto the instructions.

The Feedback-  As you can see the BC is a beta program.  It is also free.  What I need is feedback from users telling me what features they would like to see in the next version.

The Instructions

Open the Barculator

Name your creation by clicking the ‘input recipe name area’ I am making a ‘Fictional Sandwich’as an example.

Click on ‘New Ingredient’ to add your first ingredient to the program.  An Ingredient Icon will appear in the ingredient area.

Click on the Ingredient Icon to enter detailed information about your ingredient, Ingredient Icon will grow and blur the remainder of the program.  Ingredients are added from left to right.

Name your ingredient then copy label information directly from one ingredient packaging into the ‘per serving’ column of the IDB, add any notes you have.  Ignore the right ‘calories’ column as it is a calculated value.

When satisfied click ‘OK’ the IDB will shrink back to size and the entered information will be added to the program, recalculated , with the results displayed in the main window.

Repeat this process for each ingredient in your recipe.  The main page will update for each new addition.

When you have finished adding ingredients it is time to tune in your number of servings.  Since this calculator was developed to make energy bars the serving box is named ‘Number of Bars’.  Simply adjust the number of  bars until the Per Serving or Per Bar profile fits your liking.

Since it is, in fact, fictional, I will share my ‘Fictional Sandwich’.   I will slice it in half and share it with my really lovely wife.  It is very simple, we will each enjoy a 355 calorie sandwich with 30.5 grams of protein, 20 grams of carb, and 17 grams of fat.

This feature is much more useful if making a batch of something like cookies or bars.  But this example will suffice since dividing things by two is easier than dividing them by 39.  Quick note, if you are shooting for a specific calorie or nutrient count you will have to do some guess work and actually tune the number in.

When you are happy you can print your recipe by going to File>Print.  The ingredient details themselves do not print, so you may want to write what they were and how many servings of each you used right on the ingredient list itself after it has printed.  You can also use ‘print screen’ and plop it into a Word document with any notes you may have.  Like I said earlier I am working on updates to this program hopefully in the next revision this will be fixed.

The Revisions – I am working on some revisions for the future.  Sign up with your email address and I will let you know when it is revised.

The Original 40/30/30 Recipe-I initially set it up to make nutrition bars that fell within the 40-30-30 guidelines of the zone diet and its assorted imitators. My initial attempts were anything but spectacular both from a mathematical standpoint and a culinary one. Over time I refined my methods and recipes and now I make all sorts of great tasting and nutritious snacks although my 40/30/30 bars still remain my favorites.

You will be amazed at how much money you will save not buying the retail junk that can come from anywhere. The peace of mind you will gain in having control over what gets put in the body of you, your clients, and your loved ones is difficult to put a price on.

Go to the download page to get both the Barculator and the Original 40/30/30 recipe