Bite Counter Concept

Balancing Energy Expenditure and Intake

	exercise	diet	healthy weight
Measuring Tools	Clock (minutes) Odometer (distance) Tachometer (RPMs) Pedometer Activity monitor	Food diary 24 hour recall Food frequency questionnaire Bite counter	Scale Bioelectrical impedance analyzer

Put simply, the energy balance equation is energy expenditure - energy intake = weight loss/gain. There are several tools that can help measure how much you exercise, and how much weight you have gained or lost, but virtually no tools that can automatically measure how much you eat.

Tools: Measuring Energy Expenditure

Tachometers and clocks measure pace and time	They provide rough estimates of distance, veloctiy, and calories burned	Commonly used in exercise equipment

Tools: Pedometer

A pedometer is worn on the waist	Measures steps, e.g. during exercise	Can be worn all day, used anywhere

Manual Methods: Measuring Energy Intake

Counting calories	Calorie or food diary	Pre-packaged foods and serving sizes

None of these are easy to use consistently over long periods of time.

Our concept: Bite Counter

Worn like a watch	Automatically tracks how many bites of food have been taken	Can provide custom-set alarm to tell user when to stop eating, and can store time-stamped log of meal data for long-term analysis

The bite counter is a tool, not a diet. It can be used with any diet or exercise plan, helping provide more accurate measurements about how much the user actually eats. The key with any plan is to stick to it day after day, week after week. While many tools exist to help us measure exercise done each day, and to measure weight each day, there is a need for new tools to help us measure how much we eat each day.

Advantages of a Bite Counter

Objective: No guessing, or thinking back over a day to total consumption	Automated: You can be doing other things (talking with friends, working, watching TV, etc.); the device does all the counting	Real-time feedback: The device can give you cues to stop eating before you have consumed more than you intended