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The Low Down On Calories |
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| Understanding the Basic Calorie |
If you have ever been on a diet, you know the drill. Watch your carbs, eat all carbs, don’t eat red meat, only eat meat, eat more fruits and veggies, only eat certain fruits - the list of dietary recommendations from weight loss “gurus” goes on and on, but most doctors have another idea in mind when it comes to weight loss. Essentially, according to the medical community, it all comes down to calories. You have to burn more calories than you eat every day if you want to lose weight, and you have to have a good balance between intake and outtake if you want to maintain your weight. Now, of course there are other reasons to choose healthy foods to heap on your plate, but the simple fact is, if you want to lose weight, stop worrying so much about what you eat and start counting the calories in the food you do choose to put in your mouth.
What exactly is a calorie? The word gets bandied around a lot, but many people don’t actually have a good handle on what it is. A calorie is simply a measure of energy. One calorie is equal to the energy needed to cause the temperature in one gram of water to increase by one single degree Celsius. The calories you see listed on the back of food packages are actually not strictly “calories” in the scientific sense. Instead, according to science, these calories are actually kilocalories, or kcals. Each kcal is made up of 1,000 calories. However, for practical purposes, the food industry uses the term “calorie” for the kcal count in their food.
The calories in your food essentially list the energy load they will bring to your body. To think of it another way, if the calories in your food were not powering your body, they could be powering something else. For instance, the calories in one piece of cheesecake with cherry topping have enough energy to burn a 60-watt light bulb for over an hour. When you put those calories into your body, they run your body’s “engine.” They are used up during the metabolic process and help you produce enzymes you need to spur on other body functions.
If you end up taking in more energy, or calories, than you need, you will end up gaining weight. The extra energy from the calories is stored in fat in your body; this is your body’s way of making sure it has an extra supply of energy on hand if you need it. Although the amount differs based on weight, height, and activity levels, among other factors, a general rule of thumb is that taking in 3,500 calories more than you need is equal to gaining one pound of fat. As you repeat that process, you accumulate more fat.
That number is the only one that really matters when you are trying to lose weight. Purely from a weight loss perspective, your body doesn’t care if you get all of your calories from chocolate cake, nachos, pizza, or carrots. As long as you eat fewer calories than you burn, you will lose weight. However, there are good reasons to keep the source of your calories in mind. First is staying satiated while you diet - you can eat a whole lot more carrots than you can chocolate cake for the same amount of calories. Next is your overall health. Unhealthy eating takes a toll on all of your body systems, not just your waistline. Maintaining a healthy weight is not the only component is maintaining your overall health - getting your calories from good sources is the key to staying trim AND healthy.
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