What Are Calories And How Do I Use Them To Lose, Gain, Or Maintain A Healthy Weight?

You have heard it everywhere, how many calories does that food contain?   A food calorie is the most important factor when it comes to dieting. No matter what diet plan you use, you need to understand how calories work if you want to lose weight effectively.

The history of the word Calorie goes back as far as 1824, when Professor Nicolas Clément first introduced this term as kilogram-calorie.   A calorie is a unit of energy or heat. One calorie is equal to 4,184 joules. Scientifically speaking, a calorie is the amount of heat needed to increase the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1 degree Celsius. In food, a Calorie is the amount of available digested food energy that will raise the temperature of one kilogram of water 1 °C.

Fats, carbohydrates, organic acid, proteins and alcohol contain calories. The amount of calories a meal has depends on the grams level of these nutrients. Other foods that don’t have any calories are water, mineral, vitamins, antioxidants, caffeine. 

Using Calories To Lose Weight

1 pound (lbs) equals to 3,500 calories. This means that you will have to burn 3,500 calories every time you want to lose one pound. How many calories should you burn and how fast? Health doctors and professional nutritionists recommend that you burn about 1 to 2 pounds per week for a healthy outcome. You can burn about 500 calories a day, combining with either exercises or diet to achieve your desired weight goal. For example, if you want to lose 20 pounds, it takes 10 to 20 weeks for you to accomplish your goal. The heavier you are, the more calories you will burn faster.

The recommended amount of daily calories required by a person depends on several different factors, such as gender, height, current weight, age and the level of activity.

Want to find out what is your ideal weight?  Use the calculator below to find out what your daily calorie intake is and if your current weight is healthy, you’re overweight or underweight.