Survey

Prevent & Possibly Reverse

Lose Weight Now!

Diets & Meals

Miscellaneous

[?] Subscribe To This Site

Cut down on the calories,
not on food and nutrition!

Calories is synonymously used with kilocalories or kcal in food nutrition.

When you eat an extra 3,500 kcal (say, over a number of days), you gain one pound of body fat. To lose one pound of body fat, you need to burn 3,500 kcal.

Nutrition experts say that an average person should eat about 2,000 kcal per day. This depends on your height, weight, and lifestyle. You might as well know your body mass index (BMI). When using this baseline to lose weight, you must eat 1,500 kcal per day.

Remember that you must eat at least 1,200 kcal per day to ensure you have energy for fundamental body functions and typical daily activities. Lower than this quantity can lead to disorientation, dizziness, or fainting.

Remember the simple rule to safely lose weight:

nutrition-packed calories IN must be less than calories OUT

The basic guide in losing weight is for you to eat 500 kcal less per day than your resting metabolic rate. Do this until you reach your healthy weight and body fat percentage.

Your resting metabolic rate is the rate at which you burn energy when you are at rest.

What's a calorie anyway?

It is the amount of energy that you get from digested food like carbohydrates (including fiber), dietary fats, proteins, and alcohol. You do not get it from water, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, caffeine, spices, and natural flavors. But the micronutrients are very important to help you lose weight and for your overall health throughout your life.

It is also a measure of energy expenditure. One calorie is the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of one kilogram of water by one degree Celsius.

How much calories (kcal) do you burn?

If you weigh about 130 pounds:

Activity	Duration	Kcal
Rake leaves	50 minutes	210
Play tennis	55 minutes	380
Dance aerobics	1 hour 5 minutes	430
Wash your car	1 hour 15 minutes	220
Walk	1 hour 20 minutes	305
Lift weights	1 hour 30 minutes	257
Vaccuum the floor	1 hour 30 minutes	290
Clean house	2 hours 35 minutes	525

If you weigh about 160 pounds:

Activity	Duration	Kcal
Gardening	35 minutes	165
Golf	1 hour	350
Walk	1 hour 10 minutes	400
Water aerobics	1 hour 15 minutes	360
Walk your dog	1 hour 20 minutes	400
Biking	1 hour 25 minutes	500

If you weigh about 190 pounds:

Activity	Duration	Kcal
Walking your dog	1 hour	30
Water aerobics	1 hour	345
Stretching, hatha yoga	1 hour	345
Backstroke or slow freestyle swimming laps	1 hour	690
Freestyle swimming (fast, vigorous)	1 hour	863
Stationary Biking	1 hour	900

Your fuel sources

Alcohol provides higher energy content compared to other sources. But these are empty calories as you do not get any vitamins and minerals from them. Too much alcohol intake also damages important body parts like liver, brain, and heart. When taken in, alcohol is the first fuel to burn. Your body will not burn body fats then. Alcohol also increases your appetite. Besides, alcohol is not good for your liver. You really lose in your weight loss and health improvement journey when you drink alcohol.

Carbohydrates are, typically, your primary energy source. Proteins are the secondary source. Remember that proteins should be 30% of your energy intake. Body fats are the third source. Your body taps these sources when you need energy.

Calorie distribution

Here is a healthy meal combination.

Proteins - 30% giving 4 kcal per gram

Healthy carbohydrates - 40% to 50% giving 4 kcal per gram

Healthy fats - 20% to 30% giving 9 kcal per grams

Other calorie distributions recommend higher carbohydrate consumption. This may lead to excess weight and fats for many people.

Remember that fruits and vegetables can be your sources of carbohydrates and fats.

To lose weight, you need to cut down on calories preferably 500 kcal less than your resting metabolic rate. And it is best to increase the quality of food especially by increasing consumption of nutritious food and food supplements.

When you reach your ideal weight, stick to a healthy diet, regularly exercise, and have a healthy lifestyle for the rest of your life.

Return from Calories to Diet and Nutrition.