What are the calories: the truth about calorie balance

The amount of energy from a food or a drink is measured in calories. When you eat and drink more calories than you burn, the body stored in excess as body fat. If it continues, over time you will collect kilograms.

A medium stature man needs about 2,500kcal (10.500kj) per day to maintain a healthy body weight.

A medium stature woman, this figure is around 2,400kj) per day. These values ​​may vary according to age, physical activity, but also to health.

Calories and energy balance

Your body needs energy to keep you alive and that your organs work normally.

When you eat and drink, put energy in our body. Your body consumes that energy through daily movement, which includes everything from breathing to running.

To maintain a stable weight, the energy you introduce in your body must be the same as the energy you use through normal body functions and physical activity.

An important part of a healthy diet is the balance of energy that you ingest through food with the energy you use. For example, the more physical activity you do, the more energy use.

If you consume many calories in one day, don’t worry. Try to only take less calories in the next few days.

Check the calories from food

Knowing the caloric content in food and drinks can help you be careful not to consume too much. The calorie content of many foods purchased in the shop is mentioned on the package as part of the nutritional label.

This information will appear in the «Energy» section. The content of calories It is often administered in Kcal, which is abbreviated for chiocalories and also in KJ, for Kilojoule.

A kilocaloric is another word for what is commonly called caloric, therefore 1,000 calories will be written as 1,000 kicali. The kilo are the metric measure of calories. To find the energy content in Kilojouule, multiply the caloric figure by 4.2.

The label will usually tell you how many calories are contained in 100 grams or 100 milliliters of food or drinks, so you can compare the calorie content of different products.

Many labels will also indicate the number of calories from a part of the food. You can use the caloric information to evaluate how a certain food falls in the daily hiring of calories.

Calories burned

The amount of calories that people use by making a certain variety of physical activity, depending on a series of factors, including stature and age. More intense physical activity do, more calories use. For example, the fast walk will burn more calories than walking at a moderate rhythm.

Food and nutrition

It is not necessary to count the calories all the time, but at the beginning it can help you determine how many calories there are food And the drinks that consume regularly. On the internet you will find many applications that will help you do it. Look at how many calories a day you need to maintain your current weight based on age, sex, up to height, weight and level of physical activity. To find out how many calories you ingest, write the foods that you consume and the drinks you drink every day. Check the nutritional label for the size of the portion and the number of calories and consider the size of the portion. A food diary will help you become more aware of what consumes. You also start noticing physical activity every day and the duration you do.