Calorie is a measurement of energy. In other words, ‘unit of energy’. When we eat food, the amount of energy contained in them will be used by our body to conduct various body functions. This energy is called ‘food energy’ and can be measured in calories.
Our body needs energy to function properly. The source of energy for us is the food we eat. What happens when we consume lot of high energy food and the amount of calorie intake is more than our body can burn, the extra energy is converted to fat and stored in the body for later use. What will happen if we keep consuming more and more calories than our body could burn? They will be stored mostly as fat and our body weight and size will increase over time.
If you consider the opposite of the above, that is when your total energy intake is less than the total amount of energy burned, the body fat is converted to energy in order to fill the gap. As a result, your body fat reduces and you lose in weight and size. It should be now clear to you, how the calories (or energy) in the food we eat can directly effect our body weight.
What is a calorie controlled diet?
It has been discovered that an average healthy male will burn about 2500 calories every day and a female will burn about 2000 calories in conducting normal body functions. This can vary depending on certain factors like age, activity level and body weight.
A more active individual will burn more calories and a less active person will burn less calories. As an example, if you are a person doing sports, you will be burning more calories compared to the average person.
The first step of counting calories is to determine roughly how many calories you burn every day (also referred to as ‘maintenance level’). By estimating the daily calorie requirement and by controlling the amount of calories you gain from you diet, it is possible to either lose or gain body weight. Therefor, a calorie controlled diet can help you lose weight or gain weight naturally without any negative side effects.
Most of the articles published on this website can help you understand this better. Also, we have published a lot of “how many calories in xxx” type posts, and these can help you specially in planing your diet.
Internet is a god place to get your self educated on weight loss related topics. Keep in mind to always consult a qualified individual for professional advice before you try anything any website may suggest, including ours.
Note that in a calorie controlled diet plan, no food item is really ‘prohibited’. You are free to eat almost anything as long as you can ‘balance’ to total amount of calories in your meals.