For many people, losing weight is a serious burden and an ongoing battle.But a basic understanding of calories, what they are and how they will impact on your success in losing weight is vital.
Anyone who has ever remotely thought about their weight has heard the term “calories.” Calories are essential to the body, and are important to losing weight. Everyone knows that eating too many calories translates into gaining weight. But how do we go about losing weight if we do not understand what these small measurements are?
A calorie is a measurement of energy, just like an inch is a measurement of length. It refers to much more than food, and can be applied in an array of areas. More specifically, a calorie is the amount of energy it takes to raise the temperature of one gram of water by one degree Celsius.
As living beings, we require energy to survive. Our metabolism, the processes of breaking down or creating substances in the body, is driven by them. Without calories, we could not eat, sleep, work, or even exercise enough to lose weight. Generally, one gram of carbohydrates in food will release one four calories of energy. This tip is important, because knowing how many carbohydrates there are in your food means knowing the calorie count as well. This information can be found on the nutrition labels of every food item.
So what does it mean to “burn” calories? As mentioned earlier, the body’s metabolic processes break down and build up chemical compounds. When a person says “burn” calories, it means break them down. When calories are not being burned, they are being stored. This is bad, because if the rate of storage is higher than the rate of consumption, the body will produce fat to store the extra energy. Finding a balance is key to weigh-loss. When everything is in balance, the body first breaks down carbohydrates in food, then moves on to calories stored in fat.
Your weight is directly determined by how quickly you consume calories versus how quickly you break them down. An important thing to note is that the number of fat cells never changes. As your rate of exercise slows, more calories are stored in existing fat cells.
However, when that energy is used, the fat cells simply shrink. No amount of exercising or eating will change the number of fat cells you have. What can change, is the amount of fat your body stores. Be sure to eat a good, balanced diet, as the minerals and compounds you consume are essential to a healthy metabolism.
In conclusion you should not eat excessively, and you should exercise regularly.