The Truth About Calories. What is a calorie? A calorie is considered in scientific terms one unit of energy. This energy is used to walk, talk, breath, sleep, stretch or run. All activities burn calories. The human body exerts its energy by using calories it receives from food. Thus when we speak of calories we associate the term with dieting and weight loss.
In general terms, foods contain calories. We may see them described in other terms such as a carbohydrate, a fat and a protein. These terms are measured in units called grams. So the basic building block of each gram is a defined number of calories.
1 gram of carbohydrates contain four (4) calories h
1 gram of protein contains four (4) calories
1 gram of fat contains nine (9) calories
While you eat, food is broken down inside of your stomach and metabolized into your blood stream. It is either used and burned up efficiently through activity or stored in our cells and fat cells are created. A total of 3,500 stored calories equal one (1) pound of body fat. Tus, in order to lose that one-pound of fat, we have to burn up 3,500 calories per exercise to remove it. It sounds a little easier than it looks on paper.
Your body will need to a certain amount of calories in order to maintain itself properly. The act of breathing, walking, running, sleeping and talking all burn a certain amount of calories. This rate is called the Basal Metabolism Rate or (BMR) as it is known. It is calculated differently for both men and women. When your body is at rest it does not burn as many calories as when it is exercising
Physical activities such as jogging, walking, and skiing also help burn calories. The more physical exercise you get, the more calories you will burn. Thus you are keeping your body in shape by eating right and working off the excess calories through exercise. Thus, exercise in general helps to keep your metabolism rate higher and continues to burn fat long after the exercising is done. It will also help your body burn excess fat efficiently at rest.
If you are looking to start losing some of those extra pounds, remember each pound is 3,500 calories that you must burn in order to lose one pound of fat. You will want to first consult a physician as with starting any new diet or exercise program.
Maintaining an ideal body weight has everything to do with balance. If we consume more calories than our body can burn, excess food will be stored as fat. In fact, even normal weight people store a great deal of energy that they could draw on in a famine situation. For example, a lean, 155-pound man carries about 35 pounds of fat on his body, which holds about 150,000 calories (kcal) of stored energy or enough to keep him alive during starvation for a couple of months. Most of the people live in a body that is composed of more than 50 percent fat. This means, for example, that a 250-pound person who is 50 percent fat carries 125 pounds or 437,500 calories (kcal) of energy on their body as stored fat. This much fat has the potential to provide all of their energy needs for almost one year!
