Have Your Cake and Eat It Too

Let’s talk about calories. People talk about calories all the time, but you’d be surprised how many people are unable to explain exactly what a calorie is. Most people that are dieting are unable to tell you what a calorie is and/or how many calories they are consuming in a day. Not keeping track of calories just might be preventing someone from getting leaner.

A food calorie is the amount of heat required to raise 1 kilogram of water to 1 degree Celsius. It is a measure of heat energy. Calories are used to describe the amount of energy in food as well as the amount of energy stored in your body as fat (adipose) and carbohydrates (glycogen). The average person trying to lose weight should understand how to balance their energy input with their output. This will result in burning fat and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

A person will lose weight if they are burning more calories than they are consuming. The reverse is also true; a person will gain weight if they are consuming more calories than they are eating. There are two corollaries to these statements. The first one is that if a person eats too much of anything, including healthy foods, it will be be stored as body fat. Some people believe that eating copious amounts of protein will result in muscle gain. Even excess protein calories can be turned into fat, therefore there is no such thing as a diet where you can eat all you want and lose weight by eating one particular food or food group.

The second corollary is that if a person eats fewer calories than they burn each day, including junk food, they won’t store it as body fat. A person may be able to get away with eating a low--calorie junk food diet without gaining weight, however this should not be taken as a free pass to eat whatever you want. To live a healthy lifestyle, a person should make good decisions and eat quality, nutritious foods. You can have your cake and eat it, too- just don’t eat the whole thing!