Stuff You Should Know About Calories!

By Mandy Gibbons

Fun and mind blowing facts about calories. Yep, I'm not going to bore you to tears with the whole concept of calories instead I want to show the difference that calories can make in your eating plan...

Info on Calories :

• 1 kg of excess body fat = 7600 calories
• Fat is higher in calories than carbohydrates
• Energy Values Per Gram
  1 gram of Carbohydrates = 4 calories
  1 gram of Protein = 4 calories
  1 gram of Fat - 9 calories
  1 gram of Alcohol = 7 calories
• If once per fortnight you didn't have those 3 slices
  of your favorite pan fried pizza you would deduct
  over 23000 calories from your eating program in one year.
• If you changed from 2 cups of full fat milk per day
  to 2 cups of skim milk per day you would reduce
  your calorie intake by over 57000 calories!
  

Becoming obsessed with calories

It's easy to understand when you see the above figures why people tend to obsess over their calorie intake. Whether you are young, older, in your teens it doesn't matter it is still just as easy to caught up in the round 'a' bout of making radical decisions when it comes to losing weight and body fat.

Common occurences, symptoms and stupid things to do when going over the top with calorie controlled diets.

Unless there is some medical reason, that has been advised by your doctor, aim for at least 1500 calories per day when using a calorie controlled diet and participating in a regular exercise program. The larger your body frame and training needs the more calories your body requires.

Check out the following Calorie Counter and Calculator. Here, you'll find out how many calories your body "burns" (used or expended) for more than 70 different exercises/activities.

Choose low fat calories to fill you up and lose body fat!

Don't let yourself get to the point where you are nearly crawling on the floor with hunger, headaches and feeling lethargic. If you are constantly feeling like this you need to "up" your calorie intake.

Just because you are losing weight it doesn't mean you are healthy. Keep your eating program balanced. If you
think your nutritional needs are lacking take a good quality daily allowance vitamin and minerals supplement - I am sure your doctor could recommend one for you.

And don't get confused with assuming that because your stomach and body is reducing in size it means you are going to automatically increase muscle tone. To prevent yourself from losing too much muscle make sure you're including sufficient protein in your eating plan and aim for 8 hours sleep per night. If you're not including a resistance workout in your health and fitness plan then you should get onto it asap! You should be exercising regularly using both resistance and cardio programs.

If you decide to throw in the towel and that you can't follow your program don't rush out and gorge yourself with ridiculous amounts of crappy food. Change your diet to a more adaptable eating program that you can stick to long term. (That doesn't mean eating junk every second day either). Include a cheat meal here n there or an occassional snack so that you're not feeling like you're depriving yourself.

If you have lost weight fairly dramatically you will probably find that you will put it back on again just as fast when you have completed a strict calorie controlled eating program. So slowly introduce new foods back into your diet and keep up with your exercise so that your body can gradually adapt to the increased calories you're consuming.

WHAT EVER YOU DO ...... DON'T think that because you have a basic requirement of 1200 calories for the day you can eat a large bag of potato crisps and nothing else. Don't laugh... I've seen plenty of people do this and they've been shocked when I've told them just how much they're causing themselves to get further away from their goals by doing this.

Keep this in mind! In place of a 1 large packet of potato crisps you could have a small bowl of cereal with skim milk, a lean meat and salad sandwich, grilled fish and veggies plus a low fat snack. WOW!That's pretty much a whole days worth of meals (calorie-wise) in a big bag of chips.

Just one more thing...

If you really want to be successful in losing weight and keeping if off, then concentrate more on reducing your
bad fat and sugar intake. Consume brown carbs instead of white. Use food products that are lower in fat and sugar. Remove the fat and skin off meat and chicken etc. Grill your meat sources. To include good fats in your diet consume foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids such as Salmon, walnuts and hazelnuts. Keep nuts in your refrigerator so they don't oxidize. If you're not into eating seafood then use flaxseed oil (around 1 tablespoon per day).