Calorie is a unit of energy, used to measure the increase in temperature of 1 gram of water by 1 degree Celsius.(Read WHAT IS CALORIE)

Factors responsible for our calorie needs

Our body requires energy (calorie) to do any work.  A healthy adult man needs 2020 to 3010 kcal and a healthy woman needs 1875 to 1925 kcal. It depends upon many factors such as-

Sex– An adult man requires 6 to 12%more calorie to burn muscle mass than that of a woman. But during pregnancy and nursing stage woman needs more calories than normal.

Metabolism-Calorie needs to maintain our vital body function (breathing, heart beating).A 140 pound woman needs 1400 calories and a 170 pound man requires 1870 calories.

Age– New born babies (0 to 3months) take breast milk which is providing him or her 125 kcal. Growing children require more calorie than that of adult man and woman.

Physical activities and their average calorie needs

Sex	Activity level	Calorie required
Male	Sedentary (computer use, watching TV)	2397
	Moderate (Farm workers, commercial fisherman)	2798
	Heavy (agricultural workers, laborers)	3825
Female	Sedentary	1910
	Moderate	2115
	Heavy	3010

How calorie works

Every food except water contains calorie. These foods give us energy to our body required for a breathing heart to pump, to digest food etc. This is called Basal metabolic rate. Different persons have different   basal metabolic rate, so they require different amount of energy.

How much Calorie do we need?

To survive (to breath, move, and pump blood) needs energy. This energy comes from different foods. When we consume carbohydrate (rice etc), protein (chicken etc), fat (oil etc) rich foods it is broken down and convert to calorie

• 1gram of carbohydrate – 4 kcal calorie
• 1 gram of fat- 9 kcal calorie
• 1 gram of protein – 4 kcal calorie

Example

Chicken contain s 172 kcal calorie, 9 gram fat, 0 gram carbohydrate, 21 gram protein. Of these 172 kcal (9*9) =81 come from fat,(0*4)=0 come from carbohydrate,  (21*4) =84 come from protein

Calorie distribution

Calorie should come from 60 to 65% carbohydrate, 20 to 30% protein, and 10 to 20% fat.

Points to be kept in mind

We can say that fatty foods have more calorie than that of lean food. But consumption of lean food adequately without having any fatty foods does not provide sufficient energy for survive. In conclusion, a proper balance is required to sustain a healthy diet.