When we consume less calorie than our body requirements to survive and to burn energy then we lose our weight. On the other hand if we have more calorie than our body needs, the excess calorie is deposited in adipose tissue as fat and makes us obese. So if we know about a calorie content of any food and how to count it, we can avoid low calorie and high calorie food to maintain our body weight.
Contents
Introduction
We can do three things with our body weight.
- Lose weight
- Gain weight
- Maintain weight
To do these three things we should count our calorie that we consumed. We can achieve all these three things by controlling our weight.
What is weight control?
Weight control means – lose weight, gain weight, and maintain weight which we can do by having a balance diet.
Calorie in and calorie out
Everything that we consume contains calorie. Candy, bread, rice, chicken, vegetable, pizza, pasta etc. all contain calorie. When we consume these, we are also taking some calorie. This is calorie in. When we burn our calorie by doing running or walking, then it is referred to as calorie out.
Table
To gain body weight
| Total calorie intake /day | Total calorie burn /day | Extra Calorie (Not burned) |
| 3000 kcal (calorie in) | 2500kcal (calorie out) | 500 kcal |
To lose weight
| Total calorie intake /day | Total calorie burn /day | Extra Calorie (Burned) |
| 2000 kcal (calorie in) | 2500kcal (calorie out) | 500 kcal |
To maintain body weight
| Total calorie intake /day | Total calorie burn /day | Extra Calorie(Not burned) |
| 2500 kcal (calorie in) | 2500kcal (calorie out) | 0 kcal |
Examples how to count calories
270 of dried whole wheat spaghetti- 100 gram contain 350 kcal calorie, so 270 gram contain (350/100*280 = 980 kcal calorie)
Two cans of 450 gram chopped tomatoes contains 98*2(one can tomato contains 98 kcal) =196 kcal calorie.
200gram of lean beef mince – 100 gram contains 171 kcal, 200 gram contains (171/100*200 =167.58 kcal energy).
One onion contains 82 kcal calories.
One table spoon olive oil contains 120 kcal calories
So, total calorie of this above mentioned meal is= (980 +196 + 167.58 +82 +102) = 1527.58 kcal calorie.
Important things of calorie count
Calorie gives us energy for survive. Nowadays people do not understand the value of daily calorie intake. They do not know that to have all functions properly we need energy and we get energy by consuming a balanced diet. Due to our fast paced lives and as people do not know how to count calorie, they do not want to give time to have a proper diet. They have either junk food or they have not any food. By doing this they either become obese or they are become too lean. So for good health we have to consume a balanced diet additionally we have to know that how to count calorie value, so that we get our required