What You Don’t Know About Calories…

Each of us encountered with this sumptuous word “calories”, its popularity circle is very trailblazing from celebrities to common man that we obsessively do food journaling, follow the different fad diets, taking supplements for weight loss, juggling overtime in gyms, abstaining ourselves from food and much more different stratagems.

Now you will mutter, what’s wrong in this way of Healthy Lifestyle? Nothing wrong but not wholly fair too because our calories talks just dwells within weight loss and weight gain but its apprehension is more transcending because it is equally important for everyone.

Understand, calories are only relatable to “unit of measurement” specifically- a unit of energy, that’s it. It doesn’t measure our weight or length of the body but actually reveal, how much energy our body gets from taking any specific food. The more a calorie a food has, the more energy we get from it and if we take more calories than our requirements, then our body stores that bonus calories as a humble “body fat” and then from here our journey begins to get enrolled in the “starvation world” of humdrum rich diets.

This will definitely work initially but lately when we lose hearts on diets and wind up our hunger, this journey get plunged from where it made the first move.We should thank to “Lulu Hunt Peters” who widely popularised the concept of counting calories as, a method of weight loss – which is an appreciable move but our partial knowledge of gashing the calories without taking food is not a substantial way to loose weight.

So let me present the anecdote of Calories which might unfetter us from unilateral outlook of it, so that we make better choices, when it comes to our Health.

Say yes to know calories…

Now we can elucidate what calories are, so it is coequally of the essence to know that we all need Calories to live. It’s not only predominant to some specific class of approach- weight loss or weight gain but to maintain an optimum health we need this energy. Your need of calories depends on your age, gender, weight, height, activity level and your preference of scaling up or scaling down.

The average requirement of a person can be more or less than 2000 calories of energy in a day.

More specifically, the Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA’s) for Indians is laid down by Indian Council of Medical Research, which generally are the estimates of nutrients to be consumed daily to ensure the requirements of all individual in a given population. Our RDA’s gets change with age and activity like:

Sedentary or Light active lifestyle – Those people who doesn’t demand much physical support like- if you don’t do any exercise, having a more sitting job etc, need 2320 Kcal (males) and 1900 Kcal (females).

Active or Moderately active Lifestyle : Those people who involved in more energy expenditure than sedentary one like- engaged in any activity which use muscles of hand and feet fast and continuously, needs 2730 Kcal (males) and 2230 Kcal (females).

Vigorous active Lifestyle: Those people who engage regularly in strenuous work for several hours, need 3490 Kcal (males) and 2850 Kcal (females)

How to estimate right calories?

Many times in order to loose weight we restrict ourself from taking those minimum number of calories that are required for body to process life sustaining functions like- breathing, circulation, nutrient processing, cell production etc, can lead to many health problems.

Calorie restriction can lower down our metabolism, cause fatigue, nutritional deficiencies, reduce fertility in both men and women’s, weaken our bones, lower down the immunity etc.

Calories needs varies from person to person as discussed above but few thing we have to keep in mind while estimating our calories:

1. Know your Bio mass index (BMI) which is a value derived from the persons weight and height, which is a convenient approach to categorise an individual as : underweight, overweight, obese.

2. Know your Basal metabolic rate (BMR) which is an estimate of minimum no. of calories our body required for basic functions at rest. Never consume fewer calories than this.

3. Know your Total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) which is an estimate of your physical activity level which help you to estimate the specific calories for you to intake.

Note: one can find many online calculators for estimating it or manually go through equations.

4. Determine your criteria:

a) To loose weight : Take fewer calories than your body need.

b) To gain weight : Take more calories than your body needs.

c) To maintain weight : consume same number that you burn.

Calories are not calories!

Many times we see that 2 persons of same weight and height have different effects of calories. For instance both of them might be burning more and eating less but one person gains the weight and other doesn’t, the rationale behind this maelstrom is – metabolic rates and hormones, which vary from person to person and if now also you accord the whole kudos of weight management to your specified calories then the sentiments of other colleague gets forlorn i.e :

• Thermic effect of food : In simple words, certain foods which boost your metabolism plays a key role in weight management. The higher is our metabolism, the more calories we burn. It represents 10% of the calorie intake of Healthy adults eating a standard mixed diets like: protein rich foods, foods rich in iron, zinc, selenium (helps in proper functioning of thyroid hormone), chilli peppers, apple cider vinegar etc.

Protein rich food can increase our TEF by 20 – 30%. Researches say that, protein rich diets helps to keep us full for longer, which can prevent overeating and thus manages the weight.

• The Satiety index : It simply means that some food gives us a greater feeling of fullness and thus reduces the calorie intake for the next few hours, which again helps in managing weight, like: boiled potatoes, eggs, Beans, whole fruits, fish, oatmeal etc.

The Satiety index is a measure of the ability of food to reduce hunger increasing the feelings we get of fullness.

• The Glycemic index : It simply tells, how a food affects our sugar levels. Low glycemic foods reduces the rate at which the glucose enters our system, thus making food to absorb slowly and keeps us fuller, like: whole grain foods, fibre rich foods, nuts, seeds etc.

Calories and Weight management..

Food is an integral part of our lives, we cannot live without food. Our body needs certain substances called nutrients which are essential for proper functioning and maintaining a healthy nutritional status, then why we don’t use this principle in weight loss approach and keep on starving ourselves by dieting.

Being fit is 70% of your diet and 30% of exercise.

Understand there is no rocket science for loosing weight, but loosing healthy weight without compromising your health is a non-discriminatory approach. So, the simple sway for weight loss is reduction of calories from total estimated account. This can be brought into play by the following ways:

• Calorie deficit, by taking 500 less calories/d from your estimated account.
• Combine calorie reduction (500 kcal/d) with exercise.
• If you don’t have time to burn 500 Kcal/d then use combination of calorie deficit and exercise.

For eg: a person is overweight for healthier weight loss firstly, we calculate his/her BMI followed by BMR and TDEE as described above which gives you the actual estimated calories. Let say it is 2000, now for weight loss, we go for calorie deficit approach by subtracting 500 calories from their diet in a day which leads to 3500 calories in week. This 3500 calories deficit looses 1 pound which is approximate to 0.4536 kg( 454 grams).

Note: This is just an idea of understanding the Calorie deficit, it can can be fixed according to individual preferences, their health history, age, etc. But please keep in mind that, a healthy weight loss is – to loose 1 pounds/week, plus it depends on persons metabolism also, so the staying power is the mantra to see results and it’s always best to consult professionals before starting any specific diets.

Calories Diet tips:

• Eat balanced diet : A normal person diet should be comprised of 50% carbohydrates rich foods( whole grains, fibre rich foods), 25% fats rich diet ( healthy fats ), 25% proteins. Include whole fruits, green vegetables, seasonal vegetables, nuts etc. Understand eating less is not the solution but eating right is the best path. This range can be fixed according to a goal but make sure to have everything in a balanced way, don’t go for particular group of food .
• Avoid high calories food : sugary sodas, fast foods, refined processed foods, canned juices, bakery items, packaged chips, sugary cereals etc are are empty calorie rich food which are rich in sodium and preservatives.
• Be physical active: It can be anything- gardening, sports, cycling, yoga etc. Generally a normal individual should workout for 150 minutes/ week. But don’t over exhaust your body more than the requirement otherwise it will lead to poor immunity, physical burnout, hormonal dysfunction etc
• Give a try to combination of workouts : like : cardio with strength training.I mean bring variations it helps a lot to attain a healthy lifestyle.
• Eat varieties : Eating varieties of food provides a range of different nutrients to body and promotes good health. Eat seasonal, local and give preferences to cultural traditions of food.
• Practice mindful eating: Always see quality and quantity of your food. Instead of grabbing a large meal in one go, try to eat 5-6 small frequent meals.

The End of the story..

The entire belief to draft these details is to clue up that calories are not only relatable to weight loss but it’s a complete depository of attaining a healthy life if we hand-pick the virtuous foods over deficient ones and jogs our memory before admiring any strict diets.

We should realise it’s adverse aftermath and better follow a right balanced path which can vouchsafe the long lasting results.