The first thing that you need to know is that 1 pound of body weight is equal to
3500 calories. If you gain a pound that means that you consumed 3500 calories
more than you burned. If you lose a pound that means that you have burned 3500
calories more than you consumed. That figure does not change whether the
alories are consumed from fat or carbohydrates or whether they were burned by
riding a bicycle, swimming or just veging out in front of the TV. A calorie is a calorie
is a calorie. This is important information in your quest for weight loss and weight
control so make note of it.
1 pound of body weight gained or lost = 3500 calories.
The trick to losing weight is to eat fewer calories AND burn more calories each
day. That is the basis that all ‘diets’ (there is that four letter word again) are based
upon no matter whether you are counting calories, fat grams or carbohydrates.
Even though you may believe that most of the calories that your body burns in a
day are from the exercise that you do, you are not right. Only about 30% of the
calories you burn each day are from exercise. However, the exercise that you do
can influence at what rate you burn calories when you are not exercising. Exercise
or the lack of exercise affects your metabolic rate....that is, the rate at which your
body burns calories when it is at rest. About 60% of the calories that you burn each
day are burned when you are not engaging in physical exercise.
The body burns calories to fuel the thousands of chemical reactions required to
maintain body temperature, repair cells and keep your heart, lungs, liver and
kidneys functioning.
So, you ask, where do the other 10% of the calories get burned up? 30% during
exercise, 60 % the rest of the time....what about the other 10%? Those are the
ones that the body uses to actually digest the food you eat that supplies all of the
calories needed for everything else.
There is more. All calories are not created equally. Our bodies simply do not
process all calories consumed in exactly the same way.
Calories that are consumed in the form of Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs), for
example, contain about 9 calories per gram but our bodies don’t use those calories
as an energy source. These calories are used to rebuild cells and tissues,
particularly after an injury. If consumed at very high levels they increase metabolic 6
rate and increase fat burn off, resulting in loss of weight. (This is the basic theory of
the Dr. Atkins Diet). Consumption of high levels of EFAs has been linked to heart
disease but that is an on-going debate in the scientific community.
More calories are absorbed from refined foods because it takes so much longer for
them to pass through our systems. Natural and unrefined food (an apple for
example) usually takes between 12 and 15 hours to pass through our digestive
systems. Refined foods can take up to 75 hours to pass through our digestive
systems and our systems continue to extract calories from them for the whole 75
hours.
Our bodies require vitamins and minerals to properly digest food therefore empty
calorie foods....those that contain no vitamins or minerals.....are stored as fat while
our bodies wait for the needed vitamins and minerals to properly process them.
Each human being is unique. All human bodies do not process not use calories in
the exact same way. You know at least one of those people who can eat like the
proverbial horse and never gain a pound....they make my eyes turn green with
envy. Then we all know those people (we may be them) who can just think about
eating a donut and gain a couple of pounds. It hardly seems fair but that is just the
way it is.
We each have to learn what and how much we can eat in order to lose those
unwanted pounds. We can use the available charts to help guide our choices but
when it comes right down to it, each of us will have to determine what and how
much of it is the right thing for ourselves.
3500 calories. If you gain a pound that means that you consumed 3500 calories
more than you burned. If you lose a pound that means that you have burned 3500
calories more than you consumed. That figure does not change whether the
alories are consumed from fat or carbohydrates or whether they were burned by
riding a bicycle, swimming or just veging out in front of the TV. A calorie is a calorie
is a calorie. This is important information in your quest for weight loss and weight
control so make note of it.
1 pound of body weight gained or lost = 3500 calories.
The trick to losing weight is to eat fewer calories AND burn more calories each
day. That is the basis that all ‘diets’ (there is that four letter word again) are based
upon no matter whether you are counting calories, fat grams or carbohydrates.
Even though you may believe that most of the calories that your body burns in a
day are from the exercise that you do, you are not right. Only about 30% of the
calories you burn each day are from exercise. However, the exercise that you do
can influence at what rate you burn calories when you are not exercising. Exercise
or the lack of exercise affects your metabolic rate....that is, the rate at which your
body burns calories when it is at rest. About 60% of the calories that you burn each
day are burned when you are not engaging in physical exercise.
The body burns calories to fuel the thousands of chemical reactions required to
maintain body temperature, repair cells and keep your heart, lungs, liver and
kidneys functioning.
So, you ask, where do the other 10% of the calories get burned up? 30% during
exercise, 60 % the rest of the time....what about the other 10%? Those are the
ones that the body uses to actually digest the food you eat that supplies all of the
calories needed for everything else.
There is more. All calories are not created equally. Our bodies simply do not
process all calories consumed in exactly the same way.
Calories that are consumed in the form of Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs), for
example, contain about 9 calories per gram but our bodies don’t use those calories
as an energy source. These calories are used to rebuild cells and tissues,
particularly after an injury. If consumed at very high levels they increase metabolic 6
rate and increase fat burn off, resulting in loss of weight. (This is the basic theory of
the Dr. Atkins Diet). Consumption of high levels of EFAs has been linked to heart
disease but that is an on-going debate in the scientific community.
More calories are absorbed from refined foods because it takes so much longer for
them to pass through our systems. Natural and unrefined food (an apple for
example) usually takes between 12 and 15 hours to pass through our digestive
systems. Refined foods can take up to 75 hours to pass through our digestive
systems and our systems continue to extract calories from them for the whole 75
hours.
Our bodies require vitamins and minerals to properly digest food therefore empty
calorie foods....those that contain no vitamins or minerals.....are stored as fat while
our bodies wait for the needed vitamins and minerals to properly process them.
Each human being is unique. All human bodies do not process not use calories in
the exact same way. You know at least one of those people who can eat like the
proverbial horse and never gain a pound....they make my eyes turn green with
envy. Then we all know those people (we may be them) who can just think about
eating a donut and gain a couple of pounds. It hardly seems fair but that is just the
way it is.
We each have to learn what and how much we can eat in order to lose those
unwanted pounds. We can use the available charts to help guide our choices but
when it comes right down to it, each of us will have to determine what and how
much of it is the right thing for ourselves.
By: brown Michael
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