What is a calorie?
A calorie is a unit of energy. Calories refer to the energy people get from the food or drink they consume. They are essential for humans health. Calories are listed on the nutritional information of all foods.
Everyone requires different energy each day depending on their sex, age, height and activity levels. The number of calories in food tells us how much potential energy they contain. The tree main macronutrients are carbohydrates, protein and fat. In 1g of carbs there are 4kcals, in 1g of protein there are 4 kcals and in 1gram of fat there are 9 kcals.
How do I know what my calories are?
If you’re looking to lose weight, you will need to be in a calorie deficit. This means that you consume less calories than you burn.
If you would like to increase your weight you need to be in a calorie surplus. This means that you eat more calories than what you burn.
If you would like to remain the same weight you need to eat maintenance calories. This means that you eat the same amount as what you burn.
How do I calculate my calories?
If you’re looking to find out what calories you should be eating or drinking each day, you can use one of the calorie calculators online or I would recommend getting into contact with Bluezone fitness as they can calculate your calories based on you as an individual.
How do I track my calories?
You can track your calories by using the pen and paper method. You can write down what you eat and drink in a diary and write down the calories beside them. You can then add the calories up.
You can use smart phone apps such as My Fitness Pal and Lose it.
My fitness pal is a smart phone app and website that you can use to track your food and drinks. You can scan the barcode of food and drinks or you can manually enter them. This will give you the nutrients of each product. You will need a weighing scales to measure your food and drink.