Weight Loss - What is a Calorie?

 

 

Weight Loss - What is a Calorie?

By Liz Canham

 

People on a diet always talk about counting calories but what is a calorie? It's true to say that more calories taken in than used up equals putting on weight. However, a calorie isn't a foodstuff that you eat so that if you eat less of it you lose weight.

A calorie is actually a measurement of energy. Scientifically, a calorie is used to determine the amount of energy produced by a unit. In diet, a calorie is used to measure the amount of energy produced by food. A food calorie is 1000 times a normal calorie, referred to as a kilocalorie.

So, in terms of diet calories equal energy not quantities of food or weight. Now we know what a calorie is, we need to understand how it affects weight gain and loss, in other words what the body does with calorific energy.

After food is eaten, it is digested. So far, so obvious, but what happens next? The digestive system breaks food down which in turn generates energy which can be used by the body to make muscles work, repair cells as well as lots of other biological functions.

If the body doesn't use all the energy produced by food, it stores some of the excess ready for later use when needed. The storage chambers are called chemical bonds which bond, in this instance, between molecules in fat cells.

Normally, the total amount of energy needed by the body is provided by glucose in the blood stream. If there is insufficient glucose, the liver produces some more but that is followed by the use of the energy stored in those chemical bonds or fat cells, thus reducing body fat.

Simply put, a long term shortage of energy encourages the body to use stored fat. Less fat stored equals a lower fat ratio to body weight.

Many people think that dieting equals losing weight, but that isn't really enough for long term benefit. Firstly, actual weight as shown by the bathroom scales isn't really relevant unless height and muscle density is accounted for. Muscle actually weighs more than fat, so muscle increase can lead to weight gain. The important thing is the quantity and location of stored fat.

Dieters often struggle to move the fat to body weight ratio and the reason is simple. 3,500 calories need to be burnt before one pound of weight can be lost and burning that many calories without eating a similar amount is not easy.

A weight loss program needs to be a long term commitment to reducing the number of calories ingested sufficiently for the body to start burning the stored fat. However, the benefits are immense in terms of increased energy, a better body shape and improved health.