Start Counting your Calories
Posted by Virginia H. | Posted in General tips | Posted on 21-03-2010-05-2008
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This is the basis of any diet or weight loss methods, you need to know how many calories you consume on average per day. From now on you should start counting your daily calories (you can use electronic calorie counters or just put it down on paper). Usually you can find the amount of calories of a product on its label (look for kcal). I also suggest USDA National Nutrient Database to find information about calories, vitamins, minerals, fatty acids, carbohydrates, protein, and fiber in different products.
Now all this information in this and previous posts should be enough for you to determine your body index and set a goal of calories to cut per day. For fast but still safe results it is recommended to cut 15-30% of your daily amount of calories (depends on your lifestyle, sex and BMI).
Warning: Keep in mind this general rule of thumb: women should not go below 1200 calories and men should not go below 1800 calories a day. Your body burns up most of its daily calories just by keeping your body alive — even while you’re asleep! It needs fuel (calories) to do this.
Interesting Fact: A calorie is the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1 degree Celsius. The calories in food are actually kilocalories or 1000 calories. When we say that a carbohydrate like sugar has 4 calories per gram, we really mean that it has 4 kilocalories per gram. This means that one gram of sugar has enough energy to raise the temperature of 1000 grams of water by 4 degrees Celsius. The calories in food provide a measure of the energy content of the food.
