Developing and maintaining a healthy weight can benefit your health in a number of ways. If you are overweight, losing some of your excess pounds can decrease your risk of developing type 2 diabetes, arthritis, heart disease and other health conditions. Regulating your caloric intake is an important part of controlling your weight, as the food you eat can have a direct effect on your weight.
Net Calories
The way in which your caloric intake affects your weight is by affecting the net calories your body gets each day. Your net calories number is the number of calories which you consume minus the number of calories you burn. To maintain your current weight, the number of calories you consume should be roughly equal to the number of calories you burn. If you consume more or fewer calories than you burn each day, you will gain or lose weight, respectively.
Calculating Caloric Intake
To calculate the number of calories you consume each day, you will need to keep track of what you eat, as well as the amount of each food you consume. You will need to track how many servings you consume of each food item based on the serving size found on the nutrition facts label. Then you will need to multiply the number of servings by the number of calories in each serving, which will also be on the nutrition facts label. To simplify this process, using an online food journal -- such as the MyPlate application at LIVESTRONG.COM -- will allow you to count the calories of each food item without having to look up all the individual nutrition information.
Calorie Reduction
There are many different ways to reduce your caloric intake if you are looking to lose weight. One step you can take is reduce your portion size. By simply limiting how much food you eat, you can cut back on calories without having to eliminate your favorite foods from your diet. You may also benefit from adding more fruits and vegetables to your diet, as fruits and vegetables are generally low in calories and will help fill you up, leaving less room for higher calorie foods.
Empty Calories
Empty calories are those that provide little nutritional value. For example, candy and drinks sweetened with sugar can provide lots of empty calories, because the sugar they contain can add calories without adding to its vitamin, mineral or protein content. Very fatty foods, including fried foods, can also add needless calories to the diet; while a certain amount of fat is needed in a balanced diet, fatty foods are very dense in calories, which means that a small amount of them can add many calories to your diet, promoting weight gain.
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