Calorie counting is a traditional way to diet and lose weight. The idea that eating more will lead to weight gain and eating less will lead to weight loss is an easily understood and fairly intuitive concept. With modern food labeling and the availability of nutritional information online, determining how many calories you are consuming and how many you will need to effectively diet is an easy process.
Calorie Definition
A calorie is defined in scientific terms as the energy required to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1 degree Celsius. With regard to food, a calorie is actually 1,000 scientific calories. So the energy used to burn one calorie of food actually could heat 1,000 grams of water by 1 degree Celsius.
Caloric Needs
Everyone needs a certain number of calories each day to power their daily activities. This number is different for different people and is based on your body weight, height and activity level. The amount of calories you need to function if you do no activity is called your basal metabolic rate, BMR.
For women the BMR is equal to 655 + (4.35 x your weight in pounds) + (4.7 x your height in inches) - (4.7 x your age in years).
For men, the BMR is equal to 66 + (6.23 x your weight in pounds) + (12.7 x your height in inches) - (6.8 x your age in years).
Your BMR can then be multiplied by a factor of 1.2 if you are sedentary or in increments dependent on activity level up to 1.9 for a very active person to determine your daily energy expenditure. This calculation is called the Harris Benedict equation.
Calorie Counting Theory
The basic theory behind calorie counting is that you should take fewer calories into your body than you are expending through daily activity or exercise. For every 3,500 extra calories burned or eaten beyond what is needed for your BMR, approximately 1 pound of body weight is lost or gained.
Determining Calorie Intake
Nutrition labels provide calorie information on all prepackaged foods. Most restaurants will provide nutrition information if asked and some will even list calorie counts on the menu, especially if it promotes dishes designed for dieters. On nutrition labels, calories are generally listed per serving, so be careful to check how many servings are in a container. Junk foods especially often contain many servings, so the calories listed on the label should be multiplied by four, five or more if you eat the entire package worth. Overall calorie intake can be tracked using a food diary or an online calorie counter to determine how much you have eaten in a given day or week.
Alternative Diet Theories
Some diet plans claim that calorie counting is too simplistic. These kinds of diets prefer to look at fat content of food, how combinations of food work or the effects different types of foods have on insulin and blood sugar levels. These diet plans may work for some people, but they usually also have the effect of lowering overall calorie intake, even if that isn't what the creators of the diet intended.
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