You are what you eat. This old saying even applies to the modern junk food diet enjoyed by many Americans today. About one-third of adults in the United States are obese, according to the "Journal of the American Medical Association." Obesity,...
The term "calorie" is used to measure the amount of energy stored in food, according to Medline Plus, the medical encyclopedia from the National Institutes of Health. Different types of food have different amounts of calories, and the number of...
Your body needs calories to provide energy and to assure proper function throughout the day. Consuming too few calories will slow your metabolism and send signals to your body to conserve calories instead of burning them, according to the American...
Your age affects your calorie needs, as does the amount and intensity of exercise you get on a regular basis. Other factors include your weight goals and your body composition.
Although your weight may seem random and arbitrary at times, it's based on cold, hard facts. Every time you consume food, you are consuming calories. If the calories you have consumed are not burned off throughout the day with physical activity,...
Caloric need formulas estimate how many calories you need to maintain your basic bodily functions given your gender, age, height and weight. Once you know how many calories you need to maintain your current weight, you can design a diet plan...
Calories measure the amount of energy present in your food. Your body uses 60 to 70 percent of your total calorie intake in normal metabolic processes such as blood circulation, breathing and cell repair. The excess calories, not burned off by...
Though most people want to lose weight, many of these people do not adequately prepare for weight loss. One way you can help enhance your chance of success is by calculating the number of calories you'll need to cut in order to lose your desired...
The number of calories you burn each day is an essential part of a sensible weight-loss plan. Your daily calorie expenditure rate depends primarily on your weight, height, age and activity level. This calculation assumes you have an average body...
A calorie is a unit of measurement that represents the amount of energy produced during normal metabolism. All food and beverages contain calories, although how many varies considerably. Unfortunately, many people exceed the number of calories...
Your teen years are a time of physical changes. Eating the right amount of calories during this period of physical growth and maturation will help you maintain a healthy weight, provide you with energy and give your body the nutrients it needs to...
The number of calories needed by an adult per day depends on the gender, body size, muscle mass, health status and hormones, as well as individual variation in metabolism, according to L.K. Mahan and Sylvia Escott-Stump in "Krause's Food,...
Calories are the basic unit of energy, used by the body like fuel to complete a variety of tasks. From simple operations like breathing, to more complex activities like running and jumping, your body is constantly burning calories. The recommended...
The body needs the energy it derives from the calories in the food you eat in order to function optimally. Too few calories can result in poor functioning; too many calories result in weight gain. There are several variables involved in...
You probably know that you shouldn't consume any more calories than you burn, or you'll gain weight. But determining exactly how many calories you need each day can represent a perplexing problem. Different people burn different amounts of...
A calorie is a measure of the heat required to raise the temperature of water 1 degree Celsius. As it pertains to food intake, calories can simply be thought of as a measure of the energy a particular food provides to the body. Several factors...
"Empty" calories are those food calories that provide energy but little nutrition, according to Merriam-Webster dictionary. Sugar is an example an empty calorie food, because it provides a lot of calories but is void of vitamins and minerals. The...
Cycling calories is a weight loss method that calls for consuming a different number of calories each day. The theory is that your body and metabolism acclimate to a steady caloric intake, sending you into plateaus much more easily; if you cycle...
Your body needs a certain number of calories a day for optimum performance. Calories are a source of energy, but calorie requirements may differ from one person to the next. Important factors come into play when determining how many calories you...
The Bob Evans restaurants' breakfast menu lists several specialty sweet breads, among them blueberry bread. If you have a slice with your morning meal, you add a significant number of calories to your day's diet.
One of the healthiest ways to lose weight, according to the National Institutes of Health, or NIH, is to exercise every day and control your calorie intake. If you're already eating a healthy number of calories every day, which ranges anywhere...
Burning fat requires that you monitor and regulate the number of calories that you consume and the amount of calories that you burn each day. Make adjustments to your nutritional and physical activity habits to cause your body to break down and...
You can burn a relatively significant amount of body fat in three months by participating in an aggressive exercise program and making adjustments to your eating and drinking habits. You will burn fat and lower your body fat percentage by...
Weight loss occurs when your body burns more calories through daily activity than you consume through the foods you eat. Daily activity does not specifically mean exercise. Daily activity includes normal body function, such as digestion, and...
Many people are frustrated when they take steps to lose weight but do not see any results from their efforts. If you are not losing weight despite your best attempt to cut calories and walk, you should set a target daily calorie goal, track your...
Actress and talk show host Ricki Lake first became famous for playing Tracy Turnblad, an overweight teenager in the 1988 film "Hairspray." The role made Lake's career, but it also made her weight part of her public persona. At one point, Lake, who...
Your success in losing weight on 2,000 calories is dependent on your ratio of carbohydrates and protein relative to the total number of calories you eat. Weight loss is also dependent on the amount of physical activity you do. According to the...
The amount of weight you lose on a weight-loss plan varies based on your level of commitment, current weight and the specifications of the weight-loss plan. A safe weight-loss plan helps you lose weight at a rate of 1 to 2 lbs. each week, unless...
For many sports, especially those in which contact is a major competing factor, weight gain isn't a recommendation, it's a necessity. As a teen, playing sports alone isn't going to help you put on weight; if anything, it's going to cause you to...
Pregnant women have diet requirements for two, and many foods are great for healthy expecting moms. Try these tips for buying food for expectant mothers in this healthy shopping video.
