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How to count calories and why you need it at all

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by Irina Mikailova - Jan 31, 2017

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At the beginning of the last century, a woman doctor from America suggested calculating the nutritional properties of foods in calories. Thus, she made a real breakthrough in nutrition and, to some extent, made life easier for those who are losing weight. Many of them began to calculate the calorie content of dishes, wishing to quickly lose weight.

Why count calories

As everyone already knows, while eating, a person stores energy, which is then processed or stored for future use if there is no need for it immediately. Each product eaten by a person has its own energy capacity or calorie content. All foods are broken down into proteins, carbohydrates and fats during breakdown. Carbohydrates and proteins have a caloric content of 4 kcal per gram, while for fats this number is 9 kcal. It is clear that the fatter the product, the more calories it contains. Therefore, be careful about eating fatty foods.

For each person, energy consumption is strictly individual. It depends on a number of factors:

The number of years.
Floor.
Weight.
Height.
Feature of the human body.
Lifestyle.

If you consume more calories than is necessary for your body, then the unprocessed energy will be stored in the form of fat stores. If there are not enough calories, then the body turns on an economical mode of existence - a person begins to experience malaise, weakness, dizziness and other symptoms. An average woman needs about 2,000 calories a day, and a man needs 2,500.

Calorie counting is essential to meet your daily energy intake. In addition, additional factors are involved. So a person begins to monitor what he eats, and is more attentive to food intake in general. His knowledge of familiar products is growing. He tries to control the size of the usual portions. As a result, a person is more attentive to his health, analyzes his menu and adheres to the diet.

How to count calories

If you decide to count calories, first estimate the amount of calories you need for your vital activity. The Harris-Benedict formula is most often used to calculate this figure:

Men: BOO = 66 + (13.7 x weight) + (5 x height) - (6.8 x age)
Women: BOO = 655 + (9.6 x weight) + (1.8 x height) - (4.7 x age)

In this case, growth must be taken into account in centimeters, age - in years, and weight in kilograms.

Here is an example: for a woman 39 years old, with a height of 164 cm and weight 58 kg BOO = 655 + (9.6 x 58) + (1.8 x 164) - (4.7 x 39) = 1274.5

Then you need to make an adjustment for activity:

With low activity and low mobility * 1.2
Rare physical activity * 1.375
Frequent loads * 1.55
Sports training every day * 1.725
Professional sports * 1.9.

Considering that our woman leads a sedentary life, we multiply the result by 1.2 and get 1529.4 kcal. This is the result for maintaining a normal weight. If you need a little lose weight, then the number of calories must be reduced, and then returned to the same volume.

But how do you calculate the number of calories in a finished dish? Everything is much more complicated here. To obtain realistic figures, it is necessary to weigh each food separately and take into account its energy consumption before preparing the dish. In addition, there are other nuances that must be taken into account:

When cooking a product with oil, take into account its calorie content.
Unflavored drinks have a caloric value of 0.
It will be easier for you to count calories with fewer foods.
Be sure to read the labels, the calorie content is always indicated there. This will make your life much easier.
Be sure to record every bite you eat. This will help you understand nutrition and organize everything for yourself.

How to count calories to lose weight

Everyone understands that at first, having to count calories all the time after any bite is tiring. But soon it will become a habit. At home, every housewife prefers to cook a standard set of dishes. You only need to calculate the energy consumption of the dish once and write it down, and then you will only take into account the portion size.

If you are suspicious of such a system, then for the sake of interest, spend one day and write down everything you eat. You will learn a lot of interesting things about yourself, besides, you will understand which dishes are clearly superfluous and which you can painlessly refuse.

How to count food calories

When preparing a separate product, there is no need to calculate its calorie content, you just need to take into account the weight of the portion. The same can be said for grocery stores. Their energy content is already indicated on the packaging. But if you are preparing a dish from several components, then the calorie content will have to be calculated.

To calculate, you will need a scale, food calorie tables and a calculator. So, first, weigh all the products separately and write down their calorie content, taking into account the weight, because in the tables the calorie content is indicated at 100 g. Then calculate the total calorie content of the products. After preparing the dish, weigh it and calculate the calorie content per 100 g.

For example, you are making a soup with vegetables and meat. We weigh each product and look at its calorie content in the table. Moreover, if our product weighs more than 100 g, we correct this figure. Next, add up all the values. Let's say we have a product weight of 1100 g and a total calorie content of 1198 kcal. After cooking, the weight of the finished dish became 1050 g (a certain amount of water).
Now you need to use the following formula: