Have you ever been on a diet? Then, you probably know about calories and the necessity to reduce them in order to lose weight and be healthy.
What are calories and how many should you eat in order to lose weight?
Calories are the units of energy you get from foods and beverages, and when you consume fewer calories than you burn, you achieve a calorie deficit. The calories include the following components:
- Resting energy expenditure (REE). REE refers to the calories your body uses at rest for functions that keep you alive, such as breathing and blood circulation.
- Thermic effect of food. This involves the calories your body expends digesting, absorbing, and metabolizing food.
- Activity energy expenditure. This refers to the calories you expend during sports like exercise and non-exercise related activities, including fidgeting and performing household chores.
How can you eat less?
The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans from the Department of Health and Human Services recommend that adults do 150–300 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise, or 75–150 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise, weekly.
But we know that often diet is more important than exercising when it comes to losing weight. It may be easier to eat 500 fewer calories each day than to burn this number of calories through exercise.
Calories can be limited by avoiding drinks with a lot of sugar and highly processed food. In fact, one study showed that people who were allowed to eat as much or as little as they wanted ate 500 more calories per day on a diet containing highly processed foods, compared with a diet containing minimally proceeded ones.
You can avoid this kind of food by preparing your own meals. Eating home-cooked meals is also associated with better diet quality, an increased intake of fruits and vegetables, lower body fat levels, and reduced risks of heart disease and diabetes
A calorie deficit occurs when you consume fewer calories than your body expends.
A calorie deficit of 500 calories per day is effective for healthy and sustainable weight loss.
Stay away from too much processed food this holidays and enjoy grandma’s food. It seems to be a lot healthier for your weight.
