Counting calories: Get back to weight-loss basics

Counting calories: Get back to weight-loss basics

Weight control condition actually boils down to one thing — calories. See what steps you can take to win the calorie battle .By Mayo Clinic Staff
Despite all the diet strategies out there, weight management still comes down to the calories you take in versus those you burn off.

Fad diets may promise you that avoiding carbs or eating a batch of grapefruit is the clandestine to slant loss, but it truly comes down to eating fewer calories than your body is using if you want to shed pounds .

Calories: Fuel for your body

Calories are the energy in food. Your body has a constant need for energy and uses the calories from food to keep function. Energy from calories fuels your every action, from fidgeting to marathon running .
Carbohydrates, fats and proteins are the types of nutrients that contain calories and are the main energy sources for your consistency. Regardless of where they come from, the calories you eat are either converted to physical energy or stored within your torso as fatty .
These stored calories will remain in your body as fatness unless you use them up, either by reducing calorie intake thus that your body must draw on reserves for energy, or by increasing physical bodily process so that you burn more calories .

Tipping the scale

Your burden is a balancing act, but the equality is childlike : If you eat more calories than you burn, you gain weight. And if you eat fewer calories and burn more calories through physical bodily process, you lose weight .
In general, if you cut 500 to 1,000 calories a sidereal day from your typical diet, you ‘ll lose about 1 pound ( 0.5 kilogram ) a week .
It sounds simple. however, it ‘s more building complex because when you lose system of weights, you normally lose a combination of fat, lean weave and water. besides, because of changes that occur in the body as a solution of weight loss, you may need to decrease calories further to continue weight loss .

Cutting calories

Cutting calories requires change but does n’t have to be difficult. These changes can have a adult impact on the number of calories you consume :

• Skipping high-calorie, low-nutrition items
• Swapping high-calorie foods for lower calorie options
• Reducing portion sizes

Saving calories by cutting high-calorie, low-nutrition items

Skipping one or two high-calorie items is a good place to start when cutting calories. For exercise, you could skip your dawn caffe latte, sodium carbonate at lunch or that bowl of ice cream you constantly have after dinner .
Think about what you eat and drink each day and identify items you could cut out. If you think that skipping your indulgence will leave you with a craving, try a low-calorie substitution .

Healthier options

Instead of …
Calories*
Choose …
Calories*

*Actual calories may vary by brand.

Flavored latte, 8 oz. (250 g)
134
Black coffee, 8 oz. (250 g)
0

Chocolate ice cream, 1 cup (135 g)
292
Strawberries, 1 cup (150 g)
48

Lemon-lime soda, 16 oz. (491 g)
201
Sparkling water, 16 oz. (491 g)
0

Swapping high-calorie foods for lower calorie options

bare substitutions can make a big deviation when it comes to cutting calories. For example, you can save about 60 calories a glass by drinking nonfat milk alternatively of whole milk. rather of having a second slice of pizza, achieve for some fresh yield. Snack on air-popped popcorn alternatively of chips .

Lower calorie options

Instead of …
Calories*
Choose …
Calories*

*Actual calories may vary by brand.

Whole milk, 1 glass (244 g)
146
Skim milk, 1 glass (244 g)
83

Fast food pepperoni pizza, 2 slices
626
Fast food pepperoni pizza, 1 slice, plus grapes, 1 cup (150 g)
417

Ranch-flavored tortilla chips, snack bag (85 g)
400
Air-popped popcorn, 3 cups (24 g)
92

Reducing your portion sizes

The sizes of your portions affect how many calories you ‘re getting. twice the sum of food means twice the count of calories .
It ‘s park to underestimate how a lot you ‘re eating, particularly if you ‘re dining out. Controlling your portions is a dear direction to control calories .
Do n’t confuse a service with a part. A helping is the amount of food you put on your denture .

Portion sizes

Typical portion
Calories*
Standard serving
Calories*

*Actual calories may vary by brand.

Orange juice, 8 oz. (248 g)
120
Orange juice, 4 oz. (124 g)
60

Buttermilk pancake, 6-inch diameter (77 g)
175
Buttermilk pancake, 4-inch diameter (38 g)
86

Whole-grain pasta, cooked, 2 cups (280 g)
414
Whole-grain pasta, cooked, 1/2 cup (70 g)
103

Try these tips to control dowry sizes and cut calories :

• Start small. At the beginning of a meal, take slightly less than what you think you’ll eat. If you’re still hungry, eat more vegetables or fruit.
• Eat from plates, not packages. Eating directly from a container gives you no sense of how much you’re eating. Seeing food on a plate or in a bowl keeps you aware of how much you’re eating. Consider using a smaller plate or bowl.
• Check food labels. Be sure to check the Nutrition Facts panel for the serving size and number of calories per serving. You may find that the small bag of chips you eat with lunch every day, for example, is two servings, not one, which means twice the calories you thought.
• Use a calorie counter. Check out reputable resources that offer tools to count calories, such as websites or smartphone applications.

Putting it all together

Replacing high-calorie foods with lower calorie alternatives and reducing your share sizes can help you cut calories and improve weight control condition. For a successful — and sustainable — weight management plan, you besides need to increase your forcible bodily process. Combining unconstipated activity and healthy eat will best avail you achieve and maintain a healthy weight unit .

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