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CALORIE INTAKE
Calories get a bad rap. We blame them for everything — from making us feel guilty about enjoying a hot fudge sundae with extra nuts to the way our jeans fit (or don’t fit, as the case may be).
Yet, demonizing calories is like bad-mouthing oxygen: It’s impossible to survive very long without either one. “Calories fuel the body. We need them, just as we should enjoy the foods that provide them,” says John Foreyt, Ph.D., director of the Nutrition Research Center at in Houston and an expert on weight management. “There’s nothing bad or magical about calories, it’s just that body weight comes down to a simple equation of calories in (from food) versus calories out (as physical activity).”
What is a calorie?
“Just like a quart is a measurement of volume and an inch is a measurement of length, a calorie is a measurement or unit of energy,” explains dieting-researcher Kelly Brownell, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at Yale University in New Haven, Conn., and author of The LEARN Program for Weight Management (American Health Publishing Co., 2004). “The number of calories in the foods you eat is a measure of the number of energy units that food supplies.” Those energy units are used by the body to fuel physical activity as well as all metabolic processes, from maintaining your heartbeat and growing hair to healing a scraped knee and building muscle.
How do I calculate how many calories I should cut to lose weight?
First, you need to know how many calories you’re currently consuming. You can figure that out by keeping a food journal: tracking calories for everything you eat during a period including at least two weekdays and one weekend day (since people tend to eat differently on weekends). Figure out the calorie count for each food item (see question 3), then tally the total calories and divide by the number of days you tracked your intake to find your daily average.
Or you can roughly estimate your caloric intake by using this formula: If you are age 30 or under, multiply your weight by 6.7 and add 487; women who are 31-60 should multiply their weight by 4 and add 829. Then, multiply the total by 1.3 if you’re sedentary (don’t work out at all), 1.5 if you’re slightly active (work out three to four times a week for one hour), 1.6 if you’re moderately active (work out four to five times a week for one hour) or 1.9 if you’re very active (work out almost every day for one hour).
How do I figure out the calories in fruits, vegetables and other foods without a nutrition label?
There are dozens of calorie-counting books on the market. Check out Corinne Netzer’s The Complete Book of Food Counts, 6th Edition (Dell Publishing, 2003). You also can get similar information on the Web.
What is the lowest, yet still safe, calorie level I can drop to when I’m trying to lose weight? “Women should not consume less than 1,200 calories a day,” Brownell cautions. In fact, a diet below 1,000 calories a day (called a very low-calorie diet or VLCD) increases your risk for gallstones and heart problems and should be followed only by obese people under a specialist’s supervision. While you can drop to 1,200 calories per day and survive, doing so is not a smart idea. Going for a bare-minimum caloric intake may yield quick results, but it also can leave you listless and unable to exercise (key to keeping the pounds off), and may lead to muscle loss and a slowing of your metabolism. Even if you’re careful about what you eat, a daily intake of 1,200 calories can shortchange you on important nutrients such as calcium and folate.
Are calories from fat more fattening than calories from carbohydrates and protein?
Yes. “Dietary fat is more readily stored as body fat, because the body must work harder to convert carbohydrates and protein to [body] fat, while dietary fat can be stored as is. That increased work equates to a slight loss of calories,” says Robert H. Eckel, M.D., a professor at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver and chairman of the American Heart Association’s Council on Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism. When a 100-calorie pat of butter enters your system, your body burns 3 percent of its calories in order to turn it into body fat. But your system uses 23 percent of the calories in carbs and protein to convert them into fat for storage. That said, there is no evidence that dietary fat is stored in any greater amount as body fat than carbs or protein if you are balancing calories in with calories out. Overeating is still the problem — it’s just that it’s much easier to overeat fatty foods since they are such concentrated sources of calories.
Do I cut calories or fat to reduce weight?
Cut both for best results. “It is a lot easier to restrict calories when you cut fat, while cutting fat aids in weight reduction only if it is accompanied by a drop in calories,” Brownell explains. The National Weight Control Registry — an ongoing project at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Colorado — found that dieters who maintained a 30-pound or more weight reduction for more than one year were successful in part by limiting their calories to about 1,300 a day and keeping fat to about 24 percent of calories.
Do no-calorie foods aid in weight reduction?
Theoretically, yes. Switch your daily cola to diet cola and you’ll save about 160 calories per 12-ounce can, which should lead to about a 17-pound weight reduction over the course of a year. However, scientists have learned that when people consume low fat, sugar-reduced, low-calorie or no calorie foods, they typically compensate by eating more of something else later. A Pennsylvania State University study of women found that those who were told they were snacking on reduced-fat yogurt ate more food at their midday meal than did women told the yogurt was full-fat, regardless of the actual fat content of the snack.
