Losing Weight – Understanding The Mighty Calorie

The might calorie is a term that often brings forth groans from dieters near and far. When it comes to losing weight, the baseline equation is you must take in fewer talent than you expend. If you don't do that, no weight loss plan is going to work. Having said that, most people don't really understand the ins and outs of calories.

A calorie is not a measure of weight. This is a surprise to many people. Instead, it is a measure of energy. While we talk about calories endlessly when discussing diets, the term is used in non-food situations by chemist and the like. A gallon of gas for your car is made up of over 31 million calories. In fact, this is what makes oil such a great energy source. A small amount of it is packed with a huge amount of energy.

Okay, so how does a calorie reflect a measure of energy instead of weight? The answer is it is a measure of heat. Specifically, a calorie is the amount of heat it takes to raise one gram of water by 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit. I bet you never thought of it that way. Well, it gets even odder. Why? The number of calories you see listed on food or in nearly every article is a complete misrepresentation. Yes, a lie. It isn't anything fishy. The numbers you see on labels are kilocalories. A frozen burrito that supposed had 450 calories per its label really has 450,000. The change was made in labeling and discussions to simplify things and make them easier to understand.

So, what do diets do? Diets try to get you to eat fewer calories than you expend. If you watch the Biggest Loser or similar shows, they try to crank up the calories used by the body through constant exercise. At the same time, they try to limit the calories consumed by restricting the menu to certain foods and then planning meals that will have total calorie counts within desired ranges. Diets may try to increase the weight loss through balancing blood sugar levels and such, but all start with the basic premonition that the calories being consumed must be less than those being expended.

The mighty calorie is often a source of scorn with dieters. Having dieted, I can understand why but it is important to keep in mind we are just talking about a measurement of energy.

Mark P. Warner is with CaloriesNeededEachDayToLoseWeight.com - where you can find out information on the calories needed each day to lose weight for your body profile.