WEIGHT LOSS ADVISOR BLOG

So you want to lose weight and want to know how many calories you should eat in order to achieve that:

First of all let’s remind us the number of calories contained in fats, proteins and carbohydrates:

1 gram of fat = 9 kilocalories ~ 37 kilojoules

1 gram of protein = 4 kilocalories ~ 16 kilojoules

1 gram of carbohydrates = 4 kilocalories ~ 16 kilojoules

And some more calorie values:

1 gram of alcohol = 7 kilocalories

1 gram of dietary fiber = 3 kilocalories

Having all these values in mind you can easily calculate the number of calories in food you eat every day. And how much calories you need a day is another question:

How to estimate your daily caloric needs

You can estimate your daily caloric intake with the Harris-Benedict formula. It helps you calculate your basal metabolic rate (BMR), i.e. the optimum amount of energy your body needs to function.

Let’s calculate your BMR

To do that you need to use your current weight, height and age in step ONE. It’s easy:

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Calorie is the non-SI unit of measurement for energy. The SI unit of measurement for energy is joule. There are two types of calories:

Small calorie (aka gram calorie) is the energy needed to increase the temperature of 1 g (gram) of water by 1 degree Celsius (1.8 Fahrenheit).
1 cal equals to 4.184 joules (cal is the symbol for gram calorie)

Large calorie (aka kilogram calorie) is the energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 kg (kilogram) of water with 1 degree Celsius (1.8 Fahrenheit).
1 kcal equals to 4.184 kilojoules = 4184 joules = 1000 cals (kcal is the symbol for kilogram calorie)

Although not a SI unit kilocalories are still the most common measurements for food energy. Hence the most common misconception that occurs when we talk about calories in food - despite we read calories or cals on food packages, the labeling actually refers to kilocalories when we talk about food.

For example: If a pack of crackers has 400 calories (or cals), it turns out that the calories (or cals) marked on the crackers package are actually kilocalories (or kcals), so it would be correct if written 400 kilocalories (or 400 kcals), but usually it’s not.

Often the word “calorie” (referring to kilocalorie) is capitalized (Calorie) in order to be distinguished from the small (gram) calorie, but this is not effective outside the specific context, so it’s practically useless.

The name “calorie” (referring to kilocalorie) is often used in medical sciences and non-scientific contexts. Whereas, the name “calorie” (referring strictly to the gram calorie) is used in scientific contexts such as chemistry and physics. Here’s why it is needed to be inferred from the context whether the gram calorie or the kilogram calorie is intended. (more…)

Do you know that a recent research showed that using artificial sweeteners might be related to weight gain? Amazing isn’t it?

The research was conducted by a team of scientists from Purdue University in USA and was published in the journal Behavioral Neuroscience.

In the experiment were used two groups of rats - each fed with yoghurt. The first group was fed with artificial sweetened yoghurt and the second one with crystal sugar sweetened yoghurt. After that each group was given food - plenty of it. The results were amazing:

The group of rats fed with yoghurt sweetened with artificial sweetener gained more weight and put on more fat compared to the other group.

Imagine if you drink your favorite morning coffee sweetened with saccharin and then eat up a lot of the chocolates and sweets from the local vending machine. Eventually you gain weight, whereas your closest coworker drinks her coffee with sugar and stays the same weight. Sound terrible, but it could be true…

It is all explained by the theory for sweet expectations:

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