Thursday, February 5, 2009

What Are Calories?

Calories are units to measure energy. It is similar to any other units such kilograms which measure weight, inches measure distance between two points.

Energy is very important to our body. Our body however does not know how to differentiate between a good energy and bad energy and where it comes from. So, in order for you to boost your metabolism and lose weight, you have take control of your food intake and your choices. Your body will not do this for you as its job is not to distinguish food and healthy and unhealthy source of energy. Your body will take and absorb whatever type of food and energy you choose, whether it is healthy or unhealthy. Whether it is potato chips, fruits, ice cream and so on.

When the body gets the calories, the body will react to the energy. Let’s say, for example the body receives 1000 calories from cakes, the body will metabolizes the calories by way of anabolism or catabolism.

Anabolism is the creation of new cellular material, such as enzymes, proteins, cells, cell membranes, and tissues. Anabolism is necessary for growth, maintenance, and tissue repair.

Catabolism is the chemical reactions that break down complex molecules into simpler ones for energy production, for recycling of their molecular components, or for their excretion. If energy is produced, it is stored as glycogen or fat.

In the event there is an excess of energy and the body is not able to use this excess energy, this excess energy will be turned into cells and you will have an extra weight in your body, hence the overweight. This is what happened when there are too much calories or energy from food. Those extra calories will end up becoming extra fat in your body. This is why when you are on a weight loss program you’ve heard the advice not to take food with too much calories in it unless you have enough workout to burn those extra calories. However, sometimes those extra calories will also end up becoming muscles. As muscles require calories to maintain, people with strong tone muscle tone burn calories without actually doing anything as their metabolism burns the calories for them.
This is the primary reason why exercising and building lean muscle is part of an overall program to boost your metabolism; because the leaner muscle you have, the more places excess calories can go before they’re turned into fat. So it is advisable to have a workout program with an overall workout which includes cardio workout plan, biceps workout plan, chest workout plan, shoulders workout plan, legs workout plan and triceps workout plan. These plans shall be from someone who has the knowledge of fitness plan. If you do get these plans from someone who really does not know what he or she is talking about, then you might injure yourself doing the plans.

As guidance, calories in food can be calculated with this formula:

1. Carbohydrates – 1 gram = 4 calories
2. Protein – 1 gram = 4 calories
3. Fat – 1 gram = 9 calories

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