All About Calories

The calorie is a measurable unit of heat. Yes, you literally eat and burn “heat” and calories are in ALL the foods you eat.

This was discovered by James Prescott Joule – hence the word kilojoules which are displayed on nutritional labels. There are 4.184 kilojoules to a calorie, but the word calorie is a bit snappier and it is easier to count in one calorie than 4.184 kilojoules!

The word calorie came from the word “cauldron”, which is a cooking pot, or a pot of heat. Cauldron itself comes from the Latin “calidarium”, meaning hot bath. Most calories are used for maintaining body temperature, called thermo genesis, which literally means “heating you up”. And to finish off this theme, the word “therme” is Greek, meaning “heat”, along with the word thermos, “hot”.

You are literally walking heat, ultimately being traced back to the sun. Your intake and usage should be measured in a simple way, so you can reduce the amount of heat or calories you eat to lose weight, or increase the amount of calories you eat if you want to gain.

Counting calories

Calories are a measure of energy and the more we put in (by eating) the more we need to burn up. If we don't use them up, then we put on weight. Simple.

And when you exercise?

Fitness centres - or gyms - have calorie meters on the equipment display. And you have no doubt noticed that you get hot and "burn" calories when you use them.

Why do we go to a gym, or fitness centre? Usually to get in shape by losing weight. But what we want will only work if we use it as part of a calorie-controlled diet.

We hope now that you understand why you have to count in calories and calories per potion – not in grams of fat, or low carb, or low fat diets.

Most of us take in more calories than we use and excess calories are stored as fat. If we drop our calorie intake too quickly, we can get rid of the fat but the body doesn’t like sudden change so it will very quickly replace that fat – this is called thirst and hunger. So take your sundiet at a slow pace – cut your calories gradually not suddenly and your weight will stay off.

Bring in the calorie teachers

Now you know why we need good calorie teachers. We can help you work out what is ideal for you – not too much of a drop but not too little. It’s all about balance, and we can help.

If you are ready to get going, contact us now.

There is a lot more information about calories if you want to learn more.