What Are Calories and How Does it Affect Our Lives?

Let me start by explaining the definition of a Calorie. What is a calorie? A calorie is the quantity of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water 1 degree Celsius, in another words a calorie is a measure of heat energy.

When food is burned, it releases a certain amount of heat (energy), depending on the type of food, for example; Fat has more calories (9 calories per gram) than Carbohydrates (4 calories per gram) and Protein (4 calories per gram). The more calories that are in the food, the more energy will be released when it is burned and whatever surplus energy that is not used by the body will get stored as adipose tissue (body fat).

All foods that have a high fat content will be considered high calorie foods. There are some fats that are good and essential for the body (Unsaturated Fats) which need to be consumed in the right quantities like your omega 3 and omega 6, also known as your healthy fats. Although fats are high calorie foods and should be limited, there are also some lower calorie foods which are just as, if not more destructive to one’s health. What foods am I talking about? I am talking about the processed carbohydrates that are so readily available today, like your sugary foods. Any food that is not in its most natural form is considered harmful when over consumed, even though it has lower calorie content than your fatty foods. These foods cause a huge glucose (blood sugar) spike in the blood stream and continuous glucose spikes could lead to diabetes. These large spikes also means surplus glucose and whatever glucose is not used for energy will be stored has body fat (adipose tissue).

Most people do not worry about calories until they decide to go on a diet or weight loss program and even then they don’t know what a calorie really is or how much to consume. The first place to start for anybody who is looking at losing weight, gaining weight or even maintaining weight, is to first find out how many calories per day they require for maintenance and then adjust their calorie consumption accordingly.

Estimating your calorie consumption by the food you eat on a daily basis and then dropping your calories by eating less for weight loss does not have a very positive effect. If you cut your calories by too much which you will eventually do because every time you hit a plateau, you lower your calories even further to see results and that will send your body into starvation mode which will lower metabolism and a lower metabolism will make it much easier for you to put the weight that you lost back on and even more.

Therefore it is important to count calories when going on a weight loss program. This way you can monitor your weight loss and make small adjustments accordingly without lowering you metabolism and jeopardizing your health.
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Will the Winter Weather Have A Negative or Positive Effect on Your Weight?

Cold temperatures during winter can have both a negative and a positive effect on your weight. It is about how you take advantage of the benefits of these conditions. Some may enjoy burning fat during winter, and some may find it easier to burn fat during summer but I personally think that it’s just a matter of preference. One can burn fat at the same rate throughout the year; you just have to know how to manipulate the conditions.

The summer season has a psychological benefit to weight loss, it is the season for sun and fun and people want to look good for beach and outdoor functions and events, you also wear less clothing which is all the more reason to get more active and watch what you eat.

Most people find it more difficult to lose weight in winter due to the cold temperatures which force’s people to sleep in late, eat more and become less active. They also tend to worry less about how they look in winter because they are less exposed. One also has to remember that our bodies create more heat in winter for warmth and this heat comes from the calories burnt from the food that we eat, that is one of the reasons why we tend to eat more in winter. You can use this little bit of information to your advantage. If you can maintain your healthy eating and activity levels (including training) in winter this could boost your weight loss.

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Is It Ok To Have A Cheat Day When On A Calorie Restricted Diet?

Can cheating on your diet help you lose weight?

There have been many controversies around a cheat meal or a cheat day. A cheat meal is generally a meal that you would not eat when on a diet, a meal that would make you feel guilty. I personally together would many other professionals out there know that cheat meals or a cheat day does have benefits and can boost fat loss. Cheat days also helps make dieting more bearable; imagine staying away from your favorite foods like pizza for 12 weeks? That’s one of the reasons why people cannot stay on diets for long periods.

Having a cheat day will help prevent your body from going into an adaptive state like starvation mode. Going on low calorie diets for long periods without a cheat day lowers the leptin levels in your body thus in turn slowing your metabolism. For those of you that don’t know what leptin is, let me explain; leptin is a hormone that communicates the nutritional status to your body, your body then uses this information to make the necessary changes like fat burning and metabolism. Low levels of leptin = low fat burning and metabolism and high levels of leptin = high fat burning and metabolism.

Low calorie diets will eventually lower your leptin levels which will lead to you hitting a plateau but the good news is that it takes just 1 day of cheating to bring your leptin levels back to normal thus boosting fat burning and keeping your metabolism running at its peak. So don’t feel guilty and give up on your diet because you had a cheat day.

When on a calorie restricted diet choose a day and cheat without feeling guilty but my advice is to try and keep your cheat meals to a maximum of 2 meals for that day. There are some people that have leptin resistance and this is developed in the same way that diabetics develop insulin resistance. If you consider yourself to be overly obese then there is a chance that you have leptin resistance and if that’s the case then I would suggest staying away from cheat days for about 3 to 4 weeks until your leptin resistance has been reduced.
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