Calorie Balance Background Information

Your Daily Calorie Balance

Weight maintenance is nothing more than a simple calorie balance: the total calories you consume must equal the calories required by your body to function plus the calories you burn by exercise. But to lose weight, the calories you consume must be less than the calories required by your body to function plus the calories you burn by exercise. Look at this concept in equation form:

WEIGHT MAINTENANCE
Calories Consumed Daily (food & drink)	=	Calories Required Daily for Body Functions (Based on body size and metabolism)	+	Calories Burned Daily by Exercise

In the above chart, there is a balance. The calories consumed daily EQUAL the calories required for daily function plus the calories burned in daily exercise. When the two sides are equal, you have weight maintenance -neither weight gain nor weight loss.

But for weight loss to occur the equation must be changed like this:

WEIGHT LOSS
Calories Consumed Daily (food & drink)	<	Calories Required Daily for Body Functions (Based on body size and metabolism)	+	Calories Burned Daily by Exercise

The key factor is that daily calories consumed must be LESS THAN the calories required for daily body functions plus the calories burned through daily exercise. You lose weight when you eat less and exercise more.

For example, if you consume 2400 calories per day and your body needs only 2100 calories per day for daily functioning and you burn 300 calories through physical activity, then your calorie needs and use are in balance. If you do this regularly, you will maintain your weight at the current level. Since one pound of weight loss is about 3500 calories to lose 1 pound a week you will need to do one of three things:

Consume 500 fewer calories per day per week.

Burn 500 calories a day per week through physical activity.

Combine decreasing daily consumption of calories & increasing physical activity to a total of 500 calories per day per week.

Do you see now why your Daily Calorie Balance is the key to losing weight effectively? It highlights the importance of estimating and keeping track of the 3 key items:

1. Calories Consumed Daily (Food & Drink)

You have access to an interactive menu planner where you can select the maximum number of calories to eat each day, such as 1200, 1600 or 2000. Then choose items from the foods listed to create your meal plan for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. Watch how the different foods you select affect your daily calorie goal. Now you've got your daily meal plan already created.

Another approach is to enter the food items after each meal or at the end of the day and let the calculator total your calories to see if what you've eaten falls under your maximum calories per day goal. The planner also gives fat grams and total carbohydrates.

Please click the Online Interactive Menu Planner when you need to use it. After you are done, use the "Back" button on your browser to return to this spot. The more you use this planner the easier it will become to use it!

Another option many people use to keep track of total calories consumed is by reading nutrition labels and food charts and preparing meals using recipes where the calorie breakdown is available. By the end of the Eat Smart...Play Hard program you could become an expert in your own right since several of the subsequent sessions provide comprehensive information in these areas.

Please use whichever approach is easier for you - on a daily basis - but get in the habit of estimating total calories you consume in food and drink.

2. Calories Required Daily for Body Functions

The total calories required for daily body functions is a critical number for you to know and one that is based on your gender, age, height and weight and also affected significantly by your body's metabolism e.g. A person who has a higher metabolism will burn more calories than a person of the same gender, age, height and weight who has a lower metabolism. Please click the Daily Energy Expenditure Calculator to get an average estimate of the calories your body burns in a day just to keep going. Click here for some tips Do's & Dont's for a Faster Metabolism. After you are done, use the "Back" button on your browser to return to this spot.

3. Calories Burned Daily by Exercise

You have access to another online calculator that requires you to enter your weight and the number of minutes you do each of the listed physical activities and hit CALCULATE to get an estimate of how many calories you burn daily in doing all of your favorite activities. Please click the Calories Burned Calculator when us need to use it. After you are done, use the "Back" button on your browser to return to this spot.

Note: You may also access these calculators at any time from the top frame. Click on the "Back" button on your browser to return to the previous page.