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Counting calories: Get back to weight-loss basics
Your weight is a balancing act, and calories play a big role. Find out how calories determine your weight and ways you can best cut calories from your diet.
By Mayo Clinic staffDespite all the diet strategies out there, weight management still comes down to the calories you take in versus those you burn off. Fad diets may promise you that avoiding carbs or eating a mountain of grapefruit is the secret to weight loss, but it's really all about calories.
Calories: Fuel for your body
Calories are the energy in food. Your body has a constant demand for energy and uses the calories from food to keep functioning. Energy from calories fuels your every action, from fidgeting to marathon running.
Carbohydrates, fats and proteins are the types of nutrients that contain calories and are the main energy sources for your body. The amount of energy in each varies. Proteins and carbohydrates have about 4 calories a gram, and fats have about 9 calories a gram. Alcohol also is a source of calories, providing about 7 calories a gram.
Regardless of where they come from, the calories you eat are either converted to physical energy or stored within your body as fat. These stored calories will remain in your body as fat unless you use them up, either by reducing calorie intake so that your body must draw on reserves for energy, or by increasing physical activity so that you burn more calories.
Tipping the scale: Cutting calories
Your weight is a balancing act, but the equation is simple: If you eat more calories than you burn, you gain weight.
Because 3,500 calories equals about 1 pound (0.45 kilogram) of fat, you need to burn 3,500 calories more than you take in to lose 1 pound. So if you cut 500 calories from your typical diet each day, you'd lose about 1 pound a week (500 calories x 7 days = 3,500 calories).
Cutting calories doesn't have to be difficult. In fact, it can be as simple as:
- Skipping one extra high-calorie indulgence a day
- Swapping high-calorie foods for lower calorie options
- Reducing portion sizes
Here's a closer look.
Saving calories by cutting a high-calorie item
Skipping one or two high-calorie items is a good place to start when cutting calories. For example, you could skip your morning latte or that bowl of ice cream you always have after dinner. Think about what you eat and drink each day and identify items you could cut out. If you think that skipping your indulgence will leave you with a craving, try a low-calorie substitution.
Healthier options
| Instead of this ... | Calories* | Try this ... | Calories* |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 snack bag (3 ounces) ranch-flavored tortilla chips | 426 | 3.5 cups popcorn, air-popped | 100 |
| 1 slice thick-crust pepperoni pizza (1/8 of a 14-inch chain pizza) | 301 | 1 2/3 cups grapes | 100 |
| 1 medium, 3-inch glazed doughnut | 192 | 2 tablespoons peanuts | 100 |
*Actual calories may vary by brand.
Next page(1 of 2)
- USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 22. U.S. Department of Agriculture. http://fnic.nal.usda.gov/nal_display/index.php?info_center=4&tax_level=1. Accessed Nov. 16, 2009.
- Starbucks beverage details. Starbucks Coffee. http://www.starbucks.com/retail/nutrition_beverage_detail.asp?selProducts=%7B0B4CE16F-937B-432E-AB3E-9831CB0B539D%7D&strAction=GETDEFAULT&x=18&y=7. Accessed Nov. 16, 2009.
- Duyff RL. American Dietetic Association Complete Food and Nutrition Guide. 3rd ed. Hoboken, N.J.:John Wiley & Sons; 2006.
- Hensrud DD, et al. The Mayo Clinic Diet. Intercourse, Penn.: Good Books; 2010.
- Nutrition comparison. McDonald's. http://nutrition.mcdonalds.com/nutritionexchange/nutritionComparison.do. Accessed Nov. 16, 2009.
- Zeratsky KA (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic. Rochester, Minn. Nov. 20, 2009.
- Anderson CF (expert opinion). Mayo Clinic. Rochester, Minn. Nov. 16, 2009.
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