What you need to understand about calories, and Why you should track yours.

Now that you’ve learnt how to calculate your TDEE, calculate your macros and have a good understanding of how energy balance works, the next essential part of your fitness journey is, understanding the importance of tracking calories.

Let’s start from the absolute basics.

What is a Calorie ?

Well, the definition of a calorie goes something like this, a calorie is the energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water through 1 °C. In other words, calories are simply units used to measure stored potential energy.

Calorie counts of different food products are simply measures of potential energy in them.

So what are the values of the calories in the macronutrients you consume every day ?

1 gram of protein contains 4 calories of energy.

1 gram of carbohydrates contains 4 calories of energy.

1 gram of fat contains 9 calories of energy.

1 gram of alcohol contains 7 calories of energy.

Ever heard of the term Empty Calories ??

Yes ? I guessed as much. Empty calories are calories that do not have any nutritional values. Meaning while they provide energy, they do not provide any nutrition to your body. Most common examples of empty calories are processed carbohydrates and alcohol. The consumption of empty calories is generally associated with fat gain, impaired metabolism, fatty liver etc. Hence, it’s better to avoid these sources when on a diet, as they can affect your progress in a negative way.

What does your body do with the calories it receives ??

While most people think calories are something our bodies store as fat, they are only partially correct. Only when we consume more calories than our body can utilize in a day, does our body store the excess as fat. Like I’ve spoken in earlier posts, our body requires a certain amount of energy or calories on a daily basis in order to survive. The measure of this, is known as our Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). Now while we have a lot of different ways to calculate our BMR, no formula can accurately estimate your BMR and so, most are just close to accurate estimates. Nevertheless, in order for us to track our calories on a regular basis these ‘roughly accurate estimates’ work just fine.

So why should you track your calories ??

Now that you have your TDEE and Macro ratios ready, you finally proceed to tracking your calories. The first step, in being able to track your calories is, creating a meal plan for yourself based on your TDEE and Macro Ratios. The advantage of having a meal plan is that, you don’t have to “wing it” as you go along and you can be more accurate in estimating your calorie intake (tracking your calories) BEFOREHAND.

While there are brilliant apps like MyFitnessPal etc, that have huge databases of foods and their caloric values, I recommend starting in a more basic way first and then graduating to them. The first thing to keep in mind when calculating your calories, is to take into account raw ingredients as opposed to cooked ones. That way you have a better shot at accuracy as far as estimating is concerned, since cooked food will vary in weight from uncooked food depending on the amount of water that has been lost through cooking etc.

So does this mean you have to run around with a weighing scale everywhere ?

NO !!

If you can’t weigh your food before prepping your meals, just learn the fine art of Guesstimating. Well it might not be as accurate at first, but with time and practice you will learn what 200gms of raw chicken breast looks and feels (weighs) like.

Once you learn how to calculate the calories from each source of protein, fat and carbohydrate, you can prepare a meal plan based on how many calories you intend to consume each day. And if you can, prep your meals on the weekend like most people do, to have a hassle free week and ready meals on a daily basis. Not a compulsion though, not everyone likes pre-cooked meals. You can always prepare your meals fresh instead.

So once you have a solid meal plan based on your macro ratios, within your calorie goals, stick to it for 1-2 weeks and re-evaluate depending on whether your losing weight like you expected and then adjust your macros  accordingly to find what gets you the desired results. This will help you find what works for your body, and as a result, help you achieve your goals, without having to stress about hitting plateaus etc, because now you will be able to gauge what you should and shouldn’t do to get where you want to be. You will understand how your body responds when you decrease or increase a certain amount of calories.

This is what tracking calories is all about. Trial and error. You are able to understand how your body is responding to the macro ratio that you are following and you can see how your body responds to your diet and figure out what works for you and what doesn’t, not only in terms of macronutrients but even which sources they come from. For eg, Some people prefer faster digesting sources of carbs such as white rice since they find that slower digesting sources make them feel bloated. While on the other hand, other people prefer slower digesting sources.

It’s all about figuring out what works for you. And then using it, to get the body you’ve always wanted.

When you give it a bit of thought, dieting is actually a game of numbers. And once you learn how to play that game, you won’t have to worry about NOT being able to ‘stick to a diet’. And so, being healthy will be a part of your lifestyle.

Please feel free to comment, ask any questions you may have, or if you need any assistance or have any suggestions or even if you just wanna say ‘Hey’. Feedback is always appreciated 🙂