Health

How Many Calories do we Need? – Diet 101 {Part II}

Nayantara Karnik · September 14, 2015 · 5 Comments

The last time I was here I gave you a background on diets and what it actually means to eat healthy versus the latest fad diet. That’s all well and good but in continuation, how does one actually go about this whole seemingly complicated process. Well, a little bit of hard work is in order, but I promise you, after the initial bit of effort it does get easier.

How Many Calories do We Need? Let us do some basic Math.

Calculating the amount of calories you need to consume is totally individual. The best option if you’re starting out is to find a calculator online, which will give you numbers based on typical algorithms using your current weight, height, age, gender etc. In general, the recommended calorie deficit is not more than 500 – 700 calories per day, though this could vary a little.

This means that if your current calorie maintenance level (the number of calories you need to maintain your current body weight) is 2500 per day, you should eat 2000 per day. That takes your weekly calorie deficit to 3500 (500×7), which according to standard calculations equals 1 lb or 0.5 kg of weight loss per week. If you are close to your recommended ideal weight (within 5kg), I suggest creating a still smaller calorie deficit of around 200-300 calories only.

It is literally dangerous to your health if you restrict your calorie intake drastically. Remember what I said earlier about how your body burns calories just to make all your organs function. This is the reason why anorexia can be life-threatening. When the body is deprived of sufficient nutrients over time, the organs can actually suffer and even fail in the long run.

For women, it is recommended to eat no less than 1200 calories per day and for men not less than 1500 per day. And, even that I would say is less than the average person should consume, unless you’re a very tiny, old, inactive lady who needs only the bare minimum to function! So don’t use 1200 as a baseline regardless of your current size and activity level, most likely you need to eat significantly more than that even if you’re on a deficit.

Everything You Need to know About Diets – Diet 101

Nayantara Karnik · September 2, 2015 · 1 Comment

In my first article, I talked about some of the more commonly believed myths about dieting and losing weight. Here I hope to explain more about how to get started on developing a healthy diet and the importance of knowing your calories. Remember the last time I mentioned that diet is 80% of the key to weight loss, or weight management if you prefer.

What are Calories?

To start with, what are calories really? A calorie is basically a unit of energy that the body derives from fuel which in this case is food per weight in grams/ ounces. Technically when we say there are 155 calories in 100 gms of boiled egg, it’s actually Kilo-calories (like kilograms versus grams in units of weight), but for convenience it’s usually referred to as just calories.

Different types of food provide different quanta of energy or calories. What happens to these calories? Your body uses and burns it in doing various activities. Even when sleeping your body is burning calories just to keep your heart beating, your brain and organs functioning, amongst a myriad of other natural and involuntary functions. I’ll come back to why that’s important later.

The basic principle of understanding how this works in relation to weight management is knowing your energy consumption vs. energy expenditure, or calories in vs calories out. A calorie deficit is when you eat less than you burn and will result in weight loss, whereas a calorie surplus is when you eat more than you burn, leading to weight gain. Simple enough concept, right?

5 Myths Busted about Weight Loss and Exercise – Diet and Fitness 101

Nayantara Karnik · July 17, 2015 · 10 Comments

It’s hard to decide where to start this, especially when ‘diet’ is probably one of the most searched keywords on the internet. However I’d like to think of this as a post about the basics of being and staying healthy. This is for those who are overweight, underweight, just want to get healthy or want to improve their health.

Personally I’m not a health expert or a dietician, but I have been consistently active since I was at school and over the last 8 years I have done my share of research on diet and health when I first put on a few extra kilos. Along the way I’ve gathered plenty of info which I’ve put to use, figured out what works for me and this usually applies to most people. Since I like to think of myself as a scientific-minded person, fad diets and the latest popular routine don’t appeal to me. My goal is to be and stay as healthy as possible for the rest of my life.

I’m hoping to write this as a series of posts as there’s just way too much to put down all at once, and it can get confusing. So let me start by busting a few stubborn myths out there that just don’t seem to die.

Fad Diets

High-protein, low-carb, high-fat, low-fat, paleo, cabbage-soup diets and what not!! All these will definitely help you lose weight in the short-term because any diet that’s restrictive will naturally make you lose the pounds.