Calories: What exactly ARE they? How are they calculated?!

lobotronic

Hi everyone!

I'm really new to tracking things like calories. I live a moderately healthy lifestyle--I make good choices: I roller skate (for roller derby!), Iwalk a lot because I enjoy it, I prefer salads to chocolate bars, etcetera. But I'm still somewhere near 200 pounds, even though I FEEL healthy. I just don't look the way I feel. So I decided to actually work out harder and count calories to lose weight. But I just don't understand how it works?!

I love that MFP can help me track calories in foods and calories burned from exercise. But I'm the type of person who can't just do what someone tells me "just because". I need to know exactly HOW these calories are calculated and what is happening in my body when I consume/burn them. Can anyone explain it to me or link me to a resource (that is informative yet still accessible; no science jargon please~), specifically in regards to fitness and exercise?

Thank you so much in advance!

adamcf

A calorie is a unit of heat energy. The energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water through 1 °C. But it's the measure of energy that our bodies use as fuel.

Teksavvy

>>HOW these calories are calculated
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-do-food-manufacturers

>>what is happening in my body when I consume/burn them
There is no simple answer to this without jumping into biology and throwing around big words like mitochondria.

You mentioned like you prefer salads. As you use this site more, you'll find that simple items can contain a lot of calories due to their components. In addition, the ratios of carbohydrates/protein/fat in these items can contribute to the battle to lose weight.

lobotronic

Thanks guys! It's starting to become clearer. Imma do some more research.