- How many calories should I eat per day
- How to Calculate Food Calories
- Food calorie chart
- How to consume less calories to lose weight
- 1. Use a calorie counter
- 2. Swap sweets for fruit
- 3. Exchange the potato for other vegetables
- 4. Prefer cooked food
- 5. Eat more fiber
- 6. Plan meals
- 7. Choosing the best calories
Calorie is the amount of energy that a food provides to the body to perform its vital functions.
To know the total amount of calories a food has to read the label and take into account the amount of proteins, carbohydrates and fats, calculating the total calories as follows:
- For every 1g of carbohydrates: add 4 calories; For every 1g of protein: add 4 calories; For every 1g of fat: add 9 calories.
It is important to remember that other components of food, such as water, fibers, vitamins and minerals have no calories and, therefore, do not provide energy, however, they are extremely important for other biological processes.
How many calories should I eat per day
In order to know how many calories you should eat per day it is important to make some calculations, since the value will vary according to age, current weight, sex and height. In addition, the daily caloric value must also take into account the goal of each person, whether to gain weight or lose weight.
There are several ways to calculate the calorie requirement for a day, however, the easiest is the direct method, which is done as follows:
- To lose weight - multiply 20 or 25 by current weight To maintain weight - multiply 25 or 30 by current weight To gain weight - multiply 30 or 35 by current weight
For example, a person who weighs 50 kg and wants to maintain his weight, must multiply 25 x 50 or 30 x 50 and, without fear of gaining weight, can eat between 1250 and 1500 calories per day.
It should also be borne in mind that this calculation works for a healthy person, and may vary if the person has a chronic illness or is bedridden, for example. Thus, the most important thing is always to consult a nutritionist, so that the calculation is always adapted to individual needs.
Find out exactly how many calories you need to eat per day by entering your data below:
How to Calculate Food Calories
To find out how many calories a food has, multiply the amount of carbohydrate by 4, the grams of protein by 4 as well and the total fat by 9.
For example: How many calories does a 100 g chocolate bar have?
To know the answer, you must know the amount of carbohydrates, proteins and fat that chocolate has, observing on its label, and then just multiply:
- 30.3 g of carbohydrates x 4 (each carbohydrate has 4 calories) = 121, 212.9 g of protein x 4 (each protein has 4 calories) = 51, 640.7 g of fat x 9 (each fat has 9 calories) = 366.3
Adding all these values together, the result is 539 calories.
Food calorie chart
The following table indicates the amount of calories in some foods most consumed daily:
| Food (100 g) | Calories | Carbohydrate (g) | Proteins (g) | Fat (g) |
| French bread | 300 | 58.6 | 8 | 3.1 |
| Ricotta cheese | 257 | 2.4 | 9.6 | 23.4 |
|
Loaf bread |
253 | 44.1 | 12 | 2.7 |
| Whole grain bread | 293 | 54 | 11 | 3.3 |
| Orange juice | 42 | 9.5 | 0.3 | 0.1 |
| Fried egg | 240 | 1.2 | 15.6 | 18.6 |
| Boiled egg | 146 | 0.6 | 13.3 | 9.5 |
| Baked sweet potato | 125 | 28.3 | 1 | 0 |
| Popcorn | 387 | 78 | 13 | 5 |
| Brown rice | 124 | 25.8 | 2.6 | 1 |
| Avocado | 96 | 6 | 1.2 | 8.4 |
| Banana | 104 | 21.8 | 1.6 | 0.4 |
| Simple tapioca without filling | 336 | 82 | 2 | 0 |
|
Apple with peel |
64 | 13.4 | 0.2 | 0.5 |
| Skimmed natural yogurt | 42 | 5.2 | 4.6 | 0.2 |
The foods with the least calories are fruits and vegetables and are therefore used especially in weight loss diets. Foods high in fat such as fried foods, processed processed foods are the most caloric and therefore should not be consumed by those who want to lose weight.
A snack prepared with 1 low-fat natural yogurt (150 g), accompanied by a glass of orange juice (200 mL) + 1 apple has a total of 211 calories, which are less calories than those of a chocolate bar with almonds, for example. example, which has an average of 463 calories.
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How to consume less calories to lose weight
The best way to consume fewer calories to lose weight is to know how many calories your food has and how many calories you can take in a day. After knowing this, one should opt for the less caloric foods that are fruits, legumes, vegetables.
1. Use a calorie counter
There are tables that indicate the amount of calories that each food has, but to be more practical, there are also several applications that can be installed on the smartphone to help with daily control.
2. Swap sweets for fruit
In any diet to lose weight, the consumption of sweets such as cake, biscuits, filled cookies and sweet desserts is prohibited, because they are rich in sugar that raise blood glucose and in addition to putting on weight, cause more hunger.
So, the ideal is instead of eating something sweet, eat a fruit, preferably, that has peel or bagasse, and eat as dessert
3. Exchange the potato for other vegetables
It is important to eat vegetables, greens and grains for lunch and dinner, but the ideal is not to opt for potatoes, yams or sweet potatoes, if you are looking to lose weight. Good options are zucchini, green beans and the combination of rice and beans is an excellent source of protein.
4. Prefer cooked food
The egg is an excellent source of protein, but eating fried egg or scrambled egg is not the best option because it has more calories. So, the ideal is to eat boiled egg or poached egg, made on top of rice, because that way you don't need oil, having less calories.
5. Eat more fiber
The fibers are excellent to help fight hunger and so you can add 1 tablespoon of ground flaxseed in a natural yogurt and with each meal, because that way you will be less hungry during the day, and with more patience to choose or prepare less calorie foods.
6. Plan meals
Making a weekly menu is a great way to know what you are going to eat and how many calories each food has. The ideal is not to put the exact calories you should consume per day, so that there is room for a variation or another, if necessary.
7. Choosing the best calories
1 glass of zero coke probably has zero calories, while 1 glass of natural orange juice has about 100 calories, however, orange juice has vitamin C which helps in maintaining health and so the best choice is the juice, even if it has more calories, because it also has a lot more vitamins and minerals that are not present in the soda.
If you want something with less calories but some flavor, try drinking sparkling water and adding a few drops of lemon.
