Understanding how a proper caloric intake is beneficial to a healthy diet
Have you felt a little heavier lately? Maybe you're sitting on the couch next to an open bag of Doritos, soda in hand and remote in the other watching TV and noticed that you have somehow gained little weight; now you may be feeling "pudgy". Weather you feel completely healthy or a little above average in physique. It always import to know where your caloric intake is and how much is burned off in a given day.
Your caloric intake is the term used to describe how many calories your body burns in a given day. The average male needs about 3000 calories a day while the average female will need about 2000 calories a day; based on middle aged men/women who have an active lifestyle.
A healthy median for your body is when you burn the same amount of calories your body cosumes. If you ever wonder how your caloric intake is measured, its quite simple. Have you ever looked at the packages of the items you eat in a given day? Everything you eat has a caloric intake level, easy to find over the Internet. For example (for illustration purposes only):
Breakfast:
1) Milk (8oz) 200 calories
2) Apple w/skin (3.6oz) 53 calories
3) Cereal (Oats, Cooked) 9 calories
Lunch:
1) Cranberry Juice (8oz) 137 calories
2) Turkey Sandwich on Wheat (6" sub) 285 calories
3) Lays Baked original (11 chips) 110 calories
Dinner:
1) Spaghetti w/marinara and meat (8.4oz) 210 calories
2) Garlic Bread (2 1/2in slices) 170 calories
TOTAL: 1174 calories
Exercise:
1) Brisk walk to work (45min): -374 calories
2) Brisk walk home from work (45min) -374 calories
3) Surfing (30min) 110 calories
4) Running (10mph) 217 calories
5) Calisthenics (moderate) 108 calories
TOTAL: 1183 calories burned
As you can see in this example, this particular person in burning 99.9% percent of his/her caloric intake, leading to a health diet with little to no weight gain. The next time you open the bag of potate chips be sure to look at it's nutritinal information. A great place to lookup the calories in what you eat can be found at Calorie King. A great simple tool to measure calories burned can be found HERE.
