What Is Energy Balance?


What Is Energy?

When you eat and drink, you fuel your body with energy. Your body needs energy to keep you alive and for your organs to function normally.

Everything you do through-out the day, like breathing, speaking, moving around, needs energy.

What are Calories?

The energy your body receives from food and drinks are called calories.

Protein and carbohydrates each provide 4 calories per gram, and fat provides 9 calories per gram. The calories you eat are either converted to physical energy or stored within your body as fat.

What Does Balancing Energy Mean?

Balancing energy means balancing the calories you eat and the calories you lose through-out your day.

Keeping the right balance of calories in and calories out is important to good health.

Burn More Calories Than You Take In

An important part of a healthy diet is to balance the calories you put into your body with the energy you use.  If you eat more calories than you burn, you gain weight.

And if you eat fewer calories and burn more calories through physical activity, you lose weight.

How much does it take to tip the balance?

Because 3,500 calories equals about 0.5 kg, it’s estimated that you need to burn about 3,500 calories to lose 0.5 kg. Eating 500 fewer calories per day should result in losing about 0.5 kg per week. Research shows that this varies from person to person.

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