What is a Calorie?

This is a good question. We can see calories on almost any food product. Some are tougher than others. Vegetables, fruits, produce, meats, etc. don't have the calories on the package. What on earth would you do if you wanted to count them??

Think of calories as energy. Food calories listed on packages are known as a kilocalories. When we exercise fitness charts show that we burn 100 calories for every mile we jog. The faster you run, the more calories you burn. If you run slower, you will burn few calories.

Here is a Caloric Breakdown:

1 g Carbohydrates: 4 calories
1 g Protein: 4 calories
1 g Fat: 9 calories

Our bodies can burn calories by a metabolic processes where enzymes break carbs into sugars, the fats into glycerol, fatty acids and proteins into amino acids. The process is finished by the rest broken into smaller bits and flows through your bloodstreams cells. It's mixed with oxygen to release the stored energy.

How many calories do we need to intake. So many people have so many responses. The daily average is set at 2,000. Height, weight, gender and exercise level can make a big difference in this amount.

How do you loose/gain weight? If you take in more calories than you burn, you will gain weight. If you take less calories than you burn, you will loose weight. Is that it? 3,500 calories equals one pound of fat. If you exercise more and eat less your one pound of fat is converted into energy and poof...the one pound is gone.. Cya.

The amount of exercise is important. The quality of exercise can make a big difference too. There are tons of charts to help gage how many calories you can burn.

Resources:
http://health.howstuffworks.com/calorie.htm