Calories

Something which i've thought about recently is calories.... and how people think there is some certain magical calorie number which will either make you lose weight or gain weight. I mean, im sure we all know about the magical 1200 calories, which is supposedly what you eat to lose weight?

^^My reaction to that type of thinking.

First of all... 1200 calories is not a magic number. Calories arent a one thing fits all.
   The amount of calories/energy you need is individual for you. You cant compare to others.

To know how much your calorie burn is you need to calculate your BMR (basal metabolic rate). Which is basically what your body burns, just breathing. When you do absaloutly nothing all day - no food and no activity. And that is the magic number which you shouldnt eat less than. Because otherwise you will put your body into starvation mode, and if your body is in starvation mode too long, thats when damaging things to your body happen.
    You should also calculate your BMR by your activity level if you are active.

The factors that contribute to your BMR are height, weight, sex etc
    But you should also know that activity level, muscle mass etc all contribute to how much energy intake you need.

I often get asked, how much do you need to eat to gain weight. Well to gain a pound you need to eat 3500 calories over your 'daily' calories need. So c.a 5000 calories you need to eat to gain a pound(c.a 0,5kg) that is why, if you ever eat loads one day and step on the scale and it says you've gained 2 pounds... its most probably not true... its water weight.
   Though dont step on the scale at all... dont determine your worth in the number on the scale.

So, i cant tell you how much you need to eat to gain weight. But lets put it like this. To gain weight, you need to eat your BMR & 500 calories (if you eat 500 calories extra everyday, for 7 days then you should gain 0,5kg) and if you exercise you need to eat what you burned....  that is why it is usually best to not exercise while you are trying to gain weight, as it just makes it even harder.
   
For me,  i ate around 2500 - 3000 calories a day, with no activity at all to gain weight, and some weeks i didnt even gain weight.
  So its different for everyone. Everyone needs a different intake as everyone is unique.

The best way to know how much you actually need is to talk to a dietician/nutritionist. And in the future i am hoping to educate myself to become a nutrionist/dietician & a personal trainer... .so sometime in the future, i might be able to help with meal plans etc ;)

Also something which i've written about before: http://living-with-anorexia.blogspot.se/2013/07/nutrients-not-calories.html
  Is how, calories aren't exactly the same. I mean, sure you can eat a low calorie special K bar for 99 calories or a banana.... but you know what. The banana is so much better for you. It has more nutrients and vitamins. And that is something everyone should think about.


Some foods like peanut butter/avocado/nuts may be dense in calories, but they are healthy calories unlike say the calories in french fries from McDonalads.
  There is actually a documentary about a low calorie diet:
http://living-with-anorexia.blogspot.se/2013/07/documentary-truth-about-low-calorie.html



I've also written about how to stop calorie counting, read it here: http://living-with-anorexia.blogspot.se/2013/06/how-to-stop-calorie-counting.html