What is a calorie?

From a scientific viewpoint, a calorie is a measure of heat. We won’t discuss the exact scientific meaning of a calorie (it involves water temperature and could be a bit boring for you!). All you need to know is that a calorie, provided in things you eat (foods and drinks) provides your body with energy.

All macronutrients provide energy (calories) to the body. Calories provided from food are usually measured in Kilo Calories (kCals), which are 1,000 calories. For this article, when we say Calories (with a capital C), we mean kCals, the usual unit used to measure how much energy food provides. Each macronutrient provides different amounts of calories. Here is a breakdown of what macronutrients provide how many calories:

• Protein: 1 gram of protein provides 4 Calories to the body
• Carbohydrates: 1 gram of carbohydrate provides 4 Calories to the body
• Fat: 1 gram of fat provides 9 Calories to the body
• Alcohol: 1 gram of alcohol provides 7 Calories to the body
• Fibre: 1 gram of fibre provides 1.5-2 Calories to the body

So, 40grams of protein provides 160 Calories (40g protein x 4 Calories/g protein = 160 Calories). 10g of fat provides 90 Calories (10g fat x 9 Calories/g fat = 90 Calories).

What does this all mean?

Knowing how many calories each macronutrient provides allows you to figure out what kinds of foods you can eat, and how much of those foods you can eat when setting up a successful diet.  You can read more about nutrients and fat loss here.

Food Composition and Calories

Different foods provide different amounts of calories, and those calories are made up of calories from protein, carbohydrates and fats. Let’s give you an example.

A Burger King Double Whopper provides 52g of protein, 51g of carbohydrates and 59g of fat. Based on the above Calorie values of proteins, carbohydrates and fats, we can say that this burger provides the following calories:

• 52g protein = 208 Calories (52 x 4)
• 51g carbohydrates = 204 Calories (51 x 4)
• 59g fat = 531 Calories (59 x 9)
• Total: 943 Calories

You might see slightly different values from 943 on nutritional data sites but not by much.

Based on what you know, if you knew how much protein, carbohydrates and fat are in any type of food, you can work out how many calories are in that food.

We want you to start being aware of how many Calories, protein, carbohydrates and fat you are getting from everything you eat. Knowing what you are consuming each day is the first step to successful dieting.  Get your free Nutrition secrets Ebook here.

A good read and investment in your fat loss and health that I could personally recommend is Fat Loss 4 Idiots. It gives you personal diet plans, calorie intakes meal plans and recipes to start your fat loss.  It really is the best that I could recommend.

1.  Review of Fat Loss for Idiots.

2.  Basics of Nutrients