Complete Foods and controlling your weight.
May 2nd 2019
With 39% of the world's total population in 2016 being overweight and even 13% considered obese, we can truly speak of an epidemic. A very dangerous one, as an increase in Body Mass Index (BMI) is proven to correlate with an increased risk for cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, musculoskeletal disorders and some cancers too.
According to the World Health Organization, increasing industrialization, urbanization and mechanization are associated with the diet- and behavioural changes that led us to consume fatter, sugarier and overall, more in general. At the same time, due to the same factors as mentioned above, our lifestyles changed from physically working hard to sitting most of the day.
And although our bodies – of course - still burn through calories at their Basic Metabolic Rate (BMR, the rate of energy that is needed to keep our bodies functioning) plus the amount which is needed to compensate our physical activities and possible exercise, most people's caloric intake is above what they need. And with the simple idea of ‘calories in, calories out’, which will be explained later, it’s no surprise that whenever we’re simply eating too much but move too less, we’ll gain weight.
Complete Foods, like those of Queal, are delicious, nutritious and make tracking your meals extremely easy. This article will give you a little more back ground information about the concept of controlling your weight and what our quick meals could mean for you.
What are calories?
A calorie or kilocalorie is a unit of energy supplied by food. Despite the fact that ‘calories’ are often seen as a guide, food labels and nutritional guidelines – most of the times – actually use ‘kilocalories’ instead. Both are units of energy supplies by food: a kilocalorie is the amount needed to heat up one kilogram of water by one degree Celsius and is equal to 1000 calories.
In food, both carbohydrates and protein deliver 4 kilocalories per gram. One gram of fat delivers 9 kilocalories.
How much calories do you need?
An average (adult) human body needs 2000 to 2500 kilocalories a day to perform, maintain and retain basic physical functions and support in daily activities. As these recommendations are based on adult (30 to 50 years old), moderately active women and men and therefore must be seen as the averages. Your personal daily recommended number of kilocalories is dependant on your age, height, current weight, sex (guys need more on average), overall health and activity levels and can be roughly estimated here.
Calorie in, calorie out.
So now that we know what kilocalories are and learned about the guidelines, it’s time to talk about how what you consume controls your weight, and most importantly: how you can control it.
The easiest way to think about how our bodies use and possibly store the energy it gets through consuming food, is through the concept of ‘calories in, calories out’. Here, we’re talking about three adoptable stages, namely: caloric balance, caloric excess and caloric deficit.
Caloric Balance.
In this stage, you’re roughly consuming the same number of kilocalories as your body is using. If your goal is to have a stable weight, this is what you are aiming for.
Caloric Excess.
This is the stage of weight gain. When consuming more kilocalories than what your body is using, it will store the excess kilocalories as fat and you’ll gain weight.
Caloric deficit.
Here, you are consuming fewer kilocalories than what your body needs. In response to this, your body is pulling energy from its fat-storing cells and you’ll lose weight.
So, when ‘calories in’ are the amounts of energy you consume through foods and beverages, and ‘calories out’ are your basic + additional physical activities, the concept of losing and gaining weight seems simple, right? It’s not rocket science after all.
Queal as your solution.
In the pursuit of an (in)balance that will help to control weight, many people suffer. Why? Because in order to know what gets in and what goes out, you need to keep track. And as you probably know, exactly tracking your intake can be a hell of a job and eating should be fun after all.
At Queal, we’ve made tracking your intake a whole lot easier. Therefore, considering the above, our products can help you reach whatever weight goal you have in mind. By offering complete and clear nutrition, and giving you access to a personal dashboard, we’re here to make either maintaining-, gaining-, or losing weight a goal that’s easier to achieve.
Check out complete meals from Queal.
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