Calorie Intake To Maintain Or Lose Weight

Recently in New York, an outlet of Starbucks found an increase in sales after posting a note on the calorie content of its products. The interesting part was that many of the new customers were regulars at the neighboring store. With this development, it was observed that posting calorie content information not only shifted customers’ choice within a store of variety products, but also between different stores. It became obvious that consumers are becoming more calorie conscious. Today, it has become mandatory in many countries for companies to display information on the nutritional facts of their products. With the global economy opening beyond geographic boundaries, work pressure and lifestyle has become erratic and demanding. This in turn has led to an increasing number of people who have no time to focus on their health. Physical fitness and healthy living is important for controlling calorie intake and maintaining body weight. Knowledge of calorie consumption is essential, but it is also necessary to combine it with physical exercise. Awareness of calorie content in food and drinks you consume is essential to understand how you can monitor the same. For this reason, many companies have started posting the number of calories on their products, to ensure consumers of their healthy contents. Provided ahead are a few pointers to help you know the right calorie intake to maintain or lose weight.

Calorie Needs To Maintain Body Weight

Based on studies, it has been found out that ideally for a woman, the daily calorie intake should be 2,000. For a man, the daily calorie intake should be 2,500 and for a child, it should be 1,600 in a day. This is what they have to consume, in order to maintain their body weight. However, in order to reduce weight, they need to first create a calorie deficit. This has to be done gradually, a step at a time. Take the following plan as an example:

Suppose you wish to reduce 1 pound every week.
You should then aim to cut back at least 500 calories daily.
It is best to burn 250 calories through exercise and 250 calories through cutting back on food (by monitoring your intake of food and drinks).
If practiced regularly, this will lead to a weekly reduction of 1 pound every week, in the long run.
After you have achieved the desired weight, gradually increase the number of calories to the ideal level, but do not give up on exercising, though you could skip to lighter workouts.

Calorie Content (Food Items)

A list of calorie content about popular food consumed is provided below (calories content for 100 gm of each food item):

White bread (thick slice) – 240 calories
Whoemeal bread (thick) – 220 calories
Cornflakes – 350 calories
Boiled noodles – 70 calories
Boiled Pasta (normal) – 110 calories
Boiled Potato – 70 calories
Roasted Potato – 140 calories
Boiled Rice – 140 calories
Baked Beans – 80 calories
Broccoli - 32 calories
Dates -235 calories
Fried onion – 182 calories
Sweet corn – 130 calories
Cheese (average) – 440 calories
Eggs (average size) – 150 calories
Milk (whole) – 70 calories
Yogurt – 60 calories
Apple (average sized) – 44 calories
Avocado – 150 calories
Banana – 107 calories
Guava - 24 calories
Mango - 40 calories
Orange – 35 calories
Pineapple – 50 calories

Calorie Content (Food Items)

A list of calorie content in some of the common drinks:

Regular / herbal tea (1 cup) – 2 calories
Coffee (1 tsp instant powder with dry, chicory) – 6 calories
Coffee (1 cup brewed with 2 tbsp and 1% milk) – 16 calories
Cola – 88 calories
Cola, low calorie / diet – 5 calories
Ginger ale – 83 calories
Orange soft drinks – 119 calories
Lemon lime soda – 101 calories
Regular beer (half liter)- 184 calories
Whisky, gin, brandy and rum (100 ml) – 220 calories
Red and white medium wine (100 ml) – 70 calories
Bacardi (100 ml) – 118 calories

Tip

A combination of keeping a count on your calorie intake, following a balanced diet and maintaining a disciplined fitness regime will surely help you in reducing and maintaining your body weight.

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