|
What
Is A Calorie?
Calories are what your body uses as fuel, just
as a car runs on gas. In fact, it's not too farfetched to
think of calories as miniature gallons of gas. Calories
are the source of energy that your body uses to power
your heart, expand your lungs, hug your aunt, and stand
up and yell at the TV during "Monday Night Football" - in
short, they're what your body uses to do every single
physiological function it's capable of.
Calories come from food, but your body doesn't
simply take that pork chop you just ate and toss it into
some sort of biological furnace. First, your body must
take the nutrients in your food and break them down into
their most elemental form, a substance called glucose. If
your body doesn't need the energy immediately, the
calories get converted into body fat and stored for later
use - like a savings account.
Every
3,500 calories that you save for later becomes one pound of
body fat. You can lose fat only by creating a calorie
deficit - that is, either eating fewer calories than you
burn up in a day or burning more calories than you eat. Once
you take 3,500 calories out of your savings account, the
scale will register a one-pound weight
loss.
|