The Diet Logs

Your body uses food for energy. It stores any excess energy as fat. This means if you eat more food than your body needs for daily activities and cell maintenance, you will gain weight.

To lose weight, you need to get your body to use up these stores of fat. The most effective way to do this is to: reduce the amount of calories you eat plus increase your levels of activity.

When energy intake equals energy needs, our bodies are in ‘energy balance’. You achieve it by balancing, on the one hand, your total energy intake, and, on the other, your level of activity. The more active you are, the more energy you need. Energy needs vary with your age and weight, as well as with your level of activity.

When our bodies are not in energy balance, excess energy is stored as fat. If you are on a weight-reduction program, remember that body water is the main constituent lost during the first few days. It is only after 2 to 3 weeks of dieting that the loss is mainly fat. At this stage, a daily energy intake that is about 500 kilocalories (2000 kilojoules) less than the intake actually needed at a particular level of physical activity. It will lead to a weight loss of approximately 1 kilogram per fortnight. Remember also that not all people expend energy with the same efficiency.

APPETITE CAN CONTROL HOW MUCH ENERGY (FOOD) WE CONSUME

Appetite has an important role in controlling energy intake. When we are physically active, appetite is more correctly related to energy need than when we are inactive. At low levels of physical activity, we are more likely to feel hungry and to eat more than we need.

Also, a diet that is low in fat and high in carbohydrate and dietary fibre seems to allow appetite to be more correctly attuned to energy need. Because fatty foods are so palatable, more of them tend to be eaten than our bodies really need. They are also more energy dense than high-carbohydrate, high-dietary fibre foods.

ENERGY DENSITY

A high-energy-dense food has more kilojoules (or kilocalories) than the same amount of a low-energy-dense food.

The more energy dense a food is, the less of it we can eat to provide a given amount of energy. Conversely, the less energy dense a food, the more we can eat to provide us with the same amount of energy.

The more water and dietary fibre, and the less fat and alcohol in a food or drink, the less energy dense it is.

NUTRIENT DENSITY

The greater the number of essential nutrients, and the larger the amount of them a food contains, the more ‘nutrient dense’ it is. Often foods with low energy density are quite nutrient dense, as, for example, wholegrain cereals Find out more about this term and leguminous vegetables (like peas and beans). Some foods can be both nutrient dense and energy dense, such as a piece of steak.

Rina Ng wrote this on August 6th, 2008 and filed it under Diet Logs, Dieting, Healthy Eating, The Zone Diet, Weight Loss |