Lesson 1
Calories: The Basics

Calories are a way of keeping
track of a body’s energy budget
But if you don’t understand
calories, they can be a bit confusing. So
let’s understand calories better.
Think of Calories as an Accounts ledger.
Just like how you record a “to” and “from” in a ledger - calories are a way of keeping track of the energy “in” and “out” of the body’s energy budget.
Imagine placing a food item into an insulated, sealed metal container surrounded by water
Then quite literally bomb your food. Once the food is completely burnt, the rise in temperature indicates the amount of energy emitted - a.k.a calories
As fun as that experiment sounds, it is also time-consuming. So, today food labels count calories by -
These are also called as Macronutrients and form the composition of energy stored in your food. As you learned above, these nutrients also form the basis of counting calories in a food. Different types of macronutrients have standard amounts of calories.
We all know that calorie is a useful energy measure, but to work out exactly how many of them each of us requires we need to factor in things like exercise, food type, and our body’s ability to process energy.
TOO MANY CALCULATIONS?
Lucky for you, we do all that calorie
counting hardwork - all you have to
do is eat, workout, and track!
Good job! You just finished
learning the basics of Calories.
Test your CalorieQGo to Lesson 2 - Calories & Nutrients