Calories are not a problem, unless….

High calories food

Calories don’t become a problem until you’re taking in more calories than your body uses for its energy, repair and growth needs.

If the calories you expend in metabolism are less than the calories you consume, the excess calories are store as body fat. If your calorie intake exceeds your calorie need by even 1% over a period of a year you’ll put on 1 extra kilo of body fat.

Obesity is not just a cosmetic problem, it also put you at higher risk of all kinds of other health problem; from heart disease to diabetes, from high blood pressure to certain cancers.

The key to avoiding this, keep your daily calories within the limits that will meet your needs, and no more. And how much would that be? No standard answer can be given for everyone, because it depends on your age, sex, height and overall body type, the rate at which your body burns calories (i.e. your metabolic rate), your level of activity. Whether you’re already suffering from a chronic illness, are pregnant or on other special health situations. As an overall guide, the following ranges have been suggested for healthy Indians by an expert group IMCR 2009

Age Group	Category Body	weights	Requirement
			(kcal/d)*	(kcal/kg/day)
Man	Sedentary work	60	2320	39
	Moderate work	60	2730	46
	Heavy work	60	3490	58
Woman	Sedentary work	55	1900	35
	Moderate work	55	2230	41
	Heavy work	55	2850	52
	Pregnant woman	55 + GWG**	+ 350
	Lactation	55 + WG***	+600 +520
Infants	0-6 m 6-12m	5.4 8.4	500 670	92 80
Children****	1-3y 4-6y 7-9 y	12.9 18.1 25.1	1060 1350 1690	82 75 67
Boys	10-12y 13-15y  16-17y	34.3 47.6 55.4	2190 2750 3020	64 58 55
Girls	10-12y 13-15y  16-17y	35.0  46.6  52.1	2010 2330 2440	57 50 47

*               Rounded off to the nearest 10 kcal/d

**            GWG – Gestational Weight Gain. Energy need in pregnancy should be adjusted for actual

                 bodyweight, observed weight  gain  and activity pattern for the population.

***           WG – Gestational Weight gain remaining after delivery

****        Energy needs of children and adolescents have been computed for reference

children and adolescents; these reference children were assumed to have a

moderate daily physical activity level.  The actual requirement in specific

population groups should be adjusted for the actual weight and physical activity

of that population (see Table 4.7e), especially when computing the gap

between energy requirement and actual intake that needs to be filled by

supplementation programmes.

Interestingly , however, these daily allowances are across  the board higher than those currently suggested by the official US Guidelines. As comparative instances, the American allowance for a sedentary woman is 1600 daily calories for most moderately active and many sedentary men 2200 calories; and for many active men and some very active women, 2800 calories.

There are reasons for discrepancy. The ICMR recommendations tilt to the higher side to take into account the majority of Indian population, which is rural physically highly active and nutrientionally deficient. In contrast most of the India city dwellers live a sedentary life style. That is why we continuously see people who though they may well within the daily calorie limits laid down by the ICMR are still overweight. Their lifestyles are not active enough to burn those calories.

What’s more, calorie guidelines such as ICMR’s often do not work in real life because they have been derived from populations as a whole. Where as individuals differ widely in their basal metabolic rates. Such estimates therefore are not strictly applicable on an individual basis.

Today, nutritionists recommend a division of daily calories into 10 to 15% calories from proteins; 60% from carbohydrates; and 25 to 30% from fats. Those who need to lose weight may need to keep their intake of fat calories even lower.

But, apportioning there percentages on to your plate is not the easiest of things to do on a daily basis. Instead two simple guidelines:

·         Check whether we have maintaining your weight

·         Check whether your weight falls within the healthy range limit for you.(The detail can be seen in my other post” A Weight loss method that work”)

If you meet these two criteria, you do not have to spend time working out calorie count. If on the other hand, your weight has been increasing and is well above healthy limits, you need to work out physical ways to lose excess weight while not cutting back on essential nutrients. You shall find such advice in other post” 150 ways to slim down your meals”

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