Fitness Nutrition & Diet - Check Your Calories

How much you eat affects How Much Exercise is Needed to make a difference in your weight. You will gain or lose weight depending on your calorie intake. A calorie is a unit of energy supplied by food. Each food calorie technically equals 1,000 of the calories used to measure other kinds of heat energy. When you eat more calories than you use or need, they will turn into body fat. However, when you eat fewer than you use, your body will convert its own fat into energy. Hence, the amount of food you eat has more impact in weight control than the kinds of food.

The Key to Weight Control and Fitness is keeping energy intake (food) and energy output (physical activity) in balance. Thus, your Fitness Training Program will also depend on your calorie intake. The following are several Ways to Decrease about 100 Calories off your daily intake:

• Instead of having bagel for breakfast, eat a piece of whole wheat toast
• Munch on a handful of pretzels instead of nuts
• Replace your candy bar snack with a piece of fruit
• Per recipe, cut one less tablespoon of oil or butter
• Dip chips in salsa instead of guacamole
• Instead of chips, dip celery, carrot, or green pepper sticks
• For your sandwich, use mustard instead of mayonnaise
• Instead of a T-bone steak, delight in a filet mignon
• Drink water instead of a can of soda
• Drink 10-16 ounces of water about 30 minutes before each meal and snacks. This makes you fill up more quickly so you have less room for food

lf you already have a lean figure and just want to maintain it, exercise regularly and eat a balanced diet. Make sure that your diet provides enough calories to make up for the energy you expend. If you wish to gain weight you should exercise regularly and increase the number of calories you consume until you reach your desired weight. Exercise will help ensure that the weight you gain will be lean muscle mass, not extra fat.

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