How many calories should I be eating?

"Just what the heck is a calorie and what do I do with it?!"

The calorie is a unit of measure of energy, sort of like the watts on a light bulb. It takes more energy (watts) to burn a brighter bulb just as it takes more energy (calories) to climb the stairs than using the elevator.

But not everyone needs the same amount of calories. A 5 foot 4 inch woman needs less fuel (calories) than a 6 foot 2 male. Think of this as the difference between a compact car and a big pick up truck. (The truck just gets fewer miles per gallon - and that's where that metaphor breaks down.)

So how many calories should you be eating to lose weight?  There are some guidelines.

For the 5 for 4 inch woman a weight in the range of 145 lbs. is a good target.  Multiplying that target by 11 is a good place to start -- in this case is right at 1,600 calories. (You can find a guide for weight using this Body Mass Index (BMI) table.)  While BMI is not a perfect guide it can be a good starting place.

For most people it doesn't take many extra calories each day to add on pounds (or lose them).

To lose about a half pound each week you need to eat 250 calories less than your baseline each day. So if you should weigh 145 lbs. you'll need to eat about 1,350 calories per day to lose weight. You can burn those calories exercising - and should - but we'll talk about that later.

All of this said, there is a major issue is that while two foods may have the same amount of calories those calories are very different in how the body uses them and stores them as fat.  For example, a large apple is about 120 calories and so is a cup of apple juice.  However, the body processes these very differently with the apple being digested slower, not raising blood sugar and insulin levels as much and being more satisfying.  This is because the processed apple juice has had all the goodness of the fiber (and some other nutrients) stripped out.

The total calories you consume is important but the quality of those calories has been shown to be much more important.