Calories In versus Calories Out

Allen Jesson, Poet and Philosopher



This is a fairly simple concept but it is worth explaining. Imagine your body is a car. You put in fuel, oil and water and off it goes. Occasionally,you have to have it serviced, top up the battery or change a tire, but generally speaking, as long as you keep adding fuel, oil and water, it will keep on going. 


It's a straight forward equation too, so many gallons of fuel will get you so far, not so far if you drive aggressively or overly fast. But for the purposes of this exercise, let's say, on average, you get around 600 miles out of your tank of fuel. You put the fuel in, and 600 miles later, you need to refill the tank. 


Simple. 

Your body is no different! It is just like an engine. It needs fuel to operate. Without fuel and water it will cease to operate. For the record, the survival rule of thumb is: 3 hours without shelter, 3 days without water, 3 weeks without food.


Of course, these numbers would vary from person to person and the circumstances they found themselves in, but the point is clear, without fuel your body will cease to function. 

It is this simple thought that you need to be aware of in your daily life.

But you also need to be aware of what happens when you eat too much, and exercise too little, as, of course, your body stores this excess energy in the form of fat.

The good news is that just sitting down your body burns calories (about 90 per hour), and when you exercise, you obviously burn a lot more, the harder and longer the exercise, the more calories you burn (running is around 700 calories per hour). 


When you don't have enough readily available energy your body turns to your stored fat to get the 'stuff' it needs. BUT don't try and skip breakfast or lunch, or not drink enough fluids in the day, your body needs them! Your body will probably react by going into 'drought' mode and will end up storing MORE (in preparation for the next drought it thinks is coming). 


That's why starvation diets never work in the long run. 'Little and often' or 'grazing' is a far better eating plan than 'skipping'. 

But assuming that we're eating sensibly and regularly, it's a simple equation really:

If calories in > calories out = weight gain (body stores fat)
If calories out > calories in = weight loss (body uses stored fat)

Now, there are all sorts of complications you could add to this equation but I am not going to confuse matters. But for the point of example, if you exercise with weights, or if you exercise for periods longer than 45 minutes, then the rules start to change (in favour of more weight loss).

But let's keep it simple. Think about your calories in. Think about your calories out. What's your score today? Gain or loss? Please
let me know.