A calorie is a measure of the amount of energy in food. The energy content of food is calculated in kilocalories (abbreviated as kcal). One kcal equals 1,000 calories. For convenience, we usually just talk about calories.
You need energy for everything your body does: breathing, moving, sitting, resting, and walking.
Any excess energy your body stores and uses later when you consume too little. The result of eating too much energy too often is weight gain. This is generally well known — but how exactly do you calculate how many calories are in a product? That depends on the amount of fat, carbohydrates, and protein the product contains. And of course, the number of calories you consume also depends on how much of the product you eat!
Would you like to try counting calories? You can do the math yourself:
-
1 gram of fat provides 9 kcal
-
1 gram of carbohydrates provides 4 kcal
-
1 gram of protein provides 4 kcal
Vitamins and minerals do not provide calories, nor does water. So you can calculate calories if you know exactly how much fat, protein, and carbohydrates a product contains. This way, based on your personal calorie needs, you can also calculate how much food you can still consume after eating a particular product.