WHAT ARE CALORIES?

A flour tortilla has 115 calories. An orange soda has 210 calories. A bowl of CheeriosTM has 80 calories. What does this mean?

Human beings are like cars in that we both need fuel to operate. Cars need gasoline, and humans need food. Cars burn gasoline to convert it into energy. Humans burn food to convert it into energy. Gasoline is measured in gallons, and food is measured in calories. A calorie is a measure of the energy supplied by foods you eat and drink.

Many people fill their cars with gasoline once a week. This gasoline sits in the tank until you start the car and begin to burn fuel.

But in people the calories that are not burned are stored as fat. When the number of calories we eat is consistently more than the number of calories we burn, fat accumulates and a person becomes overweight According to the Joslin Center for Diabetes at Harvard University, diabetes is strongly associated with obesity. Eighty percent of diabetics are overweight. Researchers at Yale University have discovered 21% of obese teenagers in their study have a pre-diabetes condition. To avoid diabetes, the steps are to eat less, eat better food, and exercise more.

All our activities burn some calories (even when we sleep our heart and lungs are working which burns calories), but different activities burn different amounts of calories. The chart below shows the number of calories burned by some common activities.

ACTIVITY CALORIES USED
(15 minutes)
Stting 20 – 25
Walking 60 – 75
Bicycling 90 – 115
Jogging 145 – 180
Swimming 145 – 180

The amount of calories an individual should eat each day is partly determined by
how active that individual is. A person who burns a lot of calories is described as
active. A person who is inactive and burns very few calories is called sedentary. The more calories you burn the more fuel you need. However, your calorie needs are also determined by your body size, age, and gender. You will discover this in the following activity.

Example Scenario (male, 11 years old, plays baseball daily, 110 lbs., 5'3" tall)

NAME_______Gilbert Hoover___________

BASAL METABOLISM CALORIES:

Find the following from the Nomogram.
My height = ________160______centimeters
My weight = ________50_______kilograms
My surface area = ____1.5______square meters

1. _____1.5_______x________46.5___________________________= ___69.75______
my surface area calories/square meter/hour for my age (calories/hour)
and sex from Basal Metabolism Table

BASAL METABOLISM CALORIES:
2. Multiply the calories/hour (from #1 above) by the number of hours in a day.

__________69.75______________x 24 (hours/day) = ________1,674______________
calories/hour basal metabolism calories/day

PHYSICAL ACTIVITY CALORIES:
3. Multiply my basal metabolism calories (from step #2) by the percentage that best
describes my overall activity level on the Classification of Activities Handout.

________1,674_____________ x_____50__________% = __ 837_________________
basal metabolism calories physical activity calories

FOOD DIGESTION CALORIES:
4. Add my basal metabolism calories ____1,674____
and my physical activity calories + _____837____

Multiply the total x 10% Total _____2,511__ x 10% = ____251.1____
food digestion
calories
TOTAL ENERGY NEEDS:
5. _____1,674_______ + _______837_______+ __251.1_______ = ______2,762.10____
Basal metabolism physical activity food digestion total calories needed
calories calories calories each day

Used with permission from © 2001 UTHSCSA "Positively Aging®" a trade mark of the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
ENERGY NEEDS WORKSHEET

NAME__________________________________________________________________

BASAL METABOLISM CALORIES:

Find the following from the Nomogram.

My height = _________________centimeters
My weight = _________________kilograms
My surface area = _________________square meters

1. _______________x______________________________________= ___________
my surface area calories/square meter/hour for my age (calories/hour)
and sex from Basal Metabolism Table

BASAL METABOLISM CALORIES:
2. Multiply the calories/hour (from #1 above) by the number of hours in a day.

_____________________________x 24 (hours/day) = _________________________
calories/hour basal metabolism calories/day

PHYSICAL ACTIVITY CALORIES:
3. Multiply my basal metabolism calories from step #2 by the percentage that best
describes my overall activity level on the Classification of Activities Handout.

__________________________ x_________________% = _______________________
basal metabolism calories physical activity calories

FOOD DIGESTION CALORIES:
4. Add my basal metabolism calories ____________
and my physical activity calories + ____________

Multiply the total x 10% Total ____________ x 10% = ____________
food digestion
calories
TOTAL ENERGY NEEDS:
5. _________________ + ________________ + _____________ = _______________
Basal metabolism physical activity food digestion total calories needed
calories calories calories each day

Used with permission from © 2001 UTHSCSA "Positively Aging®" a trade mark of the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio