Fitness Tip #6: Understand The Importance of Calories
So, what is a calorie? Simply put, a calorie is a unit of energy. In nutrition, a calorie estimates the amount of energy to raise the temperature of 1 kg of water by 1 C. In becoming Routinely Fit, calories play a big part in fueling workout and reaching fitness goals. Plus, they are a big part of everyday life.
So, for this fitness tip I will discuss the importance of calories, helpful ways to track calories, and the lessons I’ve learned on my fitness journey when it comes to calories and what role they play in reaching fitness goals.
The Importance of Calories
I like to keep my fitness tip posts as short and to the point as possible. So, let’s get right to it. First thing to know about calories is they are our body’s fuel source to function and perform daily tasks. Meaning that they are huge in having the energy to work out and perform daily activity. Second, there is no such thing as “good” or “bad” calories. BUT there are “good” and “bad” effects from the different kinds of foods, which is one of the many reasons why nutrition is very important to learn. I will talk more about this later in this post.
On my fitness journey, I’ve heard from many people over the years that in order to put on weight, you need to be in a calorie surplus. And in order to lose weight you need to be in a calorie deficit. And I do believe in this BUT I also believe that there is more that goes into body recomposition. For me, I wanted to put on muscle but be lean. At the beginning of my fitness journey, I primarily focused on calories over mastering the fundamentals and it led to not-so-great results. It was only when I took a step back and started focusing on the basics that I realized the role calories play in reaching fitness goals and how and why mastering the fundamentals, such as, sleep, nutrition, hydration, stress management, training, etc. were so important. All these fundamentals have something in common, they all help with hormones in the body. Hormones play a crucial part in metabolism, bodily functions, mood, energy, stress management, and much more. Calories are good for fueling workouts but to maximize results, the fundamentals needed to be included.
So, calories are needed to fuel workouts and can play a big role in weight gain or lose over time BUT that in order to build muscle, lower body fat percentage, improve strength, and reach fitness goals, more needed to be focused on. In order to reach fitness goals, it’s important to master the fundamentals and give the body a reason to grow (through training). There is another thing I learned about calories during my fitness journey and that is that there is no such thing as “good” or “bad” calories. BUT there are different types of foods that can have very different effects on the body. For example, I learned that, for me, if I had 300 calories of pasta, I would feel bloated and see a difference on the scale the next day (which could be discouraging), BUT if I had 300 calories of apples instead, I wouldn’t feel bloated the next day and the scale hardly changed. Now this is just one example but did show me that even though foods have the same number of calories, their effects can be very different. Understanding little things like this, helped me in not being discouraged about the weight on the scale changing and focus more on other areas of my fitness journey.
Summary
So, what I’m trying to say in this post is that calories should be viewed as energy to perform workouts and daily activities. Calories can play a big factor in weight gain and loss BUT more must be done to maximize muscle building and lower body fat percentage. Focusing on the effects that certain foods have on the body, mastering the fundamentals, and proper training lead to great fitness results. Calories play a big role on a fitness journey, but they are only one piece of the puzzle in becoming Routinely Fit.
How Do I Track Calories?
Personally, when I started tracking calories, I used MyFitnessPal to track calories and found it very helpful in seeing how many calories were in different kinds of foods, so I was more aware of what I was having throughout the day.
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