Low Calorie

The calorie is a pre-SI metric unit of energy. It was first defined by Nicolas Clément in 1824 as a unit of heat, entering French and English dictionaries between 1841 and 1867. Very low calorie diet (VLCD) is a diet with very or extremely low daily food energy consumption. VLCDs are formulated, nutritionally complete, liquid meals containing 800 kilocalories or less per day. VLCDs also contain the recommended daily requirements for vitamins, minerals, trace elements, fatty acids and protein. Carbohydrate may be entirely absent, or substituted for a portion of the protein; this choice has important metabolic effects. The VLCD is prescribed on a case to case basis for rapid weight loss (about 1.5 to 2.5 kilograms or 3 to 5 pounds per week) in patients with Body Mass Index of 30 and above. The health care provider can recommend the diet to a patient with BMI between 27 and 30 if the medical complications the patient has due to overweight present serious health risk.

How a Very Low Calorie Diet Can Make You Gain Weight

The weight loss industry is a multi-billion dollar industry filled with meal plans that provide very low calorie levels. This is the magic bullet because if you follow these meal plans closely you will absolutely lose weight. Physiologically we know that very low calorie diets work for short term weight loss but the question is what are we doing to ourselves in the long run?
The fact is; very low calorie diets (1,000 - 1200 calories or less) are contributing to weight gain more than they are helping people to find lasting weight loss. Many people feel they have to go on a very low calorie diet because this is the only way their weight will budge. Well...they're right and this is why.
When a person goes on a very low calorie diet they are putting themselves into starvation mode. If they lose more than two pounds per week they can end up losing muscle mass which will negatively affect their metabolism. This is a topic that is worth spending a minute on. Sally's Story:
Sally's resting metabolic rate (how many calories she burns) was 2500 calories per day. This means she was consuming around 2500 calories each day to maintain her weight where it was. She decided to lose weight by going on a "diet". The diet program estimated her calories at 1000-1200. She lost 10 pounds in two weeks. She is of course very happy about this weight loss. This is success! What she doesn't know is that part of that rapid weight loss is not fat but muscle. Sally then gets bored on this diet after the first month, which is typical, and goes back to her old eating habits.
What happened to Sally's body during this diet?
She lost lean body mass along with body fat. Muscle is the most important factor in keeping your metabolic rate high. One pound of muscle burns 30-70 calories while one pound of fat burns around 0-10 calories. During her weight loss in the last month Sally lost approximately 6 pounds of muscle mass (lean body mass).
Sally's metabolic rate used to be 2500 calories for her weight to stay stable and now it has decreased to approximately 2100 calories. Now when she goes back to her old eating habits which were landing her on an average of 2500 calories in per day, she will gain her old weight back plus more.
What will happen after 4-5 weight loss diets? You guessed it! She will continue to decrease her metabolic rate. To add insult to injury, there are also studies that suggest when people go back to their original eating habits they gain fat tissue rapidly instead of lean body mass.
Don't despair dieters! There are steps you can take to get your metabolism fired up again but the first step is to stop low calorie diets. The next time you see a program that tries to estimate your calorie level by height, weight, and age; don't do it! This method is almost never accurate because they aren't taking into account your health history, genetics, age and all the other multitude of things that make up your individual metabolism. Remember, they want you to lose weight fast so you are satisfied with their product or service so they will give you the lowest calorie level.
The only way to truly know how many calories you burn is to get your metabolism tested with a breathing test. To find someone in your area that provides these tests go to http://www.healthetech.com. Otherwise do not trust estimates from scales or calculations. They almost always under estimate your calorie level which will do you more harm than good.

A calorie is a unit of measurement for energy. A food calorie is the amount of heat required to raise 1 kilogram of water 1 degree centigrade. The more calories that the food contains the more energy it will be released when it is burned.

Free List Of Low Calorie Foods

List of low calorie foods.

Vegetables low in calories.

- Brussels sprouts.

- Boiled potatoes.

- Broccoli

- Celery

- Mushroom

- Tomatoes.

- Watercress.

- Swede.

- Red peppers.

Fruits low in calories.

These fruits are low in calories when you eat them fresh.

- Apricot

- Melon

- Chayote

- Currants

- Grapefruit (white, red, pink)

Meat and animal products low in calories.

- Lean ham

- Lower fat hot-dogs

- Beef

- Canadian bacon

- Ground turkey

- White eggs

- Low fat cheese

When it comes to drinks water is the only thing you need. Water doesn't contain any calories at all. A few cups of coffee a day is ok too but don't add sugar to it. Tip! Next time you go to your supermarket be sure to read to read the food labels very carefully.

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