Balancing Calories

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, whether you are consuming carbohydrates, fats, or proteins, all of them contain calories. If your diet focus is on any one of these alone, you are missing the bigger picture. When it comes to maintaining a healthy weight for a lifetime, the bottom line is calories count! Weight management is all about balance...balancing the number of calories you consume with the number of calories your body uses or "burns off."

• A calorie is defined as a unit of energy supplied by food. A calorie is a calorie regardless of its source. Whether you are eating carbohydrates, fats, sugars, or proteins, all of them contain calories.
• Calorie balance is like a scale. To remain in balance and maintain your body weight, the calories consumed (from food) must be balanced by the calories used (in normal body functions, daily activities and exercise).

If you need to tip the balance scale in the direction of losing weight, keep in mind that it takes approximately 3,500 calories below your calorie needs to lose a pound of body fat. To lose about 1 to 2 pounds per week, you will need to reduce your caloric intake by 500-1,000 calories per day.

An interactive version is found at mypyramidtracker.gov where you can enter the foods you have eaten and physical activity you have done to see how your calorie intake compares to your calorie expenditure.