calories?

A calorie is a unit of energy. We tend to associate calories with food, but they apply to anything containing energy. For example, a gallon (about 4 liters) of gasoline contains about 31,000,000 calories. Specifically, a calorie is the amount of energy, or heat, it takes to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit). One calorie is equal to 4.184 joules, a common unit of energy used in the physical sciences. Most of us think of calories in relation to food, as in "This can of soda has 200 calories." It turns out that the calories on a food package are actually kilocalories (1,000 calories = 1 kilocalorie). The word is sometimes capitalized to show the difference, but usually not. A food calorie contains 4,184 joules. A can of soda containing 200 food calories contains 200,000 regular calories, or 200 kilocalories. A gallon of gasoline contains 31,000 kilocalories. The same applies to exercise -- when a fitness chart says you burn about 100 calories for every mile you jog, it means 100 kilocalories Human beings need energy to survive -- to breathe, move, pump blood -- and they acquire this energy from food. The number of calories in a food is a measure of how much potential energy that food possesses. A gram of carbohydrates has 4 calories, a gram of protein has 4 calories, and a gram of fat has 9 calories. Foods are a compilation of these three building blocks. So if you know how many carbohydrates, fats and proteins are in any given food, you know how many calories, or how much energy, that food contains. Just how many calories do our cells need to function well? The number is different for every person. You may notice on the nutritional labels of the foods you buy that the "percent daily values" are based on a 2,000 calorie diet -- 2,000 calories is a rough average of what a person needs to eat in a day, but your body might need more or less than 2,000 calories. Height, weight, gender, age and activity level all affect your caloric needs. There are three main factors involved in calculating how many calories your body needs per day: -Basal metabolic rate -Physical activity -Thermic effect of food Your basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the amount of energy your body needs to function at rest. This accounts for about 60 to 70 percent of calories burned in a day and includes the energy required to keep the heart beating, the lungs breathing, the kidneys functioning and the body temperature stabilized. In general, men have a higher BMR than women. Source: http://health.howstuffworks.com/calorie1.htm

A calorie is a unit of energy. Taking in too few or too many will cause you to lose or gain weight, respectively. Yes, you can burn off calories by doing little things like walking, picking things up, etc. Any little thing will burn calories, because you're using energy. Even smiling (or frowning) burns calories. The more you do, the more calories you burn, simple as that.

all the food we eat has calories and it depends on you on how yopu will burn it. some people eat less so they wont have hard time burning it. some people eat more and burn it by exercising and going to the gym. it also depends on what work you do. if you are a person who needs strength when working then you need a lot of calories so you wont feel week while your body keeps on burning it. if your working is at an office and working mostly on sitting down i think you should watch what you eat for you might ending up being fat. but as we grow older we need to limit the calories we take for our body is not the fast anymore to burn it.