Food In vs Exercise Out

It's all about getting the balance right.

All food has calories. A calorie is simply a unit of energy. It is a very small amount of fuel. Just as a car uses up fuel by running the engine and driving around, so you will use up fuel calories by just going about your normal routine. Just being alive and doing normal activities will use up between 1500 and 1800 calories every day. So to keep yourself in balance, this is roughly the amount of calories you should consume in a day.

For example, if you have Rice Krispies and a glass of orange juice for your breakfast; a cheese sandwich, a yoghurt and a bag of crisps at lunch; then chicken, peas and mash for your dinner, with a Snickers bar as a snack, you will have consumed about 1600 calories, which is about right.

But once you start consuming extra calories – for example, say you had a Big Mac and large fries for dinner instead – then your calorie intake will go up to 2100, which is a lot. A pound of fat contains around 3200 calories. So if you consume 3200 more calories than you use you may find yourself putting on weight.

So if you do eat more than you need, you can balance this out by asking: 'How will I use up the extra calories?' You could swim or play football for an hour; you could skip or play squash for 30 minutes, or you could help with the gardening for two hours. It’s up to you to work it out – but keep it positive. We all need to eat. And we all need to keep the balance right.

The best way is to look at exercise as a way to reward yourself. Rather than saying, “I’ve eaten a lot of chocolate today so I have to do more exercise,” tell yourself, “If I do lots of exercise then I can treat myself more often to chocolate!”

Just keep the balance right.