The Proper Way to Eat

Many people have no idea how to properly eat. That’s of course doesn’t mean how to eat, but more what to eat. And more specifically, I mean the proper amount of calories to eat in a day. This value for most people lies around a baseline of 2000 calories. Of course many values affect and modify this baseline. First and foremost is the amount of muscle and fat in your body. A high amount of fat causes less calories to be burned, while high amounts of muscle burn more calories. In fact, with enough muscle calories are burnt even while you sleep. The size of your meals also affects the rate at which the calories are burnt. Small snacks throughout the day result in more calories burnt. On the other hand, a few larger meals cause a larger amount of calories to be absorbed.

Of course, exercise has a huge affect on how calories are burnt. First, exercise creates more muscle. This of course has the advantages outlined above (without mentioning how much better it makes you look). Also, for about 2 hours immediately after exercise, your body burns more calories than usual. Interestingly enough, the calories are burnt most swiftly in the cool down period immediately after exercise. If you don’t cool down, this entire period is lost. It’s one of the greatest advantages many people don’t know about and miss out on. And calories eaten during this period almost entirely go towards the creation of muscle. To best promote this, be sure to eat lots of protein-rich food immediately after exercise.

Interestingly enough, how you feel at the time of eating has a large effect. Stress and sickness cause more calories to be stored as fat. This is because in these situations, your body needs to stockpile energy. In the fight-or-flight situation your body experiences with stress, the energy may be needed for a hasty getaway. In the case of sickness, your body needs as much energy as possible to fight off the sickness, in case you become unable to consume more. An unfortunate feedback loop exists though. Prolonged stress leads to more eating for this reason. The higher weight in turn puts stress on your body, closing the loop. Therefore, when you get cravings to eat without being actually hungry, you shouldn’t eat – a greater portion of those calories will be converted to fat.

Your hunger is also a large factor. If you are hungry, more calories will be stored as fat. And if you eat till you are stuffed, your stomach will expand, making it easier for you to get hungrier faster. Therefore, it’s best to eat until you are just satiated, and wait until just before you get hungry to eat. Of course, the timing for this is very difficult. But with enough time and practice with these habits, a better system of eating is possible. The key is to remember these points, and to pay careful attention to the signals your body sends to you.

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