Sometimes, those of you who are on a diet severely limit your food intake, to the point that it hurts your health. Instead of wanting to lose weight, you can get the disease. Too strict a diet can interfere with your body’s performance. Therefore, if you are on a diet, at least you meet your body’s minimum calorie needs; there is no need to cut all your calories.
The correct balance between the different foods that make up our daily diets is just as important as the total food intake.
What is a calorie?
A calorie is a unit of energy. In physical terms, a calorie is the amount of thermal energy needed to increase the temperature of a gram of water by one degree Celsius at a pressure of one atmosphere.
In terms of nutrition and diet, calories are generally used to express the amount of energy value of particular foods. In the context of nutrition, calories are the SI unit of food energy.
Minimum calories that must for women
Diet doesn’t mean you shouldn’t eat at all, but only limits your calorie intake a little. A good diet must be calculated according to the needs of your body, so the diet you do is safe and effective in losing weight.
Women need 1200 calories per day to lose weight. A nutritionist says active women need a minimum of 1200-1400 calories per day. By meeting these minimal calorie requirements, you can ensure that you are eating enough food so that your metabolism is not compromised.
During adolescence and early adulthood, women need to increase their amounts of calories. The calorie gain varies for each person based on age, gender, and activity level. But for the most part, women ages 23-50 will need to eat about 2000 calories per day to maintain their current weight, while older women need a few calories. No one should consume less than 1,200 calories, even trying to lose weight, according to the US Federal Food and Drug Administration.
What if women’s calorie intake is less than the recommended minimum?
Be careful when doing a diet, unconsciously, your intake may be less than the minimum recommended intake. This can make your calorie intake very low per day. Very low-calorie intake is usually in the range of 800-1000 calories per day or it could be less.
If women calorie intake is in this range for approximately 4-16 weeks, this will cause mild side effects, such as:
- Constipation
- Nausea
- Diarrhea
- Fatigue
Very low-calorie diets can also have serious side effects, such as gallstones. Gallstones can occur if you lose weight very quickly (very high risk for women). However, it was not clear at this time whether a very low-calorie diet directly causes gallstones or whether gallstones occur due to the loss of weight.
If your calorie intake is too low per day, the body will break down muscle tissue as a source of energy and this is certainly not good for everyone. A very low-calorie diet is not recommended for teenagers, pregnant women, and nursing mothers. Most teenagers have the wrong diet, even though they need many nutrients for their growth and development.
Tips for reducing calorie intake in a healthy way
Meeting enough calories per day for bodily functions is very necessary, even though you are on a diet.
The following are tips for those of you who want to lose weight but still, meet your calorie needs.
- Eat more protein
Protein can reduce your appetite and can also increase the number of calories you burn. The body needs a lot of energy to metabolize protein, thus indirectly burning calories in your body.
- Avoid sugary drinks
Such as soft drinks, soft drinks, fruit juices, and others. Sweet drinks can be one of the factors that can cause you to gain weight. This keeps you hungry so you will continue to eat other foods.
- Drink lots of white water
Can also help lose weight. Drinking water before meals may help reduce hunger so you will eat less.
- Get regular exercise
Of course, because doing regular exercise can balance the calories that enter and leave your body. Weight training is also important because it can inhibit the loss of muscle mass and can prevent the slowing of the metabolic rate in your body.
Final words
However, that’s still a rough count. If you want to calculate correctly, there are factors to consider, such as age, current height, and weight, activity level, metabolic health, etc. To find out exactly how many minimum calories you need each day, it’s best to visit your nutritionist. Together with a nutritionist, you can plan your weight loss diet.
