Myths about women's fitness and nutrition can be clarified by starting with the explanation of what is a fat cell and what is a calorie. Both are very important to understand in order to have a solid fitness plan that produces results for you.
What are fat cells?
Everyone has fat cells, but exactly what are they and how do they work?
Fat cells (also called adipocytes or lipocytes) are the cells that make up body fat(adipose tissue). The main role of these cells is to store fat so that it can be used by the body for energy when needed.
When you consume more calories than your body needs, regardless of whether the calories come from fats, carbohydrates or proteins, the extra calories are stored as fat in those fat cells.
When your body needs to burn that stored energy, it's released from the cells and the cells will shrink accordingly. This is why you look leaner when you lose body fat - because those cells are now smaller.
The way to trigger the release of fat is to consume fewer calories than you burn, which creates an energy deficit in the body. The optimum way to create this energy deficit is by cutting back on calories and increasing physical activity with a fitness program.
It was once believed that the number of fat cells a person had would not increase in adulthood and that only the size of the cells could increase (or decrease). It's now known that they can increase both in number and size during adulthood.
What happens is that when a fat cell expands to its maximum size it can divide, producing an increase in the actual number of those cells. A person becomes overweight when their fat cells increase in number, in size or in both.
Some people are genetically predisposed to have more fat cells than others, and women have more than men.
An overweight person's number of fat cells depends on how overweight the person is, but it can be over 10 times more than a person with normal body composition. An overweight person's fat cells can also be up to three times larger than those of a healthy person with normal body composition who is participating in a women fitness and nutrition program.
In conclusion, the more fat cells you have and the larger those cells are, the more difficult it will be for you to get your body lean.
What is a Calorie?
Calories are simply a way to measure the energy in food and the energy released in the body. Although the technically correct name is kilocalorie, nearlyeveryone, including dietitians, uses the shorter "calorie."
One calorie is the amount of energy necessary to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1 degree Centigrade. You expend about 1 calorie per minute when sitting relaxed. That's about the same amount of heat released by a candle or a 75-watt light bulb.
Calories are rounded on food labels, so when you multiply the grams of protein, carbohydrate or fat, you may come out with a different value than appears on the label. Foods that contain 50 calories or fewer are rounded to the nearest 5-calorie increment; foods with more than 50 calories are rounded to the nearest 10-calorie increment.
Foods that have fewer than 5 calories can be listed as having 0 calories. Although you may think that this rounding seems misleading or inaccurate, keep in mind that a 10-calorie difference is actually negligible in the grand scheme of things.
A calorie isn't a nutrient, but certain nutrients provide calories. Protein, carbohydrate, and fat make up the calorie contents of various foods. Although not considered a nutrient, alcohol also provides calories. In fact, one gram of
Few foods and beverages are 100 percent of any one nutrient. Most foods and beverages are a combination of protein, fat, and carbohydrate (and sometimes alcohol), so a food's calorie count is the sum of the calories provided by each nutrient. See how it works:
A bowl of chicken noodle soup contains 3 grams of protein, 7 grams of carbohydrate, and 2 grams of fat for a total of 58 calories:
3 grams protein x 4 calories/gram = 12 calories
7 grams carbohydrate x 4 calories/gram = 28 calories
2 grams fat x 9 calories/gram = 18 calories
Total= 58 calories
Even though most foods are made up of two or more nutrients, foods are categorized by their predominant nutrient. For example, a bagel and a bowl of cereal are considered carbohydrate foods even though they also contain protein and, sometimes, fat. Even though a chicken breast is considered a protein food, not all of its calories come from protein. Chicken also contains fat, which contributes calories.
Not all calories are created equal. Foods that are considered empty-calorie foods really have nothing in them as far as nutrition go, except for calories. Sugary foods, such as candy, are prime examples. When you're restricting calories, you can make some room for empty-calorie foods but don't build your diet on them. If you do, you'll miss out on valuable minerals, fiber, and vitamins.
The opposite of empty-calorie foods are nutrient-dense foods. Calorie for calorie, they pack a solid nutrition punch by providing a good amount of vitamins, minerals, and/or fiber in comparison to the number of calories they provide. In other words, you get a big nutrition bang for your caloric buck.
An example of a nutrient-dense food is an orange. For a mere 60 calories, you get about 3 grams of fiber, 100 percent of your daily vitamin C requirement, and a good amount of folic acid plus a spectrum of other micronutrients and phytochemicals, such as antioxidants.
Now that you have all the information that you need on what is fat and what is a calorie finding the correct women fitness and nutrition program to get involved in will be easy because you can understand what you need to conquer!
What are fat cells?
Everyone has fat cells, but exactly what are they and how do they work?
Fat cells (also called adipocytes or lipocytes) are the cells that make up body fat(adipose tissue). The main role of these cells is to store fat so that it can be used by the body for energy when needed.
When you consume more calories than your body needs, regardless of whether the calories come from fats, carbohydrates or proteins, the extra calories are stored as fat in those fat cells.
When your body needs to burn that stored energy, it's released from the cells and the cells will shrink accordingly. This is why you look leaner when you lose body fat - because those cells are now smaller.
The way to trigger the release of fat is to consume fewer calories than you burn, which creates an energy deficit in the body. The optimum way to create this energy deficit is by cutting back on calories and increasing physical activity with a fitness program.
It was once believed that the number of fat cells a person had would not increase in adulthood and that only the size of the cells could increase (or decrease). It's now known that they can increase both in number and size during adulthood.
What happens is that when a fat cell expands to its maximum size it can divide, producing an increase in the actual number of those cells. A person becomes overweight when their fat cells increase in number, in size or in both.
Some people are genetically predisposed to have more fat cells than others, and women have more than men.
An overweight person's number of fat cells depends on how overweight the person is, but it can be over 10 times more than a person with normal body composition. An overweight person's fat cells can also be up to three times larger than those of a healthy person with normal body composition who is participating in a women fitness and nutrition program.
In conclusion, the more fat cells you have and the larger those cells are, the more difficult it will be for you to get your body lean.
What is a Calorie?
Calories are simply a way to measure the energy in food and the energy released in the body. Although the technically correct name is kilocalorie, nearlyeveryone, including dietitians, uses the shorter "calorie."
One calorie is the amount of energy necessary to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1 degree Centigrade. You expend about 1 calorie per minute when sitting relaxed. That's about the same amount of heat released by a candle or a 75-watt light bulb.
Calories are rounded on food labels, so when you multiply the grams of protein, carbohydrate or fat, you may come out with a different value than appears on the label. Foods that contain 50 calories or fewer are rounded to the nearest 5-calorie increment; foods with more than 50 calories are rounded to the nearest 10-calorie increment.
Foods that have fewer than 5 calories can be listed as having 0 calories. Although you may think that this rounding seems misleading or inaccurate, keep in mind that a 10-calorie difference is actually negligible in the grand scheme of things.
A calorie isn't a nutrient, but certain nutrients provide calories. Protein, carbohydrate, and fat make up the calorie contents of various foods. Although not considered a nutrient, alcohol also provides calories. In fact, one gram of
- Protein contains 4 calories
- Carbohydrate contains 4 calories
- Fat contains 9 calories
- Alcohol contains 7 calories
Few foods and beverages are 100 percent of any one nutrient. Most foods and beverages are a combination of protein, fat, and carbohydrate (and sometimes alcohol), so a food's calorie count is the sum of the calories provided by each nutrient. See how it works:
A bowl of chicken noodle soup contains 3 grams of protein, 7 grams of carbohydrate, and 2 grams of fat for a total of 58 calories:
3 grams protein x 4 calories/gram = 12 calories
7 grams carbohydrate x 4 calories/gram = 28 calories
2 grams fat x 9 calories/gram = 18 calories
Total= 58 calories
Even though most foods are made up of two or more nutrients, foods are categorized by their predominant nutrient. For example, a bagel and a bowl of cereal are considered carbohydrate foods even though they also contain protein and, sometimes, fat. Even though a chicken breast is considered a protein food, not all of its calories come from protein. Chicken also contains fat, which contributes calories.
Not all calories are created equal. Foods that are considered empty-calorie foods really have nothing in them as far as nutrition go, except for calories. Sugary foods, such as candy, are prime examples. When you're restricting calories, you can make some room for empty-calorie foods but don't build your diet on them. If you do, you'll miss out on valuable minerals, fiber, and vitamins.
The opposite of empty-calorie foods are nutrient-dense foods. Calorie for calorie, they pack a solid nutrition punch by providing a good amount of vitamins, minerals, and/or fiber in comparison to the number of calories they provide. In other words, you get a big nutrition bang for your caloric buck.
An example of a nutrient-dense food is an orange. For a mere 60 calories, you get about 3 grams of fiber, 100 percent of your daily vitamin C requirement, and a good amount of folic acid plus a spectrum of other micronutrients and phytochemicals, such as antioxidants.
Now that you have all the information that you need on what is fat and what is a calorie finding the correct women fitness and nutrition program to get involved in will be easy because you can understand what you need to conquer!
Flavia Del Monte is a Registered Nurse, Certified Physical Trainer, Certified Nutritionist and the creator of Full-Body-Licious. You can read more about her training programs, nutrition advice and general fitness on her women fitness blog.
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