Traction Pain Relief & Wellness

Today I will be discussing caloric intake through the lens of weight loss. First, let's do a little recap of last week's post. Calorie is the term for energy - the energy we intake in food and the energy our body expends. We expend energy in three ways: thermic effect of food, resting metabolic rate and physical activity. In food, calories are made up of macro-nutrients. Fat, protein and carbohydrates all have different caloric densities. You can figure out how many calories you are consuming by counting your macros, but if you just count calories you don't know where they are coming from. If you want more detailed information go back and read last week's blog posts HERE and HERE So how do we use all of this information to our benefit and, in this instance, weight loss? To achieve weight loss, you have to have a calorie deficit. This means that there is a shortage in the amount of calories you are consuming relative to the amount of calories needed to maintain your c...

Yesterday, I covered the basics of calories and macro-nutrients. We learned that calories are simply units of energy and each macro-nutrient has its own calorie count. So how many macros (calories) should you be consuming each day? Before I go any further I want to first say that I am a Doctor of Physical Therapy. I can provide you with nutrition education, but I do not provide individualized nutrition assessment or counseling. Assessment and counseling can only be given from a Registered Dietitian or a Certified Nutritionist, which I am not. All opinions expressed are my own, but I can give you resources to further your personal education and assessment if needed. Research has shown that a high protein, low carbohydrate diet can positively affect your blood lipids , also known as cholesterol. If you have high cholesterol a higher protein, lower carbohydrate nutrition plan may be in your best interest. Remember from yesterday that unsaturated fats are essential for your body and ...

Nutrition is complex and a lot goes into it. Over the next few weeks I am going to break down the information into small bits so you can understand and digest it. Let's first get started with calories and macro-nutrients. I have had many people ask me how to count their calories and macros and what the numbers actually mean. A calorie is a unit of energy for our body. You intake energy (calories) by consuming food and you expend energy in three ways: Basal metabolic rate - the amount of energy you expend by just existing (i.e. if you laid flat in bed all day and just breathed). This is different for each individual and is based on your gender, age and muscle mass.  Thermic effect of food - the amount of energy you expend by digesting the food you consume. Physical activity or exercise - the amount of energy you expend doing anything beyond laying in bed and breathing. Daily movement is physical activity and more structured movement is exercise. Macro-nutrients are the...