Mercy's Dr. Susan Besser Discusses How Many Calories Should You Eat In A Day

Dr. Susan Besser is a family practitioner Board Certified by the American Board of Family Medicine and sees patients at Mercy Personal Physicians at Overlea. Dr. Besser recently responded to Reader’s Digest regarding how many calories should one consume in a day. Here are her responses…

What are calories?
Calorie is a unit of energy. It is used to measure how much energy is in the foods we eat. When a body consumes foods, the calories (energy) is used as fuel to allow the body to function. If one consumes excess calories (more than the body needs to function), the rest is stored as fat which can be converted to energy if needed. However, for most of us, there is a continual source of energy being consumed so the body doesn’t need to use the reserves (fat).
 
How can you figure out how many calories you should eat in a day?
For the average, non-overweight adult- about 2000 calories per day. If you are more active, you may need a little more, if you are less active, a little less.

How can you reduce your intake or burn more calories?
To reduce your intake- obviously- eat less! How much less? To lose a pound a week you need to reduce your intake by about 500 calories a day. You can find out calorie compositions of foods by reading food labels and figuring out exactly how much you are eating. Obviously, exercising will burn more calories but unless you are an Olympic athlete the odds of actually burning enough calories to lose weight without decreasing your intake are slim to none (yes, pun intended).

Dr. Susan Besser treats common and acute primary conditions, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, cough and cold. She serves patients and families of Eastern Baltimore County, including Overlea, White Marsh, Perry Hall, Parkville and Carney.