82 Unit 2 Nutrition and Food Choices Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc. Maintaining Weight. You can maintain your weight by balancing calo- ries consumed with calories burned throughout the day. Calories in = Calories burned Gaining Weight. When you consume more calories than your body burns, an energy imbalance occurs. The number of calories you take in and burn doesn’t have to balance each day. If you take in more calories than you burn over time, however, you will gain weight. Those extra calories are stored in the body (mostly as fat). Calories in Calories burned Losing Weight. An energy imbalance also occurs if, over time, you burn more calories than you take in. As you can probably guess, if you burn more than you consume, you will lose weight. Calories in Calories burned Whole-Wheat Turkey Wrap Sliced Apples Fried Chicken and Fries Grilled Chicken Salad Grilled Chicken Roasted Sweet Potatoes Side Salad with Low-fat Dressing Healthy Option 1 Healthy Option 2 Healthy Option 3 You can use your new knowledge of nutrition to “make over” meals and eat healthier. Figure 3.9