The amount of calories you get in an egg depends on several factors. Eggs come in different sizes, and larger eggs tend to have more calories than smaller eggs. In addition, your eggs may contain more calories than you think if you combine them with other ingredients when cooking.
| egg yolk | egg whites | hard-boiled egg | fried egg |
| 59 cal | 16 cal | 75 cal | 91 cal |
Two of the most popular breakfast choices are fried eggs and scrambled eggs. Both of these choices are healthy because they contain protein, vitamins and nutrients. However, there may be hidden calories from ingredients you don’t consider when you scramble or fry your eggs. For example, if you fry eggs in butter or oil, you pick up some extra calories. Similarly, if you add milk or vegetables, you add calories to your scrambled eggs.
Parts of The Egg
You also have to consider which parts of the egg you are eating. The shell is not edible, so you don’t have to be concerned with its calories; the two main parts of concern are the egg yolk and egg white. The yolk, or yellow part in the center of the egg, contains most of the calories. You can significantly reduce your calorie intake by choosing to eat mainly egg whites. For example, a typical large egg has 76 calories; only 16 of those calories come from the egg whites. However, you may sacrifice some protein or other nutrients if you eat only egg whites.
Significance of Knowing Calorie Count
You need to know how many calories in an egg if you are embarking on any type of weight loss program. Calories are measures of heat energy; the body burns a certain number of calories throughout the day. If you consume less calories than your body needs for the day, your body must burn calories stored in excess fat and thus you will lose weight. However, if you restrict your calories too severely, your body will think it is starving and will not burn fat.
Ways to Decrease Calorie Count
If you enjoy eggs but are concerned about how many calories in an egg, you should consider some methods of decreasing calorie count in your eggs. For example, you can make scrambled eggs with water instead of milk to decrease the calorie count. Another popular way of reducing the calories in eggs is to mainly eat egg whites. As mentioned earlier, the egg yolk contains protein, so you may want to consider using one egg yolk for every two or three egg whites rather than eliminating egg yolks altogether.
Other Considerations
In addition to knowing how many calories you’re consuming when you eat eggs, you should consider some other facts to help protect your health. First, egg yolks contain cholesterol. Even though studies have shown that it is safe to eat eggs every day, you may want to reduce your consumption if you are concerned about cholesterol problems. You should also be careful handling eggs and wash your hands before and after touching raw eggs to protect yourself from salmonella and other bacteria. To reduce your risk of disease, you should never eat eggs that are runny or otherwise not thoroughly cooked.
Now that you understand more about the calorie count in eggs, you’re equipped to make wiser decisions about your egg consumption. In addition to limiting the amount of eggs you eat per week, you should pay attention to how many eggs you use in recipes so that you don’t overindulge in foods that contain a lot of eggs.
