Calories In A Banana

The calories in a raw banana according to the banana’s size are roughly as follows:

Banana Size	Calories	Fat	Carbohydrate	Protein
Extra Small (less than 6“ long) 81g	72	0.27g	18.5g	0.88g
Small (6” to 6-7/8” long) 101g	90	0.33g	23.1g	1.1g
Medium (7” to 7-7/8” long) 118g	105	0.39g	27g	1.29g
Large (8” to 8-7/8” long) 136g	121	0.45g	31.1g	1.48g
Extra Large (9” or longer) 152g	135	0.5g	34.7g	1.66g

Dieting Points About Bananas

The calories in a banana are not excessive given typical daily calorie requirements and the satisfying nature of the fruit.  As can be seen in the above chart however, bananas are high in carbohydrates which may lead some people on low-carb diets to avoid the fruit.

Nutritional Benefits of Bananas

Bananas are often considered to be good sources of potassium, manganese, vitamin C and vitamin B6 and are high in dietary fibre.

A Few Notes About Calorie Counting

The heart of calorie counting comes down to understanding how many calories you consume and how many calories you burn.  If you consume 3500 calories less than you burn, this should result in approximately 1lb of weight loss.  In order to lose weight, you should aim for a basic calorie deficit so as to achieve 1 to 2 lbs of weight loss a week, rather than introducing too severe a calorie deficit. A severe calorie deficit may result in the loss of lean body mass, causing your system to lower the number of calories it burns to maintain itself.

Understanding and monitoring the calories you are consuming and burning is essential for a calorie counting process.  In order to help with this, WeighByDate is a piece of weight loss software that allows you to track the calories you consume in a wide variety of food as well as the calories you are burning in exercise. The software also allows you to monitor your weight and body measurements.

The above calorie and nutrition data was taken from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference.