Dieting and weight loss can be broken down into a simple math equation when counting calories. To lose weight, you must burn more calories in a day then your body can store. The body naturally uses and burns calories for fuel during the day, but when you are eating more calories than your body can use, you risk gaining weight. Keeping track of your calorie intake is a way to stay proactively involved in your diet and understand the repercussions of what you put in your body.
Step 1
Decide whether you are interested in maintaining the weight you are at now, gaining weight or losing weight. The recommended daily calorie intake will change, depending on what you are trying to achieve or maintain with your diet.
Step 2
Visit a calorie calculator, such as the free counter offered by MayoClinic.com. This calorie counter will calculate your ideal daily calorie intake based on your age, height, weight, current activity level and weight loss or gain goal. Once you have your ideal calorie intake, you can use that as a daily benchmark for your diet.
Step 3
Use a journal to record everything you eat during the day. Be sure to record the portion size as well. Some nutritional information is located on the back of the packaging. Write down the number of calories if you can find the information on the package.
Step 4
Find the number of calories in foods that do not have packaging information by visiting a calorie-calculating website, such as CalculateYourDiet.com. You may need to weigh the food using a scale to determine the portion size accurately.
Step 5
Add up all the calories at the end of the day, or throughout the day, so you can tell how many calories you are consuming.
Tips and Warnings
- Eat foods that are calorie dense, such as fruits, vegetables and whole grains, instead of the empty calories of sugary and processed foods. Don't forget to add drinks into your calorie calculations.
- Severely limiting your calorie intake is dangerous and could cause your body to think you are starving.
Things You'll Need
- Food calorie guide
- Calorie calculator
- Journal
- Scale (optional)
Member Comments