Tallying an accurate portrait of the amount of calories you consume with each food, drink and other diet item is essential to maintaining a balanced diet. According to the University of Maryland Medical Center, all of the excess energy that your body does not use up with metabolism and physical activity becomes stored as fat. By calculating the caloric value of all of the foods you consume and comparing it to the number of calories consumed by physical activity, you can begin to accurately assess the caloric value of your lifestyle.
Step 1
Write down a list of all of the beverages, snacks and meals that you consume each day in a food diary. Dedicate two pages of a notebook for each day of the week: one for calculating the amount of calories consumed and the other for listing calories burned. Keep an accurate list on the first page each day by writing down anything that you ate or drank during the day.
Step 2
Attribute each diet item in your food diary with the amount of calories in each item. Use the nutritional facts label printed on each food item, or look up the separate ingredients on a calorie chart such as the ones available on the Calorie Counter and What's Cooking America websites. Estimate the amount of servings you consumed of each item and write down a corresponding caloric value next to each entry in your food diary.
Step 3
Calculate your daily caloric intake by adding all of the numbers listed in each page of the diary. Write this number on the top next to the name of each day and notice if there are any foods or beverages that are higher or lower in calories than you expected.
Step 4
Create a similar list on the second page of each day that tallies the type and amount of time dedicated to calorie-burning aerobic and cardiovascular intensive activities. According to MayoClinic.com, individuals seeking to lose weight through exercise must burn off an average of 500 calories more than they consume each day in order to lose 1 lb. each week. Consult an online activity calculator such as the ones available on the Calories Per Hour and Disabled World websites and tally the amount of calories burned during each exercise. Calculate this total number and write it next to the number of calories consumed at the top of the page.
Step 5
Subtract the amount of calories you burned during the day from the amount of calories you consumed to calculate the amount of calories you have in surplus or deficit each day. Maintain your food diary each day in order to help you with your weight-management goals.
Tips and Warnings
- Use a personal calorie calculator tool such as the Daily Plate offered by LIVESTRONG.COM to create an estimate of the amount of calories you will need to consume each day in order to meet your weight-management goals.
- Consult your doctor or personal physician before embarking on any dietary or activity changes to make sure you are healthy enough for your fitness goals.
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