No matter what diet you follow, tracking what you eat can give you the key to meeting your goals. Calorie counting allows you to learn to control the amount of food energy you take to fuel your body. No matter what kind of diet you follow, weight loss comes down to reducing calories, according to MayoClinic.com. Carbohydrate counting aims at blood sugar control and helps with adhering to diabetic, hypoglycemic and low-carb diets. Learn to count calories and carbohydrates to stay on track with your nutrition goals.
Step 1
Refer to the food facts label on a food you plan to eat.
Step 2
Find the serving size listed on the label. For example, some types of cold cereals have different serving sizes than others. One cereal nutrition label might list a serving as 1 cup, another as 3/4 cup and a limited cereal serving might be 1/3 cup of cereal per serving.
Step 3
Find the calories per serving on the nutrition label.
Step 4
Look at carbohydrates on the label for the number of grams of carbohydrate per serving.
Step 5
Check the total number of grams of fiber per serving. Subtract the number of fiber grams from the number of carb grams. For example, 1/2 cup of granola with 20.5 g of carbohydrates and 2 g of fiber has 18.5 net carbs, according to the "Dr. Atkins' New Carbohydrate Gram Counter." The Dr. Atkins' Diet website explains that fiber doesn't raise blood sugar and so you can subtract it to arrive at the net carbs. Net carbs are carbs that affect blood sugar.
Step 6
Calculate the calories and carbohydrates based on the serving size you ate. For example, if you ate 1 cup of granola, multiply the calories and net carbs by two for the correct counts. If you only ate half of a 1/2 cup serving, divide the serving size by two.
Step 7
Look up foods that don't have labels in a nutrition book that has calories, fiber and carbohydrates listed, or use a carbohydrate counter book. Some low-carb diet books and cookbooks provide lists of foods by category, restaurant foods and recipes with carbohydrate counts
Step 8
Make notes of the calorie and carb counts of foods and meals you eat often. Keeping the counts in a notebook helps you get familiar with the calories and carbohydrates of foods you eat. Once you've calculated for a turkey sandwich on whole wheat, you can refer to your turkey sandwich counts without having to calculate it again, as long as you keep the sandwich the same.
Tips and Warnings
- Track calories and carbohydrates for beverages and snacks. Learn to estimate portion sizes. This helps track calories when measuring cups or food scales are not available. For example, the University of Illinois website states that a 3 oz. serving of meat, fish or poultry is the size of the palm of your hand.
- Check portion sizes regularly by using measuring cups, measuring spoons and a food scale. Guessing can lead to mistakes in counting calories and carbohydrates and reduce the effectiveness of your food program.
Things You'll Need
- Calculator
- Notebook
- Nutrition or carbohydrate counter book
References
- Mayo Clinic: Counting Calories: Get Back to Weight-Loss Basics
- Atkins: Selecting the Right Carbohydrates
- "Dr. Atkins' New Carbohydrate Gram Counter"; Robert C. Atkins, M.D.; 2002
- University of Illinois: McKinley Health Center: Making Sense of Serving Sizes
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