If you're trying to lose weight, keeping track of what you eat can help you create and stick to a successful diet. Whether you want to record your carbs, calories or fat intake, a counter can help. There are as many diet trackers available as there are diets on the market, so finding one that suits your lifestyle and needs should be a cinch, once you know your options.
Calories
Although diet and eating plans vary greatly, many dieters use calories as a benchmark to track their eating. The formula for weight loss is burning more calories than you consume, so calculating your daily calories helps ensure you stay on track for weight loss. One pound of fat includes about 3,500 calories, so consuming 500 calories less than you burn each day will help you lose 1 lb. in a week. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends losing 1 to 2 lbs. per week for a healthy, sustainable rate of weight loss.
Manual Tracking
There are a variety of ways to manually track your calories, carbs and fat intake. Dr. Melina Jampolis, nutrition specialist, suggests her clients keep a food and exercise journal by writing out what they eat each day, according to the CNN article "What Are Good Online Tracking Tools for Weight Loss?" You can buy a weight loss journal or create your own using a notebook or Excel charts. Using the Microsoft Excel program offers the added benefit of being able to plug in formulas that calculate your totals automatically.
Online Tracking
Several websites offer diet trackers that can calculate your carbs, fat and calories. Sites such as The Daily Plate and FitDay offer free diet tracking services. Other sites offer paid services. Diet tracking sites usually contain databases of foods so you can enter what you eat and the amount, and the site will display the nutrition information. Many sites offer charts, analyses and tabulations of your daily total calories, fat and carbs so you can see your progress.
Phone Trackers
A variety of smart phone apps can also track your daily diet details. SparkPeople offers a free diet app for the iPhone and Android phones. The app includes a food and calorie tracker, customized daily meal plans and a database of nutrition information on more than one million foods. Other apps, such as the DailyBurn, offer similar diet counters for smart phones. Many of the phone apps also include restaurant nutrition information, so if you are eating out, you can look up menu items in order to make an informed decision on the healthiest options.
Benefits
Diet counters can help you see how your eating habits or diet affect your weight loss results. By tracking your calories and nutrients, you will learn about the nutrition contents of many of the foods you eat, and as a result will be able to revise your eating habits to reflect healthy choices. Diet trackers that calculate your calories, fat and carbohydrates for you can save you time and effort while helping you stay on track for successful weight loss.
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