Whether you would like to lose, gain or maintain your current weight, it is important to be aware of how many calories you are consuming. If you take in more calories than your body needs for fuel, you will slowly gain weight. If you take in fewer calories than your body needs, you will slowly lose weight. Learning how to accurately count calories will help you to set and achieve weight-related goals.
Step 1
Set a goal as to how much weight you need to gain or lose. Using a weight-loss website or your doctor's recommendation, also set a goal for how many calories you need to eat each day. Write these numbers down in your notebook.
Step 2
Look up the caloric value of the food. If it is a packaged item, look on the nutritional label for the number of calories per serving. If it is a fresh item, look up the approximate number of calories in your calorie counter book, or on a calorie counting website. Two such websites are in the Resources section below.
Step 3
Determine how much food you are eating, as compared with the serving size. For example, if you will be eating three cookies, but a serving size is only two cookies, you would need to multiply the calories per serving by 1.5 in order to accurately count the calories for the three cookies. If you are only having half an apple, but your calorie counter book only has the number of calories listed for a whole apple, divide the number of calories in a whole apple in half. Measure items with your measuring cups and/or food scale as needed for accuracy.
Step 4
Write down the number of calories eaten at every sitting in your journal. Include any and all tastes, sips and bites of foods and calorie-containing drinks that you consume.
Step 5
At the end of the day, add up the number of calories that you have consumed. If you have eaten too many or too few calories based on your goal, adjust the amount of food that you eat the next day accordingly.
Tips and Warnings
- According to MedLine Plus, 1 pound of weight equals about 3,500 calories. If you add 500 calories to your diet each day, you will gain about a pound over the course of a week. Conversely, if you take away 500 calories from your diet each day, you will lose about a pound in a week.
- Check with your doctor or dietitican before drastically reducing or adding calories to your diet.
Things You'll Need
- Notebook
- Calorie counter book or website
- Measuring cups
- Food scale
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