Counting calories assists dieters in losing weight. To lose weight, dieters must eat fewer calories burned in a day. A calorie is a unit of measurement for energy. Each calorie provides energy for the body. Since energy is so important to the body, it stores calories when they are unused. These stored calories produce the bulging tummy, thighs hips and other weight gain that makes clothes tight. If you eat less calories than what is burned in a day, the body turns to these fat stores, which ultimately makes you lose weight. Using a food journal, you can keep track of how many calories you eat each day to avoid overeating and keep calorie counts down.
Step 1
Calculate your basal metabolic rate. See the Resources section for a link. This is the amount of calories you burn while inactive. This does not include the calories you burn during a workout. This is used to calculate how many calories you can eat even when you don't work out.
Step 2
Read food labels for each meal. The main way to ensure that you don't go over your basal metabolic rate is by reading food labels. The Food and Drug Administration requires manufacturers to list calories, including fat, protein, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals in each product. The total calories for each meal should be summed and placed in your food journal.
Step 3
Add the calories burned from a workout to your daily calorie count. If you burn 2,000 calories a day from your basal metabolic rate, add the calories you've worked off. For instance, if you jog for 30 minutes, you burn approximately 300 calories, so your daily expenditure is 2,300 calories.
Step 4
Add up all the calories consumed for the week. Next to the calories consumed, add up a week's worth of calories burned from your basal metabolic rate. For instance, if your basal metabolic rate is 2,000 calories per day, a week's worth is 14,000 calories.
Step 5
Subtract the amount of calories consumed from the amount of calories burned. Divide this number by 3,500. For each 3,500 calories, 1 lb. is lost. Therefore, dividing the difference between calories consumed and calories burns helps you calculate how many pounds you have lost for the week. However, if you eat more calories than you have burned, this is how many pounds you have gained.
Things You'll Need
- Food journal
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