How many calories have you eaten today? And how many should you consume if you’re trying to maintain your current weight or lose those last 10 pounds? If you’re like most Americans, you probably wouldn't know the answer. According to years of surveys from the International Food Information Council (IFIC) Foundation, a not-for-profit health education organization, only about 30 percent of us pay attention to calories when we're looking to eat healthfully.
With so many weight loss plans focused on eliminating or increasing certain foods — whether it's through banishing carbs, loading up on protein, or eating “healthy” fats — the benefit of counting calories may get crowded out of the conversation. But you shouldn’t discount this powerful weight loss tool, say experts, because the secret to losing weight for good isn’t eliminating bread or existing entirely on green juice.
“Sustained, healthy weight loss comes down to a pretty basic equation: fewer calories plus more exercise,” say Jenny Sucov and Maureen Namkoong, RD, the authors of My Calorie Counter, Everyday Health's nutritional information guide. “By keeping track of how many calories you consume and burn every day, you can slim down, gain energy, and stave off a whole host of health problems.”
What keeps people from counting calories? Among the biggest roadblocks people cite, according to one IFIC survey, are the difficulty of counting calories (30 percent), having a focus on other nutrients (30 percent), thinking that calorie counting doesn’t matter (23 percent), and being too busy (22 percent).
But counting calories is less time-consuming than you think. Follow these tips to get started:
1. Determine How Many Calories You Should Eat
Your body uses about two-thirds of the calories you consume each day just to keep its systems functioning — your heart beating, your muscles moving. The rest of your calorie intake fuels everyday activities, like walking around, exercising, typing an email, doing a crossword puzzle.
To find out your ideal caloric intake, start by calculating your daily caloric needs. The number of calories you need daily depends upon five main factors: your age, sex, weight, height, and amount of physical activity. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics recommends that women looking to lose weight keep their calories in the rage of 1,200 to 1,500 a day.
To lose weight, you need to decrease the calories you take in, or increase the amount of calories you burn through exercise. This calculator, created by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, can help you determine how many calories you’ll need to aim for per day in order to reach your weight loss goal.
2. Count How Many Calories You Actually Eat and Burn
You can easily cut calories by making small diet and exercise changes throughout your day. Here are a few ways:
Breakfast Drink water instead of a cup of orange juice. Calories saved: 112
Snack Have ½ cup of sliced cucumber and a tablespoon of hummus instead of a 1 ounce bag of chips. Calories saved: 117
Lunch Swap out 2 tablespoons of full-fat ranch dressing for fat-free Italian. Calories saved: 128
Dessert Eat ½ cup of strawberries instead of ½ cup of chocolate ice cream. Calories saved: 130
You can track your calories online here for free, or consult the nutritional information in our My Calorie Counter iPhone app or book when you’re on the go.
Don’t forget to log your exercise, too. Find out how many calories you're burning with fitness and everyday activities by using the My Calorie Counter list of calories burned during exercise, then enter that figure into your online journal.
3. Get Portion Savvy
Even if you can’t or don’t want to tally the calories you eat at every single meal or snack, portion control is an easy way to help you consume fewer calories. “In a world where supersized is regular, it’s easy to undercount your calories,” say Sucov and Namkoong.
These tips can help you recognize what a healthy portion looks like, which can help you keep calories in check:
Think of a tennis ball. It’s the equivalent of one cup of food, which is the recommended portion for items like pasta, cereal, and yogurt.
Don’t eat straight out of the container. It’s a recipe for mindlessly overeating. Instead, measure a serving size of whatever you’re noshing on — almonds, soy chips, or other snacks — and put it on a plate or in a bowl.
Use smaller plates. Trick your mind into thinking that you have more food by downsizing your large dinner plate for a smaller, salad-sized one. A healthy portion can look tiny on a huge plate but will seem more normal when you shrink its surroundings.
Spoil your appetite with nutritious food. Try eating celery sticks with peanut butter an hour before mealtime, My Calorie Counter recommends. You’ll eat less at the meal and feel more satisfied later.
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