Nutrition Health Center

World’s Easiest Calorie Counting Diet

By Terry Dunkle*

The world’s easiest calorie counting diet is one that lets you eat any foods you like while controlling the number of calories in those foods. This is very difficult if you count calories by hand, but today you can choose from hundreds of programs that help you do this quick as lightning on your computer. Some of these programs are based on the Web; others are downloadable from the Web and installed on your own computer. Either way, here’s how to evaluate the choices:

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Food Data

A calorie counting diet can be frustrating if you have trouble looking up the number of calories in each food you eat. Choose a program that covers at least 20,000 foods. That may sound like a lot, but it’s actually fewer than you’ll find in a typical supermarket. Make sure it also lets you add your favorite brands and exotica by entering nutrition facts from the labels. It should also cover nutrients besides calories -- saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, calcium, antioxidants, folic acid (if you’re pregnant), and other nutrients that play a role in heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer, osteoporosis, and other nutrition-sensitive maladies.

Exercise Data

Another important factor in a calorie counting diet is exercise, which lets you earn extra calories for eating. Your program should include 500 different activities or more -- not just sports and leisure pursuits, but also occupational, household, and other activities.

Based on 20 years of research by DietPower, Inc., this calculator is accurate to 5 percent for most users. (It's not for people who are pregnant or have metabolic disorders. Always see a doctor before starting a diet.)

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Close Goal Weight
Your Goal Weight is the weight you want to achieve. (If it's a lot different from your current weight, you might want to set a goal that represents only the first step. Even a 10-percent weight loss will significantly improve your health.)
Close Target Date
Plan on losing no more than a pound or two per week.  Otherwise, you may eat too little for good nutrition and your weight loss may be temporary.
Close Lactating?
If you are breastfeeding, check this box and the calculator will add calories for producing milk.
Close Tobacco User?
Nicotine speeds your metabolism, making you burn calories faster. (That's why people who quit smoking gain weight.) Check this box if you average more than one cigarette, one-half pipeful, one-quarter of a cigar, or one dip of snuff or chewing tobacco per day.
Close Email Address
Once a month, DietPower will send you the most important nutrition news of the past 30 days, selected by national award-winning editors covering hundreds of medical journals. You can cancel this free, no-obligation service anytime with a single click. We produce it only to promote our weight-loss software. It won't put you on other mailing lists—We're Not That Kind of Company™.

Tallying

The worst thing about a calorie counting diet used to be adding up the calories and keeping a running tally to make sure you reached your goal on schedule. The best programs now do this for you, automatically. Besides keeping your “calorie bank,” they show you whether you’re getting too much fat, too little protein, and other facts to guide your eating.

“Intelligent” Functions

My company’s software (see the ad on this page) is one of a few products that apply more than usual intelligence to calorie counting. In our case, we monitor your personal metabolism by comparing your weight change with your calorie history, and continually tweak your budget to literally guarantee reaching your desired weight on your desired date. We also recommend foods you like that are best for your overall nutrition. Look around and you’ll find other programs that do things like this.

Cost and Guarantees

Don’t try to manage a calorie counting diet with a tool that costs more than $40, doesn’t offer a free trial (of the complete program, not a dumbed-down version), or doesn’t promise your money back if you aren’t satisfied. You have plenty of competitors to choose from. Those that care more about taking your money than helping you lose weight don’t deserve your business.

Founder, CEO, and Editor-in-Chief of DietPower, Inc.