Nutrition Health Center

Using a Calorie Counter for Weight Loss

By Terry Dunkle*

Using a calorie counter for weight loss is a wise decision, because, as science proved decades ago, the number of calories you eat is far more critical to weight loss than which foods you eat. A food's calorie content is directly related to the amount of fat it can turn into on your body.

Calorie counter try free or buy Download and run DietPower's free trial Purchase DietPower risk-free

Arithmetic for a Calorie Counter

The math behind counting calories is surprisingly simple: To lose a pound, give up 3500 calories that you would otherwise have eaten.

Don't give up too many calories at once, however. Experts generally advise spreading each 3500-calorie deficit over at least four days, which would trim your weight by almost two pounds a week.

Before You Start Counting Calories...

...use the calculator below to determine the right calorie budget for reaching your particular goal.

Best Calorie Counter for Weight Loss

Now that you've calculated a budget, it's time to choose a calorie counter. The traditional tools are a pencil, a calculator, and food labels. But your computer is a lot quicker and easier.

Dozens of websites offer calorie counters. Even better (and more private), however, are software programs that you can install on your PC. Many can be downloaded from the Web.

When Shopping for a Calorie Counter...

...be careful. Only a handful are reliable, accurate, powerful, fast, and easy to use.

As a minimum, find a calorie counter that offers a free trial, a a large database of foods, phone and email support, and a money-back guarantee.

Beyond a Calorie Counter for Weight Loss

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.)

Birth Date

Sex

Tobacco user?

Height

Weight

Goal Weight

Target Date

Email Address

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ft. in.

lbs.

lbs. ?

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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™.

Especially if you're interested in heart disease, diabetes, cancer, stroke, and other nutrition-related diseases, choose a program that not only counts calories, but tracks your consumption of fat, carbs, protein, vitamins, minerals, and such. Many programs track calories expended in exercise, too.

Some programs offer all of these functions and a lot more. DietPower®, for example, automatically adjusts your calorie budget to fluctuations in your metabolism, and even knows which food that you've already eaten is best to have seconds in.

Editor-in-chief and CEO of DietPower, Inc.