Nutrition Health Center

Shopping for an Electronic Calorie Counter

By Terry Dunkle*

I counted calories by hand until 1984, when

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I got my first personal computer. A few years later, my company released one of the very first electronic calorie counters. Known as DietPower®, it's among the most popular programs of its type on the market today.

I'm not here to tout DietPower, however. It may not be right for you. But I would like to offer five tips, based on more than 20 years of experience, on finding and buying an electronic calorie counter. Here's what a typical dieter needs:

1. A Trustworthy Electronic Calorie Counter

There are three types of electronic calorie counters. One is a handheld device that doesn't do anything else. Another is a website you can access from your computer. The third is software that you install on your computer.

The best of these, by far, is software:

  • Handheld calorie counters have limited food sets that don't automatically update when food manufacturers change their recipes.

  • Websites sometimes have a large selection of foods, but in many cases the nutrition facts are contributed by the users and can't be trusted.

  • Software, by contrast, can offer a huge database and automatic updating from the Web. And a software company is less likely to share your email address and diet records with third parties who want to sell you supplements, workout tapes, and other diet paraphernalia.

Some calorie counters aren't good at math. Check your counter against the calorie budget calculator below. If the budgets that they calculate don't match (within 100 calories), something may be amiss.

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

- -

?

ft. in.

lbs.

lbs. ?

- - ?

?

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™.

2. A Lightning-Fast Electronic Calorie Counter

On an adverage day, you'll need to record between 20 and 35 foods. If finding and logging a food takes more than a few seconds, keeping track of your meals will quickly become drudgery, and you'll give up.

Look for a calorie counter that zeroes in on a food only a fraction of a second after you press or click Search. Don't accept one that asks you to choose a food group or category before searching.

Expect your counter to remember all the foods you've logged recently, because you probably still have these on hand and will be logging them again soon.

Finally, choose a calorie counter that lets you create "recipes" of your customary breakfasts, lunches, and snacks. That way, you can log an entire meal as a single item.

3. A Multi-Talented Electronic Calorie Counter

Why only count calories when you can simultaneously monitor fat, protein, carbohydrate, and dozens of vitamins and minerals? It doesn't take any longer, yet it tells you a lot more about your nutrition.

The best electronic calorie counters cover dozens of nutrients, including antioxidants such as vitamins A, C, and E and selenium (for preventing cancer and premature aging); fats, saturated fats, trans fat, cholesterol, sodium, and potassium (for lowering cardiovascular risks); folic acid (for curbing birth defects); calcium (to prevent osteoporosis); and water (vital to good athletic and mental performance).

Good calorie counters also estimate calories burned in exercise and provide a tally board comparing your intake and expenditures to your budget.

4. A Proactive Electronic Calorie Counter

One or two calorie counters actually "coach" you by recommending favorite foods that are best for you nutrition, giving you personalized advice, and suggesting ways to overcome negative habits that it discerns by analyzing your records.

We believe DietPower's Real-Time Eating Coach™ is the most sophisticated of this type. (It's the only program that tells you which food is best to have seconds in, for example.) But of course you'll be the judge of that.

5. A No-Risk Electronic Calorie Counter

Don't bother with an electronic calorie counter that has no refund policy. Most good ones do. And look for one that you can try free before purchasing. (DietPower offers not only a 15-day free trial, but a one-year, no-hassle, money-back guarantee.)

Founder and Product Development Chief, DietPower, Inc.