Daily Calorie Intake Calculato

Calculate your daily calorie need with this free app.

You can calculate your daily calorie intake with this free app.

Calorie counting with the intent of losing weight, on its simplest levels, can be broken down into a few general steps:

Determine your BMR using one of the provided equations. If you know your body fat percentage, the Katch-McArdle Formula might be a more accurate representation of your BMR. Remember that the values attained from these equations are approximations and subtracting exactly 500 calories from your BMR will not necessarily result in exactly 1 pound lost per week – it could be less, or it could be more!

Determine your weight loss goals. Recall that 1 pound (~0.45 kg) equates to approximately 3500 calories, and reducing daily caloric intake relative to estimated BMR by 500 calories per day will theoretically result in a loss of 1 pound a week. It is generally not advisable to lose more than 2 pounds per week as it can have negative health effects, i.e. try to target a maximum daily calorie reduction of approximately 1000 calories per day. Consulting your doctor and/or a registered dietician nutritionist (RDN) is recommended in cases where you plan to lose more than 2 pounds per week.

Choose a method to track your calories and progress towards your goals. If you have a smart phone, there are many easy-to-use applications that facilitate tracking calories, exercise, and progress, among other things. Many, if not all of these, have estimates for the calories in many brand name foods or dishes at restaurants, and if not, can estimate calories based on the amount of the individual components of the foods. It can be difficult to get a good grasp on food proportions and the calories they contain – which is why counting calories (as well as any other approach) is not for everyone – but if you meticulously measure and track the number of calories in some of your typical meals, it quickly becomes easier to accurately estimate calorie content without having to actually measure or weigh your food each time. There are also websites that can help to do the same, but if you prefer, manually maintaining an excel spreadsheet or even a pen and paper journal are certainly viable alternatives.

Track your progress over time and make changes to better achieve your goals if necessary. Remember that weight loss alone is not the sole determinant of health and fitness, and you should take other factors such as fat vs. muscle loss/gain into account as well. Also, it is recommended that measurements be taken over longer periods of time such as a week (rather than daily) as significant variations in weight can occur simply based on water intake or time of day. It is also ideal to take measurements under consistent conditions, such as weighing yourself as soon as you wake up and before breakfast, rather than at different times throughout the day.

Keep at it!