How to Count Calories to Lose Weight

Counting calorie intake for weight loss, weight loss calorie calculator

How to count calories for weight loss? To count calories you will need: food scales, a measuring cup, calculator, list of the calories in food, and a notepad to record what you eat.

Let’s start from learning some basics. In the table below you can see the calorie content of 1 gram of common food components. Fiber consists of non-digestible carbohydrates therefore can be subtracted from the total amount of carbohydrates.

Food Component	Calories per 1 gram
Fat	9 kcal/gram (37 kJ/gram)
Ethanol (alcohol)	7 kcal/g (29 kJ/g)
Protein	4 kcal/g (17 kJ/g)
Carbohydrates	4 kcal/g (17 kJ/g)
Organic acids	3 kcal/g (13 kJ/g)
Polyols (sweeteners, sugar alcohols)	2.4 kcal/g (10 kJ/g)
Salatrims (reduced energy fat)	6 kcal/g (25 kJ/g)

You can find the calorie content of packaged foods from the nutrition label as food manufacturers are required to label the energy content of their products. Alternatively you can use our free online calorie counter - food calories resources.

You might want to start your calorie tracking just from recording everything you eat and drink on a daily basis so you can see how many calories you are consuming. Many people discover that they consume more calories than they thought they did.

Here is an example of how to count calories per serving:

There are 206 kcal in 100 grams (or 3.5 oz) of salmon.

If we just want a serving of 85 grams (3 oz): 206 kcal x 85grams/100grams = 175 kcal; (206 kcal x 3oz/3.5oz = 175 kcal);

or in a serving of 200 grams (7 oz): 206 kcal x 200 grams/100grams = 412 kcal; (206 kcal x 7oz/3.5oz = 412 kcal);
If you just want to eat 150 kcal, how many grams would it be?: (150 kcal x 100 grams)/206 kcal = 72.8 grams;

how many ounces would it be: (150 kcal x 3.5oz)/206 kcal = 2.5 oz.

At the beginning you will spend more time weighing the food, counting the calories and writing it down but soon it will become easier.

The fantastic Newline Digital Nutrition Calculator will make your calorie counting regime so much easier – you simply weigh the individual items you are eating and this fantastic gadget will tell you the calories, fat, cholesterol, sodium, protein and fiber content of your portion. The scales also come with a memory so keeps track of the previous 99 items that you have eaten.