Program that counts calories of what you have eaten

Learn what to look for in and what a program that counts calories of what you have eaten should provide you with for you to be successful at losing those pounds of body fat you want to lose.

When it comes to losing weight and living a healthy lifestyle, there are 3 levels of nutrition that you need to consider:

  1. Calories
  2. Macronutrients
  3. Micronutrients

The amount of calories tells you how much energy you’ve consumed. Macronutrients are the amount of grams of protein, carbohydrates, and fat you consume. Micronutrients are the vitamins and minerals you consume.

If you want to lose weight, there is no doubt about it, you need to eat less calories than you expend. It’s that simple.

While you don’t have to become extremely precise when counting calories, you do need to have an idea where to start.

You need to know how many calories your body requires to function properly, and then how many calories you can cut through diet and/or exercise to be able to lose weight.

While you don’t need a sophisticated software program that counts calories of what you have eaten, it could make your life easier when trying to keep track of all of the foods you eat on a daily basis.

When I first started out in fitness over 20 years ago, I kept a diet journal, so I used pen and paper to register everything I ate. Then I progressed to using a diet journal spreadsheet in Excel. And later I switched to using a software program to register my daily nutrition and training items. These days I’m back to using an Excel spreadsheet.

If you want to use a software program that counts calories of what you have eaten, there are certain things you need to make sure it can provide you with:

  1. An option to register your body weight, age, height, and gender. This information can be used to calculate your BMR and the amount of protein you require on a daily basis. The program should then be able to suggest the amount of calories you need to lose, maintain, or gain weight.
  2. An option to register body measurements. These may be used to estimate your body fat percentage as well as serve as a way to motivate you to keep going when you’re losing weight.
  3. An option to enter your body fat percentage if you choose to measure it yourself using for example calipers.
  4. An option to choose from a large list of foods and display the amount of calories and macronutrients (protein, carbs, and fat) in the foods. If the software program also displays the amount of vitamins and minerals, then you’ve got yourself a winner.
  5. An option to save daily meal plans or a template you can use to quickly register foods that you’ve eaten for the day should your diet not vary much.
  6. An option to enter the amount of time for your daily activities. This information can be used to calculate your calorie expenditure, that is, how many calories you burned during the day. And consequently, it can also be used to predict the amount of weight you would be expected to lose based on your calorie intake and calorie expenditure through your BMR and daily physical activities.
  7. Graphs and charts that show the progress you’re making. While not required, charts and graphs are a good way to keep you motivated, so you would want to have these in a program that counts calories of what you have eaten.

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Disclaimer: Any content published on 'The Weight Loss Digest' is not meant to replace the advice of medical practitioners. All articles published on 'The Weight Loss Digest' are the opinions of a layman. We are no medical experts (just very experienced fitness fanatics) and take no responsibility for any injuries, malnutrition, or harm that you may incur after reading any of the articles published on 'The Weight Loss Digest'. We strongly encourage you to seek the advice of a doctor before engaging on any diet or exercise program.