Today I'd like to briefly show those who may not have used a calorie counter before how to use one, in order to figure out the calories you consume in a given day. I have chosen "calorieking.com," one of the calorie counters I found online and listed here already--but you can use any counter you prefer and find easier to use. Of course, you can also buy a calorie counter booklet and find the calories in various foods that way, or you can read the label on the food items themselves. Either way, it is really simple, you just have to drill down under the food category you are looking for until you find the food item you need.
Okay, so here we go. When you first come to the home page of CalorieKing.com, you will find on the bottom right a section where you can put in your height, weight, age and gender. Once you input this information and click the "Go" button, you will be asked to select the level of activity that best describes your daily activity level. I chose "light." Now you will be given a range of daily calories recommended for three different goals: to maintain your current weight, to lose weight and to gain weight. In my case, I chose the maintain range, and it tells me I need to consume anywhere from 1500 to 1700 calories in order to maintain my weight. If you will notice, it also gives you a suggestion for a healthy weight range to maintain; it does this based on the information you provide.
The next step is where we find the number of calories in various servings sizes of different foods. I will now use an example menu I put together which provides approximately 1500 to 1700 calories per day. Breakfast: 3/4 c of oatmeal with 1% milk and a cup of coffee (330 calories). Snack: power bar (210 calories). Lunch: 2 chicken burritos (flour tortillas) with refried beans and green chili sauce (478 calories). Dinner: turkey sandwich with slice of cheese, mustard, light mayo, tomatoes (270 calories). Snack: 1 c of Special K cereal and 1 cup of skim milk (210 calories).
To find this information, I used a combination of the website, my handy calorie counter book, and also got the information from the product label itself.
Now we are ready to do our research. Go to "Tools" on the website and click the down arrow. You will see that you can browse by Category or you can browse by Fast Food restaurant. Lets browse by Category and select "Bars and Breakfast cereals," then select "Breakfast Cereals" and "Breakfast Cereals to be cooked." Now scroll down to about the bottom 1/4 of the page and look for the category "Breakfast Cereals to be cooked-Quaker" and you will find "Oats, Old Fashioned, dry." Once you click on this you will see that 1/2 c has 150 calories. Since I had 3/4 c, then my total calories would be 225. With all my meals and snacks I drink water. I try to have 8 glasses of water a day.
To find the calories in the cup of coffee, I do the same. Under Food categories, find and select "Beverages," "Coffee" and drill down until you get to all the various types and brands of coffee. On the left column you will find "Brewed with Coffee-Mate powder-1 tsp." This shows that a cup with 1 tsp. has 12 calories. I used 2 tsps. so I rounded up to 20. Plus I also double checked the label on the outside of my coffee and creamer containers.
I am sure you see the pattern. You can look up the other food items I listed above and practice, if you wish. You simply have to select the correct food category and drill down until you find what you are looking for. You can find just about any item here. Also, remember to look at the serving size, and in the event your serving differs from the one provided, you will have to do a little math to figure your calorie intake.
One last cool item to point out! When you browse by "Popular brands," you can search food items on the menu of popular restaurants. If the restaurant you are looking for is not listed, just search for it by typing the name in the "Search brands" box. In my case, I was looking for the trio fajitas at Chili's and all of its condiments. Under the "Meal Components" you find, for example, the calories per serving for the sautéed mushroom, rice and beans and sour cream. Under "Fajitas" you find that the trio has 650 calories (without the tortillas or condiments). This is my favorite dish here, and one I enjoy on weekends.
I hope this has been helpful. If you have any questions, please write me. And just click away and you will find much more. Notice how this site also gives suggestions right next to the Nutrition Facts labels of how many calories one can burn by doing various exercises for a given amount of time.
Until next time!
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