How Many Calories are in Your Favorite Foods?

If you're trying to lose weight, the foods you eat will make or break the success of your weight loss plan. Exercise helps you to build muscle and change your body composition, but weight loss happens primarily in the kitchen. So, if you are counting calories, how do you know how many calories are in the foods that you choose?

There are a few tools that can help you figure that out. Choose the method that is easiest for you to use. Remember that a great weight loss tool for your friend, might not be the best option for you.

Tools to Count Calories

• Calorie counting online. Some people who sit at a computer all day may find that online tools work best for them. CalorieCount.com provides a great site where you can search through a database of foods and log your diet intake. Another source is the new USDA ChooseMyPlate.org site that has an updated look.
• Calorie counting mobile apps. If you are a dieter on the go, or if you tend to eat out more often, you may need a way to count calories from your phone or mobile device. CalorieCount.com has apps as well as their online site. MyFitnessPal is another popular app that provides calorie counts for foods.
• Calorie counting food diary. For many people, the best way to count calories is with an old fashioned food diary. It doesn't need a wi-fi connection, the battery never runs low, and your entry won't be interrupted by a power outage. If you choose this option log your foods into a small notepad that you can easily toss in your purse or briefcase. Use the nutritional labels off the foods you eat to calculate daily fat, carbohydrate and protein values for the day.

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Burn Calories with Fun Family Fitness Activities

Trying to squeeze in a workout during the hectic holiday season? Why not add a fitness activity to a family get-together?? Not only will you burn extra calories, but exercising together lightens the mood, helps to build camaraderie,? and sets a good example for younger members of the family.? Even older members of the family may benefit.? A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that obese older adults who combine weight loss and exercise enjoy better physical functioning as they age.

Create a new tradition by adding one of these activities to a family get-together.

• Walk. Put the roast in the oven and head out for a hike.? Look for nearby trails at a local nature center or search out parkway paths that combine both hilly and flat terrain.? If getting to a park isn't convenient, a moderately paced 60-minute walk around the neighborhood will burn about 225 calories.
• Flag football or tag. Energetic members of the family might enjoy team sports such as tag or flag football.? Both games include short bursts of intense activity which are great for raising your heart rate and burning calories.
• Dance games/DVDs. If outdoor exercise is out of the question, take advantage of the current trend in pop culture.? Let the teens in your family instruct a Dance, Dance Revolution session on their Wii or other gaming device.? Pop in a Dancing with the Stars DVD, or let the senior members of the family teach ballroom dance steps to the group.? Fox trot for an hour and you'll burn about 200 calories!

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How many calories should I eat

Question: How many calories should I eat?

"How many calories should I eat?" is the first question many people have when they make the decision to lose weight. They are often surprised to know that there isn't an easy answer to that question. That's because everyone's calorie needs are different.

Answer: To estimate how many calories you should eat, you can use several different methods. I recommend you visit About.com's Calorie Count or consult the USDA caloric intake recommendations at MyPyramid.gov. For an example in this article, I will enter a random weight and goal weight into the Calories Goal Tool at Calorie Count.

To use this tool, you will need to provide information about your gender, body, and activity level. This is an important step because this data influences your calorie needs calculation directly. For example, the caloric needs for two women who weigh the same now and have the same ultimate goal will be different if they have different activity levels. And a man and woman who want to lose the same amount of weight will not have identical calorie needs.

For an average-height, sedentary 30-year-old woman who weighs 200 pounds, but wants to weigh 140 pounds, Calorie Count recommends a daily goal of 1,204 calories to yield a weight loss of 1.5 pounds a week. The tool estimates that her goal weight will be met in a little under a year.

For a 200-pound man of the same height, who is also inactive, the same goal weight can be reached in a similar (but not identical) time frame, at a calorie goal of 1,500 calories a day. (So, a man of the same weight and height can consume nearly 300 more calories daily and achieve comparable weight-loss results.)

But remember, both of these examples involve sedentary individuals; if you are more active, you will need to consume more calories and that information should be part of any caloric needs calculation formula or tool.

No recommendations from a weight-loss calculator or tool that calculates caloric intake should be followed if it suggests women consume less than 1,200 calories or men fewer than 1,500 calories. Doing so can lead to serious health issues and does not promote safe weight-loss rates.

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Count Calories

You can easily track your caloric intake online at Calorie Count Plus by searching for and saving the foods and beverages you eat and trackig your caloric intake with a feature called your "eat meter". Calorie Count Plus also helps you track the calories you burn with physical activity with the "burn meter".

If you don't have access to a computer at all times, buying a simple notebook and a book that lists calorie counts for many types of foods will work. (Simply write your calorie goal at the top and subtract the calorie content of each food or beverage you consume as the day progresses.) You may also want to consider starting a food diary to assess problem areas or emotional eating issues.

Review your daily diet as often as possible to identify ways to cut calories. It will probably be easy to find many "painless" ways to reduce your caloric intake. For example, if you are consistently going over your calorie goal by 100 calories, cutting out just one can of soda will eliminate that overage.

It's important that you identify foods to eliminate (or cut back on) with good nutrition in mind. A healthy diet is comprised of protein, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy, and some fat. Simply avoiding high-calorie foods such as sodas, candies, cookies, chips, and fried foods, will help you avoid many extra calories. Before you decide to eliminate or choose a particular food, consider its nutritional value.(In other words, don't cut out a glass of orange juice in favor of using those calories for a cookie!)

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