Can a Calorie Calculator Help With Weight Loss?

5:12 AM Weight Loss Trainer 0 Comments

Those that are looking to lose weight may find it easy to get started. The change in eating habits this often involves may give many people an immediate weight loss boost. Sustaining this may be harder. Once the body adapts to a change in diet, the individual may need to think more about issues like the calorie, cholesterol and fat content of the food they eat. A calorie calculator may be a useful tool here.

What are Calorie Calculators?

These tools (also often called trackers or counters) are aimed at helping the individual assess the food that they eat. So, for example, they may be able to use a calculator to find out how many calories are in a specific food or portion size. Some counters may also give further information such as typical fat content.

These kinds of calculators are available online and are often free to use. In some cases they may be included in the subscription cost of a broader weight loss program such as a meal planner or online diet journal. It is also possible to buy a hand held calorie counter or to download applications to certain types of phones.

What are Calorie Trackers Used For?

People will use these tools for a variety of reasons. For example, they may want to:

Meal plan (on a daily or weekly basis) to make sure that what they eat sticks to their recommended calorie intake each day.
Check out the content of a specific food to see how healthy or unhealthy it is.
Monitor their fat or cholesterol intake for either medical or dietary reasons. People on the Alli diet, for example, must be careful not to consume too much fat and a tracker could help them keep an eye on their intake.
Use a combined calorie checker/burner tool to assess how many calories they have burned off with exercise.
Work out what their daily calorie intake should be.

Not all calculators offer the same services and it may be worth checking a few out before choosing one to use.

Why Count Calories?

Everyone has a specific daily calorie intake that will keep them fit and healthy. People with weight problems often consume too many calories for their body shape and size and for the levels of exercise that they take. An individual that eats too many calories will basically see what isn't burned off turned into fat.

On a weight loss plan their intake may be set at a certain level. If they can stick to this (and get their recommended amount of daily exercise) then the individual stands a better chance of losing weight consistently and of keeping it off in the future.

But, those who haven't paid much attention to this in the past may need a helping hand. Working out how to fit foods into a daily calorie intake can be made a lot easier if they can assess the content of what they eat on a numerical basis.

So, for example, if an individual is given a calorie limit of 1600 calories a day, then using this kind of tool can make it much easier to understand both how to eat more healthily and how to build meals that will stick to their limit. They know how many calories they should eat and a calorie tracker can help them plan meals and/or track food content quickly and simply.