Ultimate Guide to Tracking Calories for Weight Loss Success.

Disclaimer: This article is for Informational and entertainment purposes only and does not substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult a medical professional before making any dietary changes.

Calorie tracking has received a ton of controversy in the fitness industry about whether it is healthy, good for weight loss, or good for overall health. Some argue that calorie tracking leads to disordered eating or an obsession with numbers. Others believe it is necessary for weight loss.

When I started my fitness journey 4 years ago I did not track calories. About 2 years in, I was no longer losing weight, so I decided to start tracking my calories. I immediately began to see progress, and I have been tracking my calories since then. However, what works for me might not necessarily work for you. There is no best approach to weight loss. Some people prefer to track while others prefer not to. Many have been successful either way and you can too.

Whether you decide to track calories or not, this ultimate guide will provide you with everything you need to know to make that decision. It will also provide all the tools and resources you need to successfully track calories if you choose to do so. Stay to the end to learn how to avoid the most common pitfalls that may be preventing you from losing weight.

In short, a calorie is a unit of energy. Calories measure the amount of energy in food and beverages.

Calories are important because you need to be in a calorie deficit to lose weight. When you eat more calories than you burn, you gain weight. When you eat less calories than you burn, you lose weight. Tracking calories can help you eat less calories and lose weight. (1, 2, 3)

No. You can lose weight just by being in a calorie deficit. It is possible to achieve a calorie deficit without tracking calories, however, tracking calories helps to hold you accountable. It also gives you clarity on what foods are higher or lower in calories. The saying, “what gets measured gets managed” comes to mind. Not tracking calories would be like operating in the dark in your weight loss journey.

Calorie tracking entails measuring the number of calories consumed throughout the day from food or beverages. Tracking can be done by hand or preferably with a phone app.

Here are my top 3 picks for the best calorie tracking apps:

1. MyFitnessPal
2. Lose It!
3. FatSecret

I use Lose It!

First, it is important to understand nutrition labels, especially serving sizes.

On each label there is a servings per container section, and the serving size measurement with a scale weight next to it. (Usually in grams.) This should be used to find the number of calories after you find the measurement of how much food you’re eating. Don’t always assume you’re eating just one portion.

Quick tip: If you’re eating or cooking with the whole container you can multiply the calories by the servings per container to find the calories for the container.

Calories per serving x servings per container = calories per container

There are 3 ways to measure your food.

Measuring by scale is the most accurate way to measure food. There is no possibility for human judgement mistakes when using scales. Measure the amount of grams, ounces, pounds, milliliters, etc., then simply find the food item in your app and enter that weight.

Some people find measuring cups slightly quicker and easier than scales. This option is good but I find it easier to just use a scale.

Estimating is best used when it is unreasonable to measure the food item.

For example: If you are eating a banana you may not want to peel the banana and weigh it on a scale. You can just look up “banana” in your tracking app and choose between small, medium, or large.

The main disadvantage with estimating is the possibility for misjudgment particularly in high calorie foods like nuts or oils. I find it difficult to estimate the calorie content of these foods. If you are consistently underestimating the calorie content of a food item by 100 calories everyday, those 100 calories add up.

Be aware of how many servings you’re eating. Use a scale as often as possible. Be consistent.

The number of calories you should eat is based on many factors like age, weight, height, gender, activity level, and your goals. follow the 2 steps below to find your calories out and set your goal.

Find how many calories you burn everyday. You can use a calorie calculator to find a good starting point. Keep in mind this number is an estimate. Here is a full guide on finding your daily calorie expenditure.

Set a realistic number for how many calories you are going to eat depending on your weight goal. Here is a general guideline:

Want to lose weight? Eat 500 calories less than you burn.

Want to gain weight? Eat 500 calories more than you burn.

Want to maintain your weight? Eat the same amount of calories as you burn.

Now that you have your number you can aim to eat that many calories everyday. As you track your progress you may find that it is working. Great! Continue making progress – occasionally returning to the calculator to reevaluate your calories out. As your weight changes your caloric need changes as well.

If you are not making progress towards your goal then you may need to adjust your calories. Remember, the calculator provides an estimate and is not always reliable. Simply, readjust your calories and wait a couple of weeks at that number, then reevaluate.

Most people do not forget to track their meals but some do forget to include certain smaller items. Foods like sauces can be easy to disregard, however, some can be extremely high in calories.

Keep in mind everything you eat or drink contributes to your daily calories. You would be surprised how many calories that side of ranch dressing has. These “hidden” extra calories often cause people to believe they’re in a calorie deficit when in reality they’re not.

When reading food labels keep in mind that the calorie count listed is for 1 serving size. So if you eat more than that you will have to account for it.

Remember, the scale weight is the most accurate way to measure food because it is completely objective and leaves your perception out of the question.

I can see how all of these scoops of peanut butter could be perceived as one serving. If you always overestimate and you eat peanut butter everyday those extra calories add up quickly. This is also true of many other foods items. Here is a list of the most common ones.

1. Peanut Butter
2. Nuts
3. Oil
4. Butter
5. Salad dressing (ex: Ranch)
6. Salad toppings (ex: Croutons)
7. Cooking spray (ex: Pam)
8. Mayo
9. Syrup
10. Honey
11. Gravy

Cooking oil is the sneakiest source of missed calories. It is easy to completely forget to include the calories from cooking oil. (I know I have.) However, oil is extremely high in calories and can seriously throw off your calorie deficit.

As you can see the 2 plates above look like the same quality and quantity of food, however, one is over double the calories of the other.

Remember, everything you eat or drink contributes to your daily calories. Use a scale as often as possible to avoid miscalculations in serving sizes.

Calorie tracking is a tool that can help make you more aware of how many calories you’re eating daily. Benefits include increased self accountability, better understanding of the caloric content of food, increased awareness of your eating habits, among many others.

The bottom line is: if you want to lose weight you must achieve a calorie deficit sustainably. This can be done by restricting eating, exercise, or ideally a combination of both. Reaching a calorie deficit by extreme dieting or exercise is not sustainable long term, and leads to weight regain.

Finding a happy middle ground of dieting and exercise was the best way for me to achieve long term weight loss. It is important to try out many different strategies to see which ones help you reach a calorie deficit without feeling deprived. Calorie tracking is one tool that may do just that.

1. Joosen, Annemiek M C P, and Klaas R Westerterp. “Energy expenditure during overfeeding.” Nutrition & metabolism vol. 3 25. 12 Jul. 2006, doi:10.1186/1743-7075-3-25 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16836744/
2. Tremblay, A et al. “Overfeeding and energy expenditure in humans.” The American journal of clinical nutrition vol. 56,5 (1992): 857-62. doi:10.1093/ajcn/56.5.857 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16836744/
3. Horton, T J et al. “Fat and carbohydrate overfeeding in humans: different effects on energy storage.” The American journal of clinical nutrition vol. 62,1 (1995): 19-29. doi:10.1093/ajcn/62.1.19