A Melbourne Personal Trainer writes: Calorie counting is the process of keeping a log of all food consumed each day, and tallying up the total calorific content in a food diary. The total number of calories for the day can then be compared to the amount of calories required to maintain current weight levels.
The food diary itself can simply contain overall calories of each meal, or can be more detailed, including the breakdown of different nutrients such as protein, carbohydrate, fats and fibre. Fats could be further broken down into saturated and unsaturated forms if desired. The nutritional information for most foods can be found on the packaging, or is often available online.
The total daily calorie consumption is then compared to the individual’s target calorie intake. If the total calories consumed exceeds the individual’s requirements, weight gain will result.
The easiest way to determine your target daily calorie intake is by using an online Calorie Requirement Calculator. These work by determining the Basal Metabolic Rate (amount of calories required for bodily functions such as breathing) based on an individual’s gender, age, height and weight, and adding the estimated amount of additional calories required due to the individual’s activity levels through-out the day. Many online Body Mass Index calculators also provide a recommendation for daily calorie intake to achieve a healthy weight range, along with a breakdown of calories with targets for protein, fats and carbohydrate by gram.
The main value in counting calories and and maintaining a food diary is that, for many people, it will be their first insight into understanding the calorie content of different types of food, and will clearly identify the bad meal choices which result in weight gain due to an excess of calorie consumption.
While it is not necessary to meticulously measure or weigh each portion of every meal indefinitely, keeping a food diary for a period of just a few weeks or up to a month can provide a starting point that leads to a better understanding of good nutrition and healthier eating habits, resulting in achieving a healthy weight range and maintaining it long term.