Counting Calories Can Help You Lose 50% More Weight!

A Calorie is the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of a liter of water 1 degree. Now that we have the technical, hard-to-understand definition out of the way, what do you really need to know about counting calories? The 3 most important things are:

1. Figuring out what your caloric needs are
2. Keeping track of how many calories you are eating per day
3. Understanding how many calories are burned doing different exercises

1. How Many Calories Per Day?

Use this useful online calorie calculator from the Mayo Clinic to determine how many calories per day you should be eating. It calculates the number of calories you need to be eating each day based on your age, weight, height, sex, and activity level:

Calorie Counter

2. How Do I Keep Track of Calories?

There are many useful calorie trackers and food diaries on the web. Some are free and other are offered for a small fee. Food diaries are an excellent way to keep track of what you're eating and help you lose weight. In fact, a recent Kaiser Permanente study found that keeping a food diary/calorie counter doubled weight loss among participants when combined with 30 minutes of exercise each day. Some of the better food diaries include:

• www.fitday.com
• www.myfooddiary.com
• www.sparkpeople.com
• www.thedailyplate.com