Whether you want to lose fat, gain weight or maintain your current body size, the need to control your caloric intake is often born of a desire to better manage your health. By monitoring how many calories you consume, you not only empower yourself to control weight fluctuations but also develop healthy habits for the future.
Compute your ideal calorie intake. While everybody needs a certain number of calories for optimal vigor, assess how your own caloric needs depend on your age, weight, height, activity level and gender. For example, if you are a woman between the ages of 19 and 30 living a sedentary lifestyle, you need about 2,000 calories per day to maintain your weight, while you will need 2,400 calories if you are living an active lifestyle. A sedentary man in the same age range needs 2,400 calories, while he needs 3,000 calories if he has an active lifestyle.
Keep track of the calories you eat. When you learn how many calories you consume daily, you are better able to make smart choices for your diet. Jot calorie amounts down in a simple notebook, decorative journal or other book that inspires you. Opt to track your calorie consumption through online calorie counters or apps for cell phones, if those methods are more convenient.
Divvy up your calories throughout the day. Balance is important to control how much you eat without going hungry. For example, if you're dieting and your daily calorie limit is 1,600 calories, cut your intake at each meal to 400 calories. Doing so allows for two 200-calorie snacks as well.
Read labels. The label tells you about calories and nutritional value. Nutritional value refers to how many vitamins, minerals and other nutrients are in the food you eat. When a food has 5 percent or less of the recommended daily value of a nutrient, it is low, but it's considered high in the nutrient when it contains 20 percent or more of the recommended daily value. Eat foods low in sodium or sugar but high in calcium, iron, fiber, vitamin A and vitamin C. Focus on nutritious choices to maximize the quality of the calories you consume.
Control your portions. Assess the actual serving sizes of foods by reading labels. A serving size of whole grains would be a single slice of bread or a half-cup of brown rice, while examples of single servings of vegetables include one potato or a cup of salad greens. A 3-oz. serving of meat is one portion, and a whole orange, banana or apple is one serving each.
Limit fat to no more than 25 to 35 percent of your daily caloric intake, advises the American Heart Association. Fats contain more than double the calories of carbohydrates and protein.
Eat high-fiber foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes. These foods are filling fare that are also lower in calories.
Change the way you drink. Sports drinks, flavored waters and many processed fruit juices have added sugar, which also means added calories. Cut soda out of your diet or reduce intake to one per day. Pick unsweetened green tea over sweet tea. Reach for water most of the time, and liven up its taste with a garnish of lemon or lime.
Increase the amount of exercise you get each day. Get at least 2 hours and 30 minutes of moderate cardiovascular exercise, such as brisk walking, each week. Also fit in a minimum of two muscle-strengthening workouts, such as weight-lifting, per week.
- Refine your calorie planning with the helped of a trained nutritionist. Discuss with the nutritionist how the quality of calories impact health, as there is ongoing debate whether the quality of calories consumed is as crucial to weight management as how many are taken in each day.
- Never start a diet or exercise program without first consulting a health-care professional, who can evaluate your health and determine the exercise that's appropriate for your current fitness level.
- Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics: Health Implications of Dietary Fiber
- International Food Information Council Foundation: Foods for Health: Managing Your Weight
- American Heart Association: Know Your Fats
- Family Doctor: Nutrition: Determine Your Calorie Needs
- Clemson University Cooperative Extension: Determining Nutritional Value of Foods
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: How Much Physical Activity Do Adults Need?
- ABC News: For Calories, It's All About Quality Over Quantity, Harvard Study Says
- CBC News: Calories Poorly Grasped for Maintaining Weight
- Mayo Clinic: Healthy diet: End The Guesswork With These Nutrition Guidelines
- National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute: Food Exchange Lists
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