Tools to count calories?

Discussion in Sports & Fitness started by Thejamal • Mar 28, 2014.

  1. Thejamal

    ThejamalActive Member

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    I've been wondering what are the best tools for counting calories out there? I'm looking to start a new diet and want to do it right. Are there sites out there or calculators that people use?

    Thanks.
     
  2. starfox64

    starfox64Active Member

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    If you have a smart phone, I fully recommend an app called "Calorie Counter". It is free and gives you the ability to track your calories for basically any food you can think of. And it even has a bar code scanner to scan whatever food item you like. Definitely worth trying out!
     
  3. katharinemae

    katharinemaeActive Member

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    There's a lot of helpful tools that can help you count calories
    1. There is a calorie counter that counts your ideal calorie intake based on body weight.
    2. Charts that show how much calorie is present in a certain food.
    3. Online calories journal to keep track of the calories you take and lose.
    4. Calories burned tool, that shows how much calorie you lose on certain exercises.
    And a lot more.
     
  4. Lostvalleyguy

    LostvalleyguyActive Member

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    You need two tools - one for food you eat, the other for energy you burn.

    The best tools to monitor energy burned are those that monitor your heart rate and have you input a lot of data like your age, height and weight etc. The problem with the apps is that they give you only a general estimate of what you are burning based on the information you enter - like running for 30 minutes. The apps can not determine the intensity of your workout whereas a heart rate monitor can.

    As for calorie intake, there are several apps and online calculators. If you happen to eat out a lot, you can look up many menu items on the websites of the restaurants you eat at.

    Calories are the major thing to look at, but there are other items you may wish to track like fat or sodium depending on your needs - yes there are apps for those as well.
     
  5. canoe

    canoeMember

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    It's quite easy if you just have a smartphone since there's tons of apps for these. I just want to let you know before you start counting calories that you have to be very meticulous and detail-oriented. For example, let's say you're cooking a steak. Often times, a lot of the fat from the steak drips down the pan so you're actually eating less fat and calories than what's labeled on the nutrition facts for the steak. This is just an example but I hope you get what I mean. In order to have the perfect macro diet, you need to be careful with the numbers.