How to track your calories on the plan

Online calorie counters are one of the easiest ways to track your calories while following the NHS Choices weight loss plan.

To lose weight, you need to eat and drink fewer calories than you use each day.

If you're following our diet and exercise guide Losing Weight - Getting started, your daily calorie allowance is 1,900kcal for men and 1,400kcal for women.

Calorie counters

There is a wide range of online calorie counters. We can't verify their data but they can help you track your calories. Examples include:

    My Meal Mate (free app for Android phones)
    MyFitnessPal
    Calorie counting
    FatSecret

Simply enter the food and drink you consume and the quantities, and the calorie counter does the work for you.

You'll also need to get used to reading food labels to find out the calorie content in packaged food and drink.

Keep a running tally of your day's calories and enter the total figure in the food and activity chart (view sample PDF, 545kb) at the end of each day.

You may find it helpful to have a list of your favourite food and drink and their calories before starting our 12-week weight loss plan.
Calorie counting in practice

Here are some practical examples to show you how to work out the calorie content of your meals, snacks and drinks.
Calorie-counted recipes

For an easy start on the plan, why not use Change4Life Meal Mixer, which contains over 120 easy, calorie-counted recipes for breakfast, lunch, evening meals, puddings and snacks.

Snacks

It’s easy to find the calorie content of a wide range of snacks. Use these examples to help:

    Banana: Use an online calorie counter to find out the calorie content in fruits. The MyFitnessPal calorie counter says that a medium-sized (112.5g) banana contains 100kcal.
    Kit Kat: Use food labels to find out the calorie content in any packaged foods. Look for the “per bar” or “per packet” figure. A two-finger Kit Kat contains 107kcal.
    A scone: If scones, pastries and muffins come in a packet, use the food label. Some cafes and restaurants have calorie labelling in store, on their menus or online.

Lunch

If you’re grabbing lunch on the go, it will often consist of a number of packaged foods, perhaps accompanied by a piece of fruit. For example, you might choose a sandwich, a bottle of orange juice and a banana.

Simply use food labels and an online calorie counter to find out the calorie content of each part of your lunch.

For example:

    Tesco Light Choices chicken, tomato and rocket sandwich – 285kcal
    +
    Tropicana Trop50 smooth orange juice 330ml – 69kcal
    +
    Apple – 65kcal

Grand total = 419kcal

Buying food from your work canteen or a cafe can make it harder to work out calories. Some cafes and restaurants have calorie labelling in store, on their menus or online.

Cooking from scratch

When cooking from scratch, you can work out the total calories by adding up the calorie content of each ingredient.

You’ll need to use food labels, kitchen scales to weigh ingredients, and an online calorie counter.

Say you’re making spaghetti bolognese for four people. Use a non-stick pan so you only need to use a tablespoon of oil to fry the ingredients.

The bolognese sauce contains lean beef mince, onions, chopped tomatoes, carrots, vegetable stock, olive oil, and herbs and spices.

    280g of dried wholewheat spaghetti. The packet tells you that 100g of dried spaghetti contains 348 calories. So 280g of dried spaghetti contains (348/100) x 280 = 975kcal. 
    200g of lean beef mince. The packet says the raw mince contains 171kcal per 100g. So 200g of raw mince contains 171 x 2 = 342kcal.
    Two cans of 400g of chopped tomatoes. Each can contains 96kcal. So that’s 96 x 2 = 192kcal.
    One onion. The MyFitnessPal calorie counter says an 85g white onion contains 34kcal.
    Two carrots. The same calorie counter says a carrot contains 30kcal. So that’s 30 x 2 = 60kcal.
    A tablespoon of olive oil for frying the ingredients. The calorie counter says this contains 119kcal.
    The calorie content of the vegetable stock, herbs and spices is almost zero, and can be ignored.

The total calorie content of this meal is 975 + 342 + 192 + 34 + 60 + 119 = 1,722kcal.

If you eat one quarter (one serving) of the meal, you will consume 1,722/4 = 430.5kcal.

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