According to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the secret to losing weight is to take in fewer calories in a day than you burn. This creates a calorie deficit that forces the body to burn stored energy sources, resulting in weight loss. The best way to know if that calorie deficiency has been created is by tracking the calories in the food you eat. There are multiple free sources available online to make counting calories easier.
The Calorie Counter
This is a basic tool for counting calories. A red box shows a drop-down menu for food groups and a search box for a specific food. The results are provided in an easy-to-read label that looks similar to the nutritional labels that appear on packaging. Food can also be browsed by group or by popularity. However, the site has multiple ads that can make the information difficult to view.
My Calorie Counter
This free tool provides calorie counting along with a food and fitness journal, but registration must be completed before the calorie counting tool can be used. The registration process is a bit difficult to navigate, with many special offers to weed through. Once registered, a user can access many other tools to track weight, join a community, search a fitness database to find calories burned through specific exercises, and the food database for counting calories. On the downside, the food search is done by keyword, pulling up every food that contains that word, making it difficult to find a specific food without a good search term.
Calorie King
The food database for this program is free, but a lifestyle program is available for an additional charge. The free calorie counting tool searches food by keyword displaying the results based on relevancy making it easier to navigate. The tool also shows how many calories come from fat, protein and carbohydrates in each food. Another unique tool is a column of exercise tips showing how to burn off the number of calories the food provides.
A Calorie Counter
This free tool allows the user to search the USDA nutrition database and displays the full nutritional facts for the searched food. The results are displayed based on relevancy, so the specific food is easy to find. Select quantity and size and the results are displayed. A free food journal is also provided for registered users. Registration is easy, and the layout of the site is clean and clear with areas for frequently eaten foods and custom foods. A nutrition label similar to that on food packaging keeps track of the day's calories.
The Daily Plate
A service of Livestrong.com, this tool provides daily calorie recommendations, as well as a calorie counting tool. Registration is required and the choice to upgrade to a paid membership appears before access is granted. This keyword search pulls up pictures of the food, making it very easy to choose properly. Entry into the free food log is also user friendly, allowing the user to choose what category the food should be entered under including breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks or pre-workout. This site shows how many calories are remaining for the day and how many have been consumed as well as burned; the log displays weekly and monthly information. All of this information can be exported to a desktop. Another unique option is a tool to enter a recipe, calculating calories per serving.
SparkPeople
SparkPeople provides a calorie counter with a meal planner as a part of the site's overall healthy lifestyle program. Registration must be completed in order to access the tools but once registered a customized meal plan is outlined in the nutrition tool. Options to substitute a food or turn off the menu enable users to personalize this calorie counter.
