How to Count Calories

There are many ways to count how many calories you're consuming each day. One way is using a calorie tracking app such as Asken Diet or LoseIt! These apps allow you to scan the barcodes of all the food you've eaten, manually enter the food, or use a food database to automatically update your daily food intake. However, not all foods are listed in the food database, so it's important to monitor your intake. These apps will help you keep track of how many calories you are taking in each day. Remember, not all calories are alike. With Asken Diet, the team of licensed dietitians will give you free daily advice to make sure you are getting calories from a variety of healthy sources. Think: "Eat the rainbow" when it comes to eating a variety of vegetables and fruits. Those calories are the good kinds!

What are the Easiest Ways to Count Calories?

The easiest way in the Asken Diet app is to use the barcode scan. If you have a bunch of packaged goods you are using to cook a meal at home, scan the barcode on the box(es) and our database will instantly find the item so you can log it. Or grabbing a snack on the go? Before you throw away the wrapper, scan the barcode from within the Asken Diet calorie counting app. Done. Simple!

Calorie counting diet plan

It can be intimidating to try to set up a diet plan and count calories. Asken Diet is here to help. After downloading the app, you will create an account and enter your diet goals. Whether it is to lose weight, gain weight (muscle mass) or simply maintain your current weight, our licensed dietitians will give you a goal date and a goal number of how many calories you should have each day. This goal number will take into account things like your job (because some are more physical than others) and other lifestyle factors. The goal is to hit your diet goals in a sustainable way, not a quick change in weight that could rebound later.

The Bottom Line

Deciding to count calories is already a huge first step in leading a more healthy life. Knowing what goes into your body is a great way to gain insights into how to make diet changes. The Asken Diet app will give users free daily advice (after logging all three meals in a day) so that you can learn what nutrients you are lacking or have excess of. Counting calories might sound hard, but it should only take a few minutes to log what you ate. You don't have to be perfect in logging every little thing, but doing your best to track what you ate will pay off in healthy dividends. You got this! 💪

As a general guide, here is a simple breakdown of a daily calorie intake*.

Links that can help:

Asken Diet: https://www.askendiet.com/get
WebMD: https://www.webmd.com/diet/features/dos-donts-counting-calories
HealthLine: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/how-to-lose-weight-as-fast-as-possible
CNET: https://www.cnet.com/health/nutrition/how-to-count-calories-for-weight-loss-and-health/
IontoDri: https://iontodri.com/12-scientifically-backed-ways-to-reduce-stress/