Calorie Calculators

Weight management is nothing more than a simple calorie balance.

To lose weight, the calories you consume must be less than the calories required by your body to function plus the calories you burn by exercise. Quick links to online calorie calculators are available in the left frame to estimate the 3 key items that go into your daily calorie balance:

Record these items in your Daily Food & Activity Record.  It's a good idea to complete this daily food and activity record during the duration of the 12-week program.  A written record of your habits over several weeks will show positive changes you have made, as well as areas you still might need some work on.

Scroll down if you need help on how to use these online calculators:

1. Calories Consumed Daily (Food & Drink)

You have access to an Online Interactive Menu Planner where you can select the maximum number of calories to eat each day, such as 1200, 1600 or 2000.  Then choose items from the foods listed to create your meal plan for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks.  Watch how the different foods you select affect your daily calorie goal.  Now you've got your daily meal plan already created. 

Another approach is to enter the food items after each meal or at the end of the day and let the calculator total your calories to see if what you've eaten falls under your maximum calories per day goal. The planner also gives fat grams and total carbohydrates.

Please click the Online Interactive Menu Planner when you need to use it.  After you are done, use the "Back" button on your browser to return to this spot. The more you use this planner the easier it will become to use it!

Another option people use to keep track of total calories consumed is by reading nutrition labels and food charts, preparing meals using recipes where the calorie breakdown is available, or referring to a nutritional database.  Click here to access a comprehensive online nutrition database.

By the end of the Eat Smart...Play Hard program you are likely to become an expert in your own right since subsequent sessions provide additional  information in most of these areas.  Please use whichever approach is easier for you - on a daily basis - but the idea is to get in the habit of estimating total calories you consume in food and drink.              

2. Calories Required Daily for Body Functions

This is a critical number for you to know and one that is based on your gender, age, height and weight and is also affected significantly by your body's metabolism: a person who has a higher metabolism will burn more calories than a person of the same gender, age, height and weight who has a lower metabolism.  Please click the Daily Energy Expenditure Calculator  to get an average estimate of the calories your body burns in a day just to keep going.  After you are done, use the "Back" button on your browser to return to this spot.

3. Calories Burned Daily by Exercise

You have access to another online calculator that requires you to enter your weight and the number of minutes you do each of the listed physical activities and hit CALCULATE to get an estimate of how many calories you burn daily in doing all of your favorite activities.  Please click the Calories Burned Calculator when you need to use it.  After you are done, use the "Back" button on your browser to come back to this spot. 

Click here if you need more information on the Daily Calorie Balance - the key to losing weight effectively!