Discover Your Ideal Calorie Intake with Our Calculator

Introduction

If you’ve been following our recent fitness blog posts, you’ll have read all about our Elevate Gyms, how to train effectively and also how to set yourself on the right path for healthy eating by looking at different diets.

This time, we’re going to look at calories, which are the one reason why you gain or lose weight. You will need a calorie deficit to lose weight and a calorie surplus if you want to gain weight.

In this article, we’re going to look at how calorie calculators can help support your journey and we’ll also look at some of the most common foods that can support your journey.

How to Use a Calorie Calculator

These days there are plenty of online calorie calculators that you can use to estimate the number of calories you need to consume per day.

If you’ve never used one before you’ll be glad to know they’re pretty simple to use; all you need to do is input a few basic details such as your current weight, height, age and activity levels and it’ll come up with what it thinks is the correct number of calories you need to consume. When selecting the activity level you must ensure accuracy – they’re often categorised into low activity, moderate and high. Low is for someone who sits down a lot and only exercises lightly and high is for someone who has an active job and also exercises.

When you’re all set up you can start adding to your food calorie calculator and it’ll tell you how many you’ve consumed and how many you’ve got remaining. Some of them also go into a greater level of detail by breaking down information on macro-nutrients such as protein.

One of the great things about calorie calculators is that you can scan barcodes on food items which automatically brings up their nutritional and calorie information. This makes it a simple and easy process to add to your food diary.

What’s also important to remember is that an online calorie calculator is just a generic tool, and whilst it is useful for estimating calories you still need to pay attention to what you’re consuming to stay on track with your goals.

Food Calories Calculator

Here’s a simple calorie calculator that estimates your calorie intake based on the amounts of protein, carbohydrates, and fat you consume:

Protein (g):

Carbohydrates (g):

Fat (g):

Calculate

The Results of Using a Calorie Calculator

The whole point of using a calorie calculator is that you’re more informed about the food choices you regularly make and whether they fit into your long-term goals.

You can use this tool as a calorie deficit calculator to ensure that you’re consistently staying under your daily calorie allowance to lose weight.

If you don’t want to lose or gain weight you can also just use it as a maintenance calorie calculator to make sure you stay consistent with your diet. Over time as you become more informed about your food choices you may even decide that you don’t need to track your food as you regularly make the correct choices.

The final way a calorie calculator can be used is for calculating a calorie surplus purpose and this is beneficial if you are looking to gain weight.

It is recommended that whether you’re pursuing a calorie deficit or surplus you try to remove or add around 300 calories per day to your intake. This enables you to sustainably lose or add weight and will make sure you don’t end up quitting the process after a short period.

Calories in Fruit

Fruit is a great choice for many people wanting to live healthier lives as it offers great flexibility as a snack item, fruit contains lots of vitamins, and is low in calories.

We have listed the number of calories in some of the most common fruits:

For the most part, eating fruit as part of a healthy and balanced diet is a great choice. The only thing that fruit lacks is that it doesn’t contain any protein, so if you are looking to build muscle, you’ll need to make sure you’re getting sufficient protein from elsewhere in your diet.

You might like to read this:

Nutritious and Healthy Food – The Complete Guide to Energizing Your Life

How many calories are in other popular foods?

Here is a breakdown of the number of calories in some other popular foods.

How to Eat High Volume and Still Lose Weight

The trick to losing weight is to eat low-calorie foods and to get enough protein. By doing this you can eat more of them which will leave you feeling more satiated and will also help you stay within your daily calorie allowance.

We have already touched on the number of calories in some of the most common foods and you can see that if you’re looking to maximise the volume of food you can eat whilst keeping low calories, fruits and vegetables are essential.

Here are some top tips for helping you to lose weight in a sustainable way:

• Increase your portions of vegetables with every meal. A good way is to divide your plate into sections and try to reduce the higher-calorie areas of your meal with lower-calorie options.
• Don’t go mad with your calorie reduction. If you drastically reduce your calorie intake, you’ll see a reduction in your weight in the short term. However, this will be unsustainable and after and it’s more than likely you’ll fall off the wagon and end up back to where you started.
• Drink plenty of water. Water has zero calories and if you keep hydrated it can help you to feel full and stop overeating.
• Exercise regularly. As part of a healthy lifestyle you should be exercising regularly, but it’s essential if you want to maximise weight loss. It’s a good idea to combine strength training and cardio exercise.
• Use a calorie calculator. A calorie calculator can help you make informed choices about the foods you eat and the number of calories you consume.
• Don’t be afraid to treat yourself. It’s impossible to go from an average diet to a super strict one. Without some treats you are likely to binge eat and undo your progress – you’ve also got to have something to look forward to!
• Get a good amount of sleep. Getting the right amount of sleep is fundamental to your weight loss journey, so make sure you get between 7-9 hours every night.

How Many Calories to Lose 1KG?

If you wish to lose 1kg then you’re going to need to create a deficit of around 7,500 calories.

This can seem a daunting task but the best thing to do is to break it down into manageable chunks so you can hit small milestones. Eventually, these small wins will turn into your overall goal of losing 1kg. By reducing your calorie intake by around 200 per day it’ll only take around 40 days to lose the 1kg of body weight, which isn’t much time at all.

You might like to read this:

Transform Your Body: How to Lose Weight Fast and Keep It Off

Whatever you do, please don’t go crazy on the number of calories you reduce. If you reduce too much then it’s entirely possible that you’ll see a short-term reduction, but this will be hard to sustain and could see you not sticking to your plan.

Creating 300 Calorie Meals

Before we get into some examples of 300-calorie meals, it’s probably best for us to lower your expectations a little bit. A 300-calorie meal isn’t going to look like a full meal that you’re used to, but saying that you can still make them fun, and different and ensure they contain the right nutrients! Also, the great thing about eating smaller meals is that you can have more of them.

Let’s take a look at a few potential options.

Breakfast: Omelette

2 eggs, diced peppers, onion and mushroom, cheese.

Breakfast: Porridge with fresh fruit

60g porridge, milk and fresh berries of your choice

Lunch: Grazing bowl

Hard-boiled egg, veggies such as carrot, cucumber and pepper sticks, 1 slice of deli meat such as ham or beef, fresh fruit such as grapes or apple and a small amount of cheese.

Lunch: Chicken salad

150 grams of chicken breast (either plain or with seasoning) plus a salad of your choice – spinach, baby tomatoes, cucumber and peppers work well.

Dinner: Meat and veggie traybake

The meat of your choice (chicken or beef works well) accompanied by a range of roasted vegetables such as courgette, peppers, onion, broccoli and carrots. Honey can also be used for additional flavour.

Dinner: Egg fried rice

Basmati rice, 2 eggs, soy sauce, peas, peppers and onions.

All of these 300-calorie meals are just suggestions and you can really alter any meal to suit your required calorie intake. The trick is to know when to swap some of the higher-calorie foods out for lower-calorie options which will enable you to increase the volume of food you’re eating without adding calories to your daily intake.

Common Questions and Answers