Nutritionists, dieticians and other health professionals agree that healthy eating which includes counting calories and a low fat diet are essential for long term healthy weight loss. Losing weight by counting calories helps to build your knowledge and awareness of how many calories your body needs to function and what is in the foods you consume. Counting calories does not take a lot of time or effort. Counting calories is flexible enough to fit into most lifestyles and can accommodate personal preferences. Dieting by counting calories means there are no forbidden foods – everything is allowed – as long as you eat less calories than you burn up each day you will see the weight come off.

To lose weight by counting calories you need to first work out how many calories you need each day to maintain your weight. For women, this averages around 2000, for men around 2500, this will vary depending on your build – such as muscle content and height. To lose weight your calorie count needs to be less than the calories you burn. If you eat 500 calories less than you need each day you'll lose weight at the rate of one pound (453.6g) a week. If you eat 1,000 calories less than you need each day you'll lose two pounds (907.2g) each week. By eating less calories, your body will have to turn to its fat stores to make up the deficit in your calorie count. It is recommended that you combine exercise, to burn more calories, with healthy eating to create a calorie deficit.

A useful calorie calculator can make counting calories easier - you can work out how many calories you need to perform daily activities or exercises to give you more control and knowledge about how many calories you should include in your diet. Another tool that is useful for calorie counting is this calorie counter, alternatively the NutriCounter is another handy tool. At any time of the day, you can use your NutriCounter to find out how many calories, fats, cholesterol, carbohydrates, sugar, sodium, fiber and protein you have had for that day. This is especially helpful if you have ANY dietary restrictions.

Weight Watchers success has resulted from a similar philosophy. Rather than counting calories, Weight Watchers has devised their own Weight Watchers Points system. This basically uses the same idea as counting calories. It allows you to eat a variety of foods, where each food has a number of ‘points’ allocated to it based on Weight Watchers Points system, depending on the individual’s diet program your daily diet consists of a variety of products that equal your daily point allowance.

Counting calories is not the ‘end all’ solution to healthy weight loss. However, it certainly has its benefits. Counting calories provides a useful tool for people wanting to achieve long term weight loss and should be used in addition to regular exercise and a sensible low fat diet.