Counting Calories — How to Get Started (or Restarted)
Save Time and Get Results
At any given time, there are a number of different diets in vogue. Some focus on weight loss, others on adding muscle. Some work, others don’t. Across the board, those that lead to real, sustainable results have one thing in common: they involve a change in caloric consumption. Diets targeting weight loss involve some element of caloric restriction and diets targeting muscle gain involve some element of caloric surplus.
While there are a number of different factors that determine both an individual’s caloric “burn rate” and the number of calories absorbed from different foods, the human body functions like any other closed system. If it takes in more energy than it burns, that energy doesn’t disappear. It is simply stored in the body, resulting in weight gain. On the flip side, if the body takes in less energy than it uses, it must dip into the energy storage piggy bank, resulting in weight loss.
Of course, if you’re reading this article, you’re likely already sold on the benefits of tracking your calories and you’re looking for some advice on getting started. At GrubBase, our mission is to help you make food a positive part of your life’s journey. Everyday, we help folks with all sorts of different goals, and we spend our days obsessing over and documenting the steps we see consistently lead to success. The GrubBase team came together to compile this guide for anyone who might be just getting started counting calories, or trying again after a false start.
Step 1: Shift your Mindset
Changing anything in life can feel daunting at first, and changing something as fundamental as your diet is no exception to this rule. GrubBase users who we’ve seen achieve their nutrition goals share one quality above all others: patience.
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither was your body. It took years to get where you are today, and if you want to make changes, it will take time. Products and services that offer overnight results are lying to you and can lead to serious health issues. Set expectations properly and give your body the time it needs to make changes in a healthy and sustainable way.
Patience is especially important during the first few weeks of your calorie counting journey. Meals often center around habit and routine. Calorie counting will force you to find a new routine, and you’ll likely feel unsettled and even slightly overwhelmed while you get used to this new routine. Be patient with yourself and just keep going.
Step 2: Get the Right Tools
The right tools make any job easier. When counting calories, you don’t need much to get started, but, of course, you do need to be able to measure what you’re eating. Many of you will already have these items around your kitchen, but for those of you missing an item or two, we’ve included links to some of our favorite items in our GrubBase Test Kitchen.
In the interest of transparency, please do be aware that GrubBase may earn a commission from Amazon if you click through and purchase using any of the links in this post. GrubBase is a free service that we provide to our users, and we use this affiliate revenue to keep our site up and running. We do want you to know that our reviews are unbiased, however. All commission received comes directly from Amazon and not from the makers of any of the products recommended in this post.
A Kitchen Scale
No one tool will be used more on your calorie counting journey. Look for a scale with a wide base, a sufficient maximum weight, and the ability to switch between grams and ounces.
The Nicewell Digital Kitchen Scale was our favorite. It has a 22 pound weight limit and a wide base that makes it easy to see measurements, even when placing a large bowl or plate on the scale. Its also water-resistant, which bumped this particular model up in our rankings after we lost a couple of scales to messy cooks on the team. With 5 stars on Amazon, we have confidence in its quality and ability to keep up over years of heavy use.
A Budget-Friendlier Option
For those who are looking for something more affordable, the Ozeri Pronto Kitchen Scale is another option. It wasn’t our favorite, mostly because it’s harder to clean, but it’s more than capable.
Liquid Measuring Cups
While we’re a fan of the look and feel of a classic, glass measuring cup, the innovative design of the OXO Good Grips Angled Measuring Cup won us over. The angled surface allows you to quickly read measurements from above, rather than playing the squat-and-squint game required by most liquid measuring cups. The BPA-free plastic measuring cup held-up better over time than the glass alternatives we tested (plus its cheaper than those alternatives as well).
A Little Bonus
Everyone knows how hard it is to measure liquids properly in dry measuring cups, but most of us still use dry measuring spoons for our liquids. We bought a few of the Kolder Mini Measure Shot Glasses for the GrubBase Test Kitchen and we’ve never looked back.
Dry Measuring Cups and Spoons
You can’t really go wrong here. Most of the test models performed beautifully. Our advice: pick a material (metal or plastic) and an aesthetic that you like and go for it.
We’re always a fan of companies trying something new and ended up falling for the OXO Good Grips Measuring Cups. They feature a magnetic strip that we were particularly fond of when using their measuring spoons. No more fumbling with a cumbersome keychain or searching through a kitchen drawer trying to find that missing 1/4 teaspoon that got separated from its pack.
Step 3: Mise en Place and Meal Prep
As one of my many jobs, I worked as a line cook. During that time, I learned that if you want to prepare food efficiently, you need to utilize a process called “mise en place”. Mise en place is a french term roughly translating to “everything in its place”. Professional chefs know that before a dinner rush, their work stations must be set up with all of their ingredients, each one pre-portioned and chopped/sliced as necessary.
When calorie counting, you should take the same approach. We hear from users all the time that lack of time is one of the biggest challenges encountered when calorie counting. For many of us, meal times are rushed as it is, trying to squeeze in a quick bite while juggling the demands of a busy schedule.
We recommend that anyone without a surplus of time on their hands (so pretty much all of us) use a mix of mise en place and meal prep. Few of us can afford to budget an extra hour in our daily routines, but anyone can invest an hour or two a couple times a week, especially if that investment earns you an even greater amount of time back in your day-to-day.
We recommend the following course of action:
- Once a week, plan your meals ahead of time
- Twice a week, gather all of your ingredients and measure out your portions for half the week’s meals. If you know that to hit your caloric requirement for a meal, you need to eat 11 oz of chicken breast, prepare your 11 oz portion during this session. Preparing a salad? Cut your veggies during this session. Ziploc bags are going to become your friend — we like these reusable ones.
- Cook your meals ahead of time, as desired. Personally, some weeks I cook my meals ahead of time and reheat lunches and dinners in the microwave. Other weeks, I just mise en place. Working from home during COVID lockdowns, I’ve found that with proper mise en place, I can cook my meals in 10 minutes or less, which allows me to enjoy freshly cooked food within the demands of my schedule.
Step 4: Pick an App that does the Job
There’s a reason you see so many successful celebrity body transformations. Celebrities are able to hire private nutritionists and trainers who create a sustainable diet plan, tailored around each individual and their goals.
If you’re like me, you can’t afford a private nutritionist, leaving the vast majority of us to struggle through our food journey using apps and websites like MyFitnessPal and LoseIt. When compared to the hand-held, customized experience most celebrities enjoy, the services offered by these apps isn’t quite the same (to say the least).
Every meal needs to be painstakingly entered, leading most users of these apps to eat the same basic meals, every single day (we’re looking at you, boneless, skinless chicken breast). It’s no wonder most of our efforts end in frustration just a few days or weeks in.
After frustrating experiences with a number of these apps, I set out to build something better. I built GrubBase to try to bridge the experience gap between those that are able to hire a private nutritionist and the rest of us. GrubBase is a free meal planning app customized around each user with:
Effortless Meal Planning
Simply type in what you plan to eat and GrubBase will automatically find matching foods and show you in real-time how your meal’s calories and macros are tracking
Personalized Recipes
Just enter how many calories you’d like to eat of a particular recipe, and watch as ingredient amounts automatically adjust. You can even upload your favorite recipes, and GrubBase will calculate your recipe’s calories and macronutrient distribution.
Features Built around You
GrubBase has many other features designed with you in mind. Our goal is to give anyone the ability to have their own dietician in their pocket and we’re going to keep building and adding features until we get there. Join us today and sign up for a free account to get started.
