How to Count Calories Eating Out
US chains must post calories by law, and a laboratory check found the average honest. The catch is what an average hides — and what to do at the place that posts nothing.
Read it →Every article here exists because the honest answer was scattered across a forum thread, a video and a comment section, and nobody had written it down properly. We publish when we have something specific to say, not on a schedule.
How to Count Calories Without a Food Scale
Estimating is worse than weighing and no article can change that. What it can do is show you where the error actually lives — and it is not spread evenly across your plate.
Read it →Why Two Apps Disagree About the Same Food
Nobody selling a tracker explains this, so here it is: USDA publishes two calorie figures for the same food, and the packet was rounded into a legal band before either app saw it.
Read it →Hidden Calories in Oils, Sauces and Dressings
You poured about 120 calories of oil into the pan. How much of it reached your plate? Weigh the bottle — and meet the three US rules that keep these calories out of sight.
Read it →How to Calculate Calories in Homemade Food
Every other page ends with "divide by the number of servings". You chose that number and the knife ignored you. The method that survives a tray cut into six unequal pieces.
Read it →How to Count Calories in Soups, Stews and Curries
The finished-weight method: weigh the whole pot once, and every bowl afterwards is arithmetic. It is the only approach that survives a dish where one serving is not a thing that exists.
Read it →What goes here, and what does not
Three kinds of article, and nothing else:
- How to log the awkward stuff. Dishes where one portion is not a thing that exists — soups, curries, casseroles, anything cooked in a pot and shared out.
- Where the numbers come from. Why two apps disagree about the same food, what USDA FoodData Central actually contains, and what a photograph can and cannot tell you.
- What the tools really do. Which apps put which features behind a paywall, checked and dated, including ours.
What you will not find: diet plans, before-and-after photos, supplement recommendations, or medical advice. We are not qualified to give any of those, and a calorie tracker has no business pretending otherwise. Anything touching health carries a link to our health disclaimer for the same reason.
Start with a number to log against
Tracking what you eat is only useful next to a target. All three calculators are open with no account:
- Calorie calculator — how much to eat a day to lose, hold or gain weight.
- TDEE and BMR calculator — the full metabolic breakdown behind that number.
- Macro calculator — protein, carbs and fat in grams rather than percentages.
You can earn the full version instead of paying for it
Reading about logging is not logging. The free plan has no card, no charges and no end date, so the cheapest way to find out whether any of this works for you is to spend a week doing it.
- Create an account and log a few meals. New accounts open with a two-day Plus trial — three days if somebody invited you — and then settle onto the free plan: no card, no end date, one meal scan a day.
- Publish an honest post, story, write-up or short video about what you found — or invite three people who go on to actually use it.
- Send us the link. A published piece unlocks the higher tier; three qualified invites unlock 90 days of the full version.
Your post has to say you got free access in exchange — that is an FTC requirement in the United States. Access is granted whether what you write is positive or critical. Full terms: promotional access.