For anyone who is on a mission to lose weight and get in shape, and has definitely committed to making it happen, you may have discovered that one of the hardest things to get over first is changing what you eat.

This makes sense because the food we choose is one of the reasons for weight gain in the first place. When it comes to losing weight, 75% of the entire process is your diet and nutrition. Once you get a good handle on this, the other 25% of this process will make sure you get some exercise a few times a week. That’s why it’s critical that you take full control of everything you put into your body to achieve true weight loss success.

Since there are usually three main meals of the day along with a variety of snacks thrown in here and there, one of the best and easiest ways to keep tabs on all of this is by using a FREE calorie counting app or website.

I mention the word app (application for a smartphone) as this is what I personally use and recommend for anyone with a phone that is capable of running these types of plugins. Since we often eat out, especially for lunch during the work week, or if we go out to dinner, instead of trying to remember everything you ate, with the smartphone app at your fingertips you can immediately enter your options and find out the balance of remaining calories. Extremely helpful when you get into the habit of doing this for every meal.

However, if your phone cannot run apps, you can still use the website/online version of the free calorie counter. You’ll just have to do a good job of remembering everything you’ve consumed (including drinks and snacks) since your last login and entering everything the next time you get the chance.

With that being said, here is a step by step guide on how to download and install a FREE calorie counter app on your smartphone from start to finish. This guide will detail the steps for using an iPhone 4s, so there may be subtle differences between different phones, but the general idea should be the same once you’ve installed the app on your phone.

Here we go!

Step one
Go to your AppStore (or wherever you download apps) and search for MyFitnessPal (free). Your search results should show “Calorie Counter & Diet Tracker”. You can read the information about what the app provides you and when you are ready, just click “Install” and it will be downloaded and installed on your phone.

Second step
Once it has finished downloading and installing, click on the app which should be on your screen. You will need to “accept” their License Agreement before using the application. You then have the option to sign in with your Facebook account or sign up with your email address. Select the option you prefer and then press continue.

Step three
Now you will have to answer a series of questions so that the application can obtain a number of daily calories that will help you achieve your weight loss goals. First will be your current weight. Be sure to actually weigh yourself to start with an accurate amount, not what you think you weigh.

The next question is your goal/target weight, then your gender, your height (make sure you’re accurate because this really helps your calorie allotment), date of birth, your daily activity level (depending on your job type: sedentary , slightly active, active, very active) and how often you plan to exercise: workouts per week and the duration of each workout. Finally, ask how many pounds he would like to lose or gain each week, or if he just wants to maintain his current weight. The range is 1/2 pound to 2 pounds per week. So think about your overall goal and the timeframe in which you’d like to achieve it. Then you create a username and password, enter your email address, and you’re all set to start using the app.

Step four
Once your (free) account is created, you’ll see a screen that congratulates you, shows your daily net calorie goal, and the amount of weight you need to lose in a month if you stick with your calorie total. Click on the bar that says “Start Tracking Now”, and then you can add Facebook friends or your Contacts if you want (you can add them later if you want), and finally you will be taken to the main page of the app you see on this screenshot here. This is where all the magic takes place.

step five
As you’ll see on the main screen, this is where you can instantly see your total daily calorie count. It lists in four sections in a gray section labeled Goal (your daily amount), Food (what you eat each day, including drinks), Exercise (what you do to burn calories), and Net (what’s left over at the end of the week). . The day). Your goal is to get as close to your calorie count as possible to reach your weekly weight loss goal. To add items, simply click “Add to Journal” (gray button next to your green numerical calorie total), and that will take you to the “Add Entry” page as shown here on this screenshot. For everything you do in a single day, be it food/drink or exercise, you will add it to your journal in this way.

step six
You have the option of entering the food and beverages you consume per meal. In other words, all the food you eat for breakfast under the breakfast heading, all the food and drink at lunch under the lunch section, etc. Select one of the meals and you will see a specific page for that meal appear. This is where you will search for a particular food to select and add to your calorie total. If it’s a common food, you’ll most likely find it in the MyFitnessPal database, as their database has over 2,000,000 foods. However, even if you can’t find the specific item you ate, you’ll still be able to enter the type of food and the amount you ate. If you want to skip the food label entry, you can simply use “Quickly Add Calories” if you have an idea of ​​roughly how many calories your food is.

Conclusion
Although this may seem like a long and slow process, it really isn’t. Once you install the app and get used to entering food and exercise, pretty soon you’ll be able to do it all in less than 30 seconds. Give it a try for a week or two and see how much it helps you focus on maintaining a daily calorie total. Personally, I know it helped me whenever I was ripped off by the temptation to eat in an unhealthy way, as I didn’t want to cram in a huge meal and watch my calorie numbers turn negative (red).

Hopefully this has inspired you to give calorie counters a try and see how much they can help you. They are absolutely FREE, so what do you have to lose? If you really want to lose weight naturally and not resort to drugs or special diets, using a free calorie counter can be your ticket to weight loss nirvana.