Calories guide

How to count calories

Updated October 11, 2026 · MyPlate

Calorie counting is bookkeeping. A calorie is a unit of energy. The number on a label or in a USDA record is the energy in a stated amount of a specific food. If you eat a different amount, the calories change in proportion. That is the whole method. Everything else is a way to make the bookkeeping faster or less easy to skip.

Five steps

1. Pick the food that matches what you ate. "Chicken breast, roasted, skinless" is not the same record as raw chicken or chicken with skin.
2. Measure the amount. Grams on a kitchen scale are the clearest unit. A cup or tablespoon is fine when you use the same measure the record uses.
3. Read calories for that amount. Use the Nutrition Facts label for a packaged food you ate in that serving, or a USDA record and scale it.
4. Add the day. Include drinks, oil, and sauces. Write the total before you decide the day was "good" or "bad."
5. Compare with your TDEE. Maintenance is your total daily energy expenditure. A deficit is eating under that number. Use the TDEE calculator and the calorie deficit calculator.

Worked example from USDA records

These figures are the servings in our food calorie chart, retrieved from FoodData Central on 11 October 2026. They are not guesses.

Breakfast is oatmeal plus one large raw egg: 166 + 72 = 238 kcal. A plate of 100 g roasted skinless chicken, 1 cup cooked white rice, 1 cup chopped raw broccoli, and 1 tablespoon olive oil is 165 + 205 + 24 + 119 = 513 kcal. Those two eating occasions are 238 + 513 = 751 kcal. A day is the sum of every occasion, including the coffee if you add milk. Brewed coffee in the chart is 2 kcal per cup (FDC 171890) before anything is added. Whole milk is 60 kcal per 100 g (FDC 746782).

Suppose the TDEE calculator returns about 2,500 kcal for you. Then 751 kcal is only part of the day. You would still log dinner and snacks. The point of the example is the addition, not a full menu.

Common mistakes

• Logging the raw weight of food you ate cooked, or the reverse. Rice gains water when it cooks. The chart row is cooked white rice, 205 kcal per cup.
• Using a medium piece of fruit when you ate a different size. Our chart's banana is a medium raw banana, 118 g, 105 kcal (FDC 173944). A different banana needs its own weight.
• Skipping the oil. The tablespoon of olive oil in the example is 119 kcal, more than the cup of broccoli.
• Comparing the day with someone else's number. Your target comes from your own height, weight, age, sex, and activity. Start with how many calories should I eat.

Where an app fits

The web calculators stay free. The MyPlate app is free to download, try every feature free, with a 3-day free trial. Use it to keep the running total. For a packaged food, the label is still the number to trust. For the foods above, the FDC IDs are the source. Read are calorie apps accurate before you treat a photo estimate as a lab result.

Sources

• USDA FoodData Central, foods cited by FDC ID above, retrieved 11 October 2026.
• Mifflin et al., 1990 — the equation our TDEE and BMR calculators use for resting energy.
• NHS: tips to help you lose weight — pace of loss, if a deficit is your goal.

Next: the food chart, the calorie calculator, and the app.