How to Calculate Calories in Homemade Food

If you are trying to lose weight or maintain your current weight, you have to watch your caloric intake. Preparing meals at home enables you to control the ingredients used in the foods you consume. To find the total amount of calories in the meals you prepare some calculating is required.

Things You'll Need

• Pen
• Paper
• Internet
• Calculator

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Instructions

• 1

  Visit the website for the national nutrient database of the United Stated Department of Agriculture (UDSA) at nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/. The page displays a search feature that allows you to look up the nutritional values of food items.

• 2

  Enter the keywords and food group that you want to know the calories for. For instance, if you made a toasted, cinnamon-raisin bagel with cream cheese, you would type "Bagel" for the keyword and select "Baked Products" as the food group from the drop down list. Select "All Food Groups" from the drop down list if you don't know which food group of your item. Click the "Submit" button after entering the information.

• 3

  Select the item of interest from the list that appears by clicking on the round button next to it. In this case the item is the "Cinnamon-raisin bagel, toasted." Click "Submit."

• 4

  Check the box with the correct weight or size of your food item. For this exmple, we'll choose a medium bagel that's 4 inches in diameter. Click "Submit."

• 5

  Write down the kilogram calories (kcal) mentioned in the list of nutrients. For a medium-size, toasted, cinnamon-raisin bagel this would be 291 kilogram calories.

• 6

  Repeat steps 2 through 5 for the cream cheese. Multiply the calories if you used more than 1 tbsp. cream cheese since the USDA only displays single serving sizes. For instance, 1 tbsp. cream cheese has 50 kilogram calories. If you used 2 tbsp. of cream cheese, you should multiply 50 by 2 to make 100 kilogram calories.

• 7

  Add up all the calories for all the foods in your dish. For instance, 1 medium, toasted, cinnamon-raisin bagel has 291 kilogram calories; 2 tbsp. cream cheese has 100 kilogram calories. Add together 291 and 100 to get a total caloric content of 391 kilogram calories.