How to Track Calories Burned

The Internet has created a whole world of ways for all of us to be more responsible for our own personal health. So many websites provide free or inexpensive tools for managing aspects of our health that it seems a waste not to take advantage of them. If you aren't Internet-savvy or don't want to buy a new gadget, you can also track your progress with pen, paper, attention to food labels and determination.

Instructions

• 1

  Know your body weight and your ultimate goal, as well as your short-term goals to use as steppingstones. There is nothing better for your success than to know where you want to be, and how and when you would like to reasonably arrive there. There are several free websites (see Resources section for one) that you can use to assess your body mass index. BMI is a good indicator of whether your weight falls in a healthy spectrum, and it helps you understand how many daily calories your body needs.

• 2

  Explore the Internet's resources. They are plentiful, and many are free. Livestrong, FitDay and SparkPeople offer free calorie counters
  with staggeringly impressive food databases, along with comprehensive lists of exercises and how much each burns for the time exercising. These websites are most helpful because you enter some of your basic information such as body weight, height, age and the general range of your level of activity. Once you enter the activity you performed, these websites calculate many calories you burned. Another reliable website is My Pyramid Tracker. Although it don't offer quite the extensive list of packaged foods as the aforementioned websites, its activities list is very good and the assessment of those activities is a useful tool.

• 3

  Use a gadget. There are plenty to choose from. These tools aren't free, but some are affordable. The BodyBugg made by Apex Fitness, a division of 24-Hour Fitness, has been made famous on NBC's "The Biggest Loser." The device looks like a full-size iPod or a deck of cards and is worn around the tricep, using an armband. There is also a monitor that can be worn as a watch or around your waistband. You will use interactive online tools to help in your tracking; they ask for your weight, height, age and other factors. This is a great way to set goals and have instant feedback on calories burned.

• 4

  Don't discount the power of writing down your calorie intake and the duration of exercise. It is more work, but the key really is making yourself accountable, at least when you are getting started. Books such as "The Calorie Counter: 4th Edition" by Annette B. Natow and Jo-Ann Heslin (Mass Market Paperback, 2006) help you determine the calories burned for any activity.