Next, look at the serving size of what you plan to eat so you can figure out the amount of calories.
The label of the foods you eat tells you the number of calories per serving size. If the amount you eat is larger than the serving size, add the calories accordingly.
If you don’t have a label to read or the print is just too small, turn to your calorie counting app for the necessary information.
Study Calorie-Counter Websites
Go to a calorie counter website and enter foods you commonly eat or restaurants you go to. Before clicking on an item, guess how many calories it has. It might surprise you that some foods have twice the number of calories you thought, while other foods have a lot less.
Keep surfing until you start getting them right. Have fun. I like Calorie Count, by About.com, but there are others (just search “calorie counter” on Google).
Estimating Calories for Cheese and Dressings
My rule of thumb is that whenever I have something with cheese or dressings, I add around 150 calories to my estimate (per serving). That “per serving” is very important.
If you have a giant salad at a restaurant (often about three servings worth) and you put dressing on it, you have to take that 150 calorie estimate and multiply by 3. So, the dressing on a big salad could be as much as 450 extra calories.
Continue on to the next page to see more …