Calorie Tracker - Daily Food Log & Calorie Counter

How to use the calorie tracker

Set your daily calorie goal, then add food entries throughout the day. The tracker shows your progress toward your goal and resets automatically each morning.

What is a calorie?

A calorie (kcal) is a unit of energy. Your body needs a certain number of calories each day to maintain its current weight; this is your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE). Eating less than your TDEE creates a calorie deficit (weight loss); eating more creates a surplus (weight gain).

How to find your daily goal

Use our BMR / TDEE Calculator to estimate your daily energy needs. For weight loss, a deficit of 300–500 kcal per day is a sustainable starting point.

Privacy

All data is stored entirely in your browser's localStorage. Nothing is sent to any server. Your food log is automatically cleared each day.

Macronutrients and calories

All calories come from three macronutrients (and alcohol):

• Protein: 4 kcal per gram. Essential for muscle repair and immune function.
• Carbohydrates: 4 kcal per gram. The body's preferred energy source.
• Fat: 9 kcal per gram. More than twice as calorie-dense as protein or carbs.
• Alcohol: 7 kcal per gram (often called "empty calories" as it provides no nutrition).

Tracking macros alongside total calories provides more insight than calorie counts alone. Many performance and body-composition goals require specific macro ratios, not just a calorie target.

Reading nutrition labels

The calorie number on a nutrition label is per serving, not per package. Always check the serving size at the top of the label first. A bag of chips listed as "150 calories" may contain 3 servings, making the actual package 450 calories. The FDA requires serving sizes to reflect realistic portion sizes, but they can still be misleadingly small for single-serving packaging.

Why calorie tracking can be inaccurate

• Food database errors: studies have found errors of up to 20% in commercial food databases. User-submitted entries can be significantly less accurate.
• Restaurant portions: restaurant meals vary in actual portion size from stated values by 30% or more.
• Measuring by volume vs. weight: volume measurements (cups, tablespoons) are much less accurate than weighing ingredients in grams. A "cup" of a dense ingredient can vary by 20–30% depending on how it is packed.
• Cooking methods change calories: frying adds fat; boiling can leach some nutrients. The raw vs. cooked weight of the same ingredient varies significantly.

Use calorie tracking as a consistency tool rather than a precise measurement system.