8 Calorie Counting Mistakes To Avoid 

Three of the most common goals that people have when going to the gym are losing weight, building muscle, or a combination of the two.

Counting calories can be a great tool to help you accomplish those goals.

It can also teach you a lot about how many calories are actually in the food you eat on a regular basis. Research shows that we tend to underestimate how many calories are in foods that we eat (1).

While counting calories is a great tool, there are some mistakes you need to avoid.

The first thing you’re going to need to do is figure out how many calories you need per day for your goals.

Once you’ve figured out how many calories you need, read on to learn about 8 calorie counting mistakes and how to avoid them!

Mistake #1: using volume measurements instead of a food scale 

On every food label, you’ll see a serving size in cups, tablespoons, or some other common household measuring implement.

You’ll also see a serving size in grams next to it. 

Make sure you use the serving size in grams, and NOT the serving size of cups or tablespoons! 

The reason you want to avoid this mistake is that two measuring spoons of the exact same size can look the same but be different weights, and very different calories. 

Here’s a picture to illustrate my point:

See how both spoons of peanut butter look similar? 

Now, look at the weights on the scale. The portion on the left is 32 grams, which is 190 calories. 

The portion on the right is 47 grams, which is almost 1.5 times the portion on the right! That’s an extra 95 calories! 

If you’re using measuring cups instead of a food scale, those extra calories can really add up. 50 calories here, 80 calories there, and before you know it, you’ve gone hundreds of calories over your daily goal. 

Using a food scale is cheap, easy, and will make sure you’re tracking things accurately.

Here’s a better, more accurate way to measure peanut butter.

Step one: place the peanut butter jar on the food scale.

Step two: zero the scale to tare the weight of the jar and peanut butter (every scale is different, but in the case of this scale all you have to do is press the button on the left).

Step three: dip your spoon in the peanut butter and take out one serving (in this case, -32 grams).

Step four: enjoy your peanut butter, knowing that it’s exactly one serving of 32 grams!

You can get the food scale I’m using HERE from Amazon. 

Mistake #2: only counting calories, and not counting protein

Whether you’re in a calorie surplus and trying to build muscle, or you’re in a calorie deficit and trying to lose fat, getting enough protein is crucial.

Protein also has the highest thermic effect of food, which means that it burns the most amount of calories to process in your body. This means that if you have two diets that are identical in calories, but one diet is higher in protein than the other, you will burn more calories on the higher protein diet. It’s not a huge amount of calories, but it can add up over time.

Protein is also the most satiating macronutrient, meaning it helps you stay fuller for longer (2). If you’re in a calorie deficit and trying to lose fat, this means getting enough protein can make it easier to stick to your calorie goals.

Protein is the only macronutrient that builds muscle. If you’re in a calorie surplus and trying to build muscle, making sure you eat enough protein every day will ensure that those hours in the gym are going towards building muscle. 

Mistake #3: not tracking your calories accurately

When it comes to tracking calories, you have two options. 

The first option is you can record the calories of everything you eat on a piece of paper. This method is great if you love making your life more difficult, like doing math, or live in the woods by yourself with no WiFi.

For everyone else, a much better option is to use a smartphone app to tally up your calories for the day.

The two apps that I have the most experience with are MyFitnessPal and Mike’s Macros. 

MyFitnessPal has a free and a paid version. If you’re just tracking calories and protein, the free version of MyFitnessPal should work fine. You can see your overall calories and a breakdown of your macronutrients, including protein.

Mike’s Macros is completely free, and is a great option if you’re tracking calories, protein, carbs and fats. 

The two biggest issues when using apps like these is making sure you enter the correct serving size of the foods you’re eating and making sure that what you’re eating is the same as what is in the app. 

Here’s an example. 

Let’s say for lunch you had a roast beef sandwich.

You go into MyFitnessPal, type in “roast beef sandwich”, find a match, and boom! Only 460 calories, and 27 grams of protein. You’re good to go! 

Not so fast..

You need to make sure that you add each individual component of the sandwich into the app to make sure it’s accurate.

Check out the example below. With each of the components of the sandwich put into the app, you can see that your sandwich is not 460 calories, but 660 calories! 

Making sure that what you actually eat matches what you enter into the app will help you avoid inaccurately tracking those calories.

Mistake #4: not counting everything you eat

That creamer you put in your coffee? The two cookies you had during a meeting at lunch? The glass of wine at dinner? 

They all have calories, and they all count. Not counting them will lead to inaccurate tracking.

One of the benefits of tracking calories is that you can (and should!) fit foods that you enjoy into your diet. 

As long as you hit your calorie and protein targets, the type of foods you consume matter less than the overall quantity when it comes to body recomposition.

For example, Mark Haub, a nutrition professor at Kansas State University, lost 27 pounds in two months by eating a diet composed mostly of twinkies, oreos, powdered donuts and doritos. 

While that’s not a diet that anyone (including the professor himself) would recommend, it goes to show that you can eat “unhealthy” foods and still make progress towards your training goals.

You just have to track the calories from those foods too.

Mistake #5: not tracking consistently

I’ve had clients who track meticulously Monday through Friday, only to completely go off the rails over the weekend and not track anything.

Let’s say your daily maintenance calories are 2,600.

2,600 calories x 7 days per week= 18,200 weekly calories.

Monday through Friday, you put yourself in a 500 calorie deficit and eat 2,100 calories.

2,100 x 5 = 10,500 calories.

On Saturday and Sunday, you say “F**K IT!” and eat almost 4,000 calories in pizza, wings, and alcohol. Now, you’ve created a 2,500 calorie surplus over two days.

3,850 x 2 = 7,700 calories.

10,500 + 7,700 = 18,200 calories.

You’re right back at maintenance, and you haven’t made any progress towards weight loss!

Mistake #6: not paying attention to raw vs. cooked weight

This is a big one, and can easily lead to inaccurate tracking.

Foods like meats, pasta, rice and potatoes will all have different weights when cooked vs. when uncooked.

Meat generally loses a quarter of its weight when cooked, and pasta and rice absorb water when boiled, changing their weight.

Check out the back of this bag of rice:

Notice how the label says the weight in grams as a dry measurement.

It’s important that when you enter the weight of whatever you are tracking, you make sure that it matches in the tracking app you’re using.

It is more accurate to weigh things dry, and then cook them. This is however a huge pain in the ass. 

You can choose to weigh things after you cook them, just know that they won’t be as accurate as if you weighed them dry.

Whichever one you choose, be consistent with it. Even if what you’re tracking isn’t 100% accurate, as long as it’s consistent you’ll see progress over time.

Mistake #7: tracking macronutrients vs. tracking calories + protein

This really isn’t a mistake, it’s just about choosing the right option for you and your specific goals.

Unless you have a very specific body composition goal, tracking macronutrients (protein, carbohydrates, and fats) might be overkill when it comes to reaching your goals.

For most people that just want to look better and lose weight, tracking only total calories and protein allows you more flexibility in your diet which can lead to better adherence. 

Research shows that when calories and protein are equated, it doesn’t really matter whether your calories come from carbohydrates or fats in terms of fat loss (3).

So if you’re trying to lose body fat and you enjoy carbohydrate heavy foods like rice, potatoes, and oatmeal, you can eat more of those foods.

Conversely, if you enjoy fattier foods like steak, avocados, and eggs, eat more of those foods, knowing that as long as you hit your protein and calorie goals you will lose fat.

The exception here is if you’re trying to build muscle. 

If you’re trying to add mass to your frame, you’ll need to be in a calorie surplus to maximize growth.

Research has shown that when you’re in a calorie surplus, dietary fat is more likely to be stored as body fat than carbohydrates (4). This is why bodybuilders tend to eat higher carb and lower fat diets. It’s probably a good idea to track protein, carbohydrate and fat intake to make sure you’re getting enough carbs to fuel your training sessions and minimize the amount of body fat you add.

Mistake #8: not attempting to track when going out to eat

If you cooked every single meal at home, never went out to eat, and always ate exactly the portions you made, you’d be on a fast track to accomplishing your fitness goals.

But this just isn’t realistic.

Whether it’s a birthday party or a family gathering, there are going to be times where you won’t have access to a food scale and you won’t be able to accurately track what you’re eating.

You should still do your best to track your calories when you go out to eat.

There are two things you can do when you go out to eat. You can see if the restaurant has their calorie information listed online, or you’re going to want to do your best to estimate the portion size.

A lot of chain restaurants like Chipotle, Applebees, and Subway have their nutrition and macronutrient information posted online. 

If you’re at an event and you don’t know where the food came from, or you go to a restaurant that doesn’t have its information posted online, just do your best to estimate.

It’s okay if what you’re tracking at a restaurant or an event isn’t 100% accurate. As long as you are consistent with tracking and you’re getting close, you’ll make progress. Even food labels on pre-packaged foods can have a 20% margin of error (5). 

Wrapping up

If you’re counting calories to lose weight or build muscle, avoid these mistakes and you’ll be well on your way to reaching your goals.

Remember that you don’t have to be perfect. Trying to be perfect all the time will just lead to frustration and make you want to throw the towel in. If you miss a meal here or there, it’s not the end of the world. Just get right back on track and you’ll be fine.

Tracking calories has its downsides, and it’s not for everyone.

If you want someone to take all the guesswork out of your fitness and nutrition, you can apply for coaching to see if we’d be a good fit for each other.

Thanks for reading!