Avoid 6 common calorie counting mistakes

1 Portion distortion

Do you pour your breakfast cereal until it *looks* like a reasonable portion? It’s surprisingly easy to underestimate how much we’re eating. Foods we tend to pour freely—like cereal, rice, and pasta—are often the biggest culprits. We ran a little experiment in our office and asked people to pour a 40g serving of muesli. 91% overestimated the portion! (Check out our blog on Cereal Killers!)

And we’re not alone. Research from Oregon State University found that even dietetic students had a hard time estimating portion sizes—and calorie counts—from photos. Only 38% guessed the weight of food within 10% accuracy. The best guesses came from people who regularly cook and weigh ingredients.

Bottom line: if you’re eyeballing your portion sizes, you’re probably consuming more calories than you think. The only way to get it right is to weigh your food—at least until you develop a solid visual understanding of what a true serving looks like.

App Tip: The Nutracheck database offers guidance on optimal portion sizes for small, medium, and large servings of foods.

2 Selective memory

Unfortunately, there’s no such thing as "free foods"—despite what some diets claim. All foods contain calories. Fruit? That counts. Veggies? Yep, those too. And don’t forget liquid calories. Five cups of tea with 2% milk adds up to around 85 calories—that’s 595 calories a week that need to be tracked. Then there’s ketchup, the butter on your sandwich—it all matters.

Also, think about the food you eat without even noticing—bits of cheese while cooking, leftover fries from your kid’s plate—you get the idea. Logging what you eat helps you become more aware (and selective!) about what you’re consuming. That’s why food tracking works. Logging with the app takes hardly any time—just 10 minutes a day.

3 Too vague

When logging food in your Nutracheck diary, try to enter the exact brand you ate. Here’s why it matters:

If you ate a slice of Lidl Rowan Hill Bakery Seeded Wholemeal Farmhouse Loaf but logged it as just “wholemeal bread,” you’d be undercounting by 49 calories per slice. Multiply that by 4 slices—toast at breakfast and a sandwich for lunch—and that’s almost 200 missed calories. Do that across several foods, and your calorie count won’t be as accurate.

App Tip: Nutracheck includes over 430,000 food products, so you can log exactly what you ate. Just scan the barcode or search for the item in your diary—it’s super easy!

4 Empty calories

It’s easy to focus only on calorie count—but the type of food matters too. Technically, a calorie is a calorie—whether it’s from broccoli or chocolate. But foods vary in nutrients, and that impacts how your body uses that energy.

A diet full of whole, natural foods is the way to go. Aim for plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, legumes, calcium-rich dairy, and healthy fats from nuts and oily fish. These foods help you stay full, satisfied, and healthy. A slice of chocolate cake and a sandwich might have the same number of calories—but the sandwich will keep you full much longer!

App Tip: Your Nutracheck account shows the nutrient breakdown of your diet, so you can check how balanced your meals have been each day. It’s a great way to stay informed about your choices.

5 No plan

You’ve heard the saying: “Failing to plan is planning to fail.” One of the best ways to stay on track is to plan your meals in advance. That way, you’ll know if you’ve got a few calories to spare for an evening treat. It’s much better to plan for a treat than to blow past your daily limit and crave sweets with no room left.

Try logging your meals ahead of time—or as you go—rather than waiting until the end of the day. When people try to recall what they ate, they typically underestimate by about a third! Regular food diary users tend to do better—but you get the idea.

App Tip: Planning ahead is easy with Nutracheck. You can add meals and snacks to your diary any time, even days in advance.

6 Slave to the scales

It’s tempting to hop on the scale every morning, but your weight can fluctuate a lot during the week for no real reason. If the number affects your mood or motivation, it’s better to weigh in just once a week. Pick the same day, same time, and use the same scale for consistency. That way, temporary fluctuations won’t throw you off. Also, pay attention to how your clothes fit. Having a goal outfit you want to wear again can be a great motivator!