Weight loss is not one size fits all. It can be tricky in that way, which means that everyone has to find what works best for them in terms of diet and exercise. However, there are some principles that anyone on a weight loss journey can follow to ensure they are able to meet their weight loss goals. 

Since weight loss begins with your diet, understanding how the food you eat impacts your body composition can make or break your success. While many people choose to count calories — focusing on the calories in, calories out method — there are other ways to promote weight loss. 

Carbohydrates Are a Source of Energy

A carb calculator is a tool that can help your weight loss goals. Carbohydrates are one of three macronutrients the body needs to survive. The other macronutrients are protein and fat. 

Carbohydrates often get a bad reputation, but they aren’t bad. In fact, the body needs carbohydrates to complete essential, necessary functions. The body turns carbohydrates into glucose, its preferred form of energy. Then, your body breaks down the glucose for energy. 

So why are we often cautioned against eating carbohydrates? And how will a carb calculator help our weight loss goals? 

When you eat more carbohydrates than you can use for energy, then the body turns the extra energy into fat, which is stored around the body. This is how people end up with excess body fat. This body fat is an energy store, but is “extra;” fat is not the body’s primary choice for energy. 

Carb Calculators Help You Manage Carb Intake 

Many people looking to lose weight need to decrease their overall carb intake because they need to deplete the body’s energy stores and force it to use and burn fat instead of glucose. A carb calculator can help someone looking to adjust their carbohydrate intake figure out how many carbs they need to eat everyday. It’s important to not stop eating carbohydrates all together. 

A carbohydrate calculator will ask you your age, gender, height, weight, and activity level. Most carb calculators will also ask you your overall goal: lose weight, maintain weight, or gain weight. 

Once you input this information, it will either tell you the percentage of your diet that should be carbs or the number of carbs (in grams) you should aim to eat in a day. This output can help you make informed decisions about your carbohydrate and dietary needs as they relate to weight loss. 

Not All Carbs Are the Same 

When working to decrease the number of carbs in your diet, remember that not all carbs are the same. While hitting your daily carbohydrate target is important, be considerate of how you are filling that carbohydrate allotment. Processed, sugary foods and foods made with high-fructose corn syrup are considered simple carbs. These carbohydrates are low in nutrients and the body digests them quickly. 

Complex carbs, like legumes, vegetables, oatmeal, and multi-grain bread, are more nutritious and take longer to digest, meaning they will keep you fuller longer. 

Someone focused on weight loss should try to increase the number of complex carbs they are eating and reduce the simple carbs in order to get even closer to their goals. It will be easier to stick to your carbohydrate plan if the food you are eating is keeping you full and improving the function of your body, rather than causing a spike in blood sugar. 

Tracking Your Weight Loss Progress 

As you adjust your diet according to the carbohydrate calendar and your body’s individual needs, it is important to also track your progress so you can see if what you have changed is making an impact on your body composition. 

While you may be focused on “weight” loss, tracking your body composition and body fat percentage will give you a more accurate measure of your overall health and progress, especially if you have been exercising. Muscle weighs more than fat and the traditional scale can’t account for this difference. Tools that focus on body composition, like ZOZOFIT, can.

ZOZOFIT uses 3D body scanning technology to take your real-time body measurements and calculate your body fat percentage — all in an easy-to-use app. After each scan, you can look at the 3D mesh of your body to see your progress. The Side-by-Side Comparison and ColorMetric features make it easy to see how your body composition has improved over time. 

With ZOZOFIT, you can also set body composition goals. Try setting a goal once you start adjusting your carb intake and see just how much you can accomplish!