Since April 2022, large UK businesses that sell food or drink have been required (by law) to display calorie information on menus and food labels. The measure was introduced by the government as part of a drive to tackle obesity and improve the nation's health. The benefits of calorie tracking are widely publicised regarding weight control and weight loss, making the visibility of caloric content whilst eating out a step in a healthier direction for the public.

The science is straightforward - if you consume more calories than you burn, you'll put on weight and if you burn more calories than you consume, you'll lose weight. Now, the world's first holistic lifestyle app, 4improve, facilitates calorie tracking in day-to-day life, helping you to make healthy choices at home and when eating out.

What are Calories?
Calories are units of energy found in food and drink. This energy is used to keep you alive and maintain organ function, allowing you to move, think, work, and play. The number of calories you need to consume each day depends on many factors, including your age, gender, activity level, and genetics. As a general guideline, the average male and female need 2500 and 2000 calories per day, respectively.

3 Benefits of Calorie Tacking for Weight Loss
1. Increases Awareness
When ordering a takeaway, it is possible to eat the entire recommended daily number of calories in one meal. Before the introduction of calorie labelling on menus, many of us were blissfully unaware of this alarming fact. One of the benefits of calorie tracking is that you increase your understanding of how to adequately fuel your body. That doesn't mean ruling out takeaways entirely but eating them in moderation. Once you begin calorie tracking, choosing balanced and nutritious food becomes second nature.

2. Assists with Meal Planning
Once you get to grips with the calorie content of your preferred foods, meal planning becomes less challenging. 4improve contains a bank of healthy recipes, which cover breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, snacks, beverages, pre-workout, post-workout, and high-protein, each displaying the number of calories per serving. By assigning meals to the app's planner, you can calculate how many calories you're consuming per day and adjust meals to suit your goals. If you're looking to increase your weight, select high-calorie snacks and ingredients and to lose weight, reduce the portion of selected meals or choose low-calorie alternatives.

3. Monitors Progress
4improve combines the most important areas of holistic living in a single app - meditation, exercise, nutrition, and tracking. Its inbuilt calorie counter allows you to monitor your food intake and adjust your diet according to weight targets. Two benefits of calorie tracking include making instant adjustments when diet plans change and the ability to view your progress over a selected period. If you forget your lunch or get offered a slice of birthday cake, 4improve's calorie tracker can help you to readjust your meal plans for the day. By using the app to view how your calorie intake relates to weight gain/loss, you can refine your diet to maintain your target weight or achieve a further target down the line.

Is Calorie Counting Healthy?
Counting the number of calories you consume is a healthy way to increase your nutritional awareness and monitor your weight, as long as you continue to eat a balanced diet. It is important to recognise that you should not cut out food because of its calorie content, but reduce the amount you consume instead. Many calorie-rich foods are also incredibly nutritious and should not be eliminated from your diet entirely. An avocado, for example, contains 240 calories but delivers a huge hit of monounsaturated fats, which increase your levels of good cholesterol and reduce bad cholesterol.

Dramatically reducing your food and drink intake is not one of the benefits of calorie tracking. By turning to extreme calorie deficits in an attempt to lose weight, the body loses energy and cannot function adequately. This can impact your physical and mental health. When attempting to lose, maintain, or increase your weight, a combination of moderate nutrition and exercise targets are recommended. 4improve accommodates both components in one easy-to-use app.

Download 4improve for FREE
Dramatic changes in diet, health, and lifestyle rarely result in long-lasting outcomes. One of the biggest benefits of calorie tracking using the 4improve app is the ability to reach your target weight by setting yourself modest but achievable targets.

For a limited time only, you can reap the rewards 4improve has to offer for FREE! Thousands of people are already using the app to better their physical and mental well-being. To join them, download 4improve via Google Play or the App Store. A more fulfilling lifestyle awaits you.