Monitoring your food intake with an online calorie counter can be a useful strategy if you're following a weight loss programme.An online calorie counter can enable you to either find out how many calories or grams of fat are in a particular food, or to create a meal plan that stays within your daily allowance.

Counting calories is widely accepted by nutritionists and dieticians as an effective technique to help with weight loss, and the variety and sophistication of many web based programs now mean that online calorie counters can offer more information than ever to the dieter.

Learning the calorific value of what you eat can help you to build your knowledge of what's in your food, and how much your body really needs. This system of monitoring your diet also has the advantage of flexibility, because rather than dictating a set menu, you are free to choose your own food. This means you can take into account your own likes and dislikes. With this system there are no forbidden foods, because as long as you burn more calories than you eat every day, you are free to eat whatever you like.

To lose weight using this method, the first stage is to work out how many calories you need in a day to maintain your current weight. The average for women is around 2000, and for men it's around 2500 - but every individual is different. The next stage is to create a calorific deficit by burning more than you consume every day. Eat 500 fewer calories than you burn in a day, for example, and you'll lose weight at the rate of a pound a week. The more exercise you do, the more calories you'll burn, so it's a good idea to combine healthy eating with a fitness programme.