This page used to point almost entirely at Australian government programs, because these guides were originally written for an Australian audience. Most of those links were no use to a reader in the United States, and one of them sent people looking for a dietitian to an Australian professional register. We have replaced them with US equivalents.
Everything below is a primary source: a government agency, a federal nutrition database, or a professional body. None of these are ours, none of them pay us, and none of them are affiliate links.
Reading a food label
- The Nutrition Facts label (FDA). What each line on a US label means, including why the calorie figure is based on a 2,000 calorie reference day rather than a target meant for you personally.
- FoodData Central (USDA). The federal food composition database. If you want to know what is actually in a food rather than what a brand says about it, this is where the numbers come from.
- MyPlate (USDA). The current US dietary guidance, without the diet-industry framing.
Working out your own numbers
- Body Weight Planner (NIH). The most honest calculator we know of, because it models how your energy needs fall as you lose weight instead of pretending they hold steady. That single fact explains most stalled plateaus.
- Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans (HHS). What the evidence actually supports, as opposed to what a fitness app tells you to do.
Weight and medication
- Weight management (NIDDK, part of the NIH). Government health information on weight, including the medications, written by people with no product to sell.
- Weight control (MedlinePlus, National Library of Medicine). A plain-language starting point that links out to the underlying research.
Talking to an actual professional
We are not clinicians and we are not dietitians. If you want advice about your body rather than information about bodies in general, this is the difference between the two.
- Find a registered dietitian (Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics). The US professional body. A registered dietitian nutritionist has a credential you can check, which is more than can be said for most people giving nutrition advice on the internet.
Our own guides
- What is a kJ? The unit itself, and how it maps onto calories.
- How to burn your kJs. The honest arithmetic on what exercise actually returns.
- Calorie calculator to lose weight. Your daily target, the size of the deficit and a realistic timeline, with a safe floor.
- Maintenance calorie calculator. The calories that hold your weight steady, in pounds and feet, with no conversion.
- What is a calorie deficit? What the gap is, how big it should be, and why it does not always show on the scale.
- Appetite. What turns hunger up and down, and why sleep and stress show up in it.
Nothing on this page is medical advice, and none of these links are endorsements of us by the organizations behind them.