How do I count the calories in my food?
- 1Search for a food (for example “roti”, “chawal”, “بریانی” or “chai”) or tap a category.
- 2Tap the food, choose the serving — 1 medium roti, 1 plate, 1 cup or grams — and how many.
- 3Pick the meal and add it. Repeat for everything you eat in the day.
- 4Enter your daily calorie target to see what's left, and open “Step by step” to see how every number is worked out.
How are food calories calculated?
- 01Grams eaten = number of servings × serving weight
- 02Calories = grams ÷ 100 × calories per 100 g
- 03Same for protein, carbohydrate, fat and fibre
- 04Day total = sum of every food · Left = target − total
Every food is stored per 100 grams, the way food composition tables publish it. Choosing “2 medium rotis (45 g each)” means 90 g, so the calories are 90 ÷ 100 × 297 = 267 kcal. The same scaling gives protein, carbohydrate, fat and fibre.
Simple foods — rice, roti, eggs, milk, fruit, nuts, meat — come from USDA FoodData Central, the US government's food composition database; each one shows its USDA number so you can check it. Several South Asian, Middle Eastern and Asian dishes (biryani, daal, samosa, puri, idli, dosa, pad thai) are also in USDA's survey foods.
Dishes that vary from home to home — karahi, nihari, haleem, qorma, jalebi, gulab jamun and others — are estimates from typical recipes, worked out with standard ingredient values (USDA FoodData Central and the Indian Food Composition Tables 2017). The biggest difference between recipes is oil or ghee: each tablespoon adds about 120 kcal.
Serving weights are typical portions (a medium roti is 45 g, a plate of biryani 300 g, a cup of chai 150 ml). If your portions are bigger or smaller, choose “Grams” and enter the weight.
Good to know
- Weigh your usual roti, plate of rice and bowl of curry once — after that you can estimate them by eye.
- Sugar in chai adds up: 2 teaspoons is about 30 kcal a cup, so 4 cups a day is 120 kcal just from sugar.
- Swap fried for grilled: chicken tikka has about 40 % fewer calories than the same weight of fried chicken.
- Drinks count too — a 500 ml cola has about 210 kcal and a glass of sweet lassi about 270.
Food calories — common questions
Roti mein kitni calories hoti hain? (How many calories are in a roti?)
Ek darmiyani roti (45 gram) mein taqreeban 130–135 calories hoti hain; choti phulka (30 g) mein ~90 aur bari tandoori roti (70 g) mein ~210. (A medium 45 g roti has about 134 kcal; a small 30 g phulka about 90 and a large 70 g one about 210.)
How many calories are in a plate of biryani?
A 300 g restaurant plate of chicken biryani has about 500–550 kcal. Lighter home-style biryani with less oil can be nearer 310 kcal for the same plate.
Chawal mein kitni calories hain? (How many calories are in rice?)
Boiled white or basmati rice has about 130 kcal per 100 g — about 205 kcal a cup (158 g) and 325 kcal for a 250 g plate.
How many calories are in a cup of chai with milk and sugar?
About 75–80 kcal for a 150 ml cup of doodh patti with sugar. Black tea or green tea without sugar has almost none.
Which desi foods are high in protein?
Eggs, chicken tikka, fish, daal, chana, rajma, yogurt, paneer and milk. Two eggs give about 13 g of protein, a bowl of daal about 17 g.
Are these calories exact?
No food list can be exact for home cooking: recipes, oil and portion sizes differ. Values from USDA are measured averages; dish values are recipe estimates. They are close enough to plan your day.
Sources
- USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy and FNDDS survey foods)
- Longvah T et al. – Indian Food Composition Tables 2017, National Institute of Nutrition (ICMR), Hyderabad
- US FDA – How to understand and use the Nutrition Facts label
Formulas last reviewed: September 30, 2026 ·How we check our formulas