A hand to mouth bite counting device is provided that may be worn on a hand, wrist or arm of a user to silently and continuously count the number of bites of food taken by the user. The bite counting device may include a sensing device that collects data corresponding to a sensed movement, and a processor that implements an algorithm to process the collected data and determine whether data collected within a given interval of time corresponds to a bite of food taken by the user. The processor derives a set of attributes from the data collected within the given interval of time to define the sensed movement. The device also provides feedback, goal setting functionality, and long-term statistics to serve as a dietary aid.