Excaloricate
Most calorie-tracking apps ask you to pick a daily target in the first thirty seconds, before you have any idea what the right number is. So you guess — usually too low, because lower feels like faster results — and then spend the next two weeks hungry, irritable, and wondering why you keep blowing past it.
A target you can actually live with beats an aggressive one you abandon. Here's how to land on a number that works.
Start with maintenance, not the deficit
Your maintenance calories are how much you burn in a day doing nothing special. Everything else builds from that number, so get it roughly right before you subtract anything.
A quick estimate: multiply your bodyweight in kilograms by 30–33 if you're lightly active, or your weight in pounds by 14–15. A 70 kg / 154 lb person lands somewhere around 2,100–2,300 calories. That's not exact — it doesn't need to be. It's a starting line you'll correct with real data in two weeks.
Subtract a deficit you won't notice
To lose fat, eat below maintenance. The size of the gap decides how fast you lose and how miserable you feel doing it.
- 300–400 below maintenance: slow, almost invisible, very sustainable. Good if you have under 10 kg to lose.
- 500 below: the classic. Roughly half a kilo a week. Sustainable for most people.
- 750+ below: fast, but hunger and low energy ramp up, and you're more likely to quit or binge.
Bigger deficits don't win. The deficit you stick to for three months beats the aggressive one you abandon in three weeks.
Don't go below the floor
There's a point where eating less stops being a strategy and starts being a problem. For most adults that floor sits around 1,200 calories for women and 1,500 for men — and honestly, most people should stay comfortably above those. Dip under and you lose energy, sleep, muscle, and the will to keep tracking at all.
If your "target" requires you to eat less than this, your timeline is too aggressive. Stretch it out.
Let two weeks of data correct you
Here's the part the intro screen can't do: the real number comes from your own tracking.
Pick a target, log everything honestly for two weeks, and weigh yourself a few times a week (mornings, same conditions). Then look at the trend, not any single day:
- Weight trending down at a rate you're happy with? Your target is right. Don't touch it.
- Not moving after two honest weeks? Drop the target by ~150–200 and reassess.
- Losing fast but feeling wrecked? You're allowed to eat more. Add 100–150 back.
Your body's response is the only data that matters. The formula was just a guess to get you started.
Revisit it as you go
The target isn't permanent. As you lose weight, maintenance drops too, so a number that worked at the start will eventually stall you. Recheck every 4–6 kg, or whenever progress flattens for a couple of weeks.
Set a number you can live with, log against it honestly, and let the trend tell you when to adjust. That's the whole game.