Calories in, calories out, and what neither one measures
What maintenance actually is, how much the estimate can be trusted, what happens to it as weight falls, and why the same deficit produces different results in month one and month four.
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BMI and Body Fat: What Each Measure Is For
BMI is a population screening tool, not a diagnosis. Body fat estimates carry 3-5 point errors. Learn what each figure depends on and how to read it.
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BMR: What the Equations Actually Estimate
Basal metabolic rate is the energy cost of staying alive. Mifflin-St Jeor, Harris-Benedict and Katch-McArdle give different numbers; here is the spread.
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How Big a Calorie Deficit? A Reference Guide
How large a calorie deficit should be: derive maintenance from Mifflin-St Jeor, apply 15–20%, and see worked examples at 10%, 20%, and 30% below maintenance.
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How Long to Lose Weight: Energy Balance and Timeline
Energy balance explains how long weight loss takes. Derive timelines from Mifflin-St Jeor and 7,700 kcal/kg, with ranges and the falling maintenance effect.
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How Many Calories Should a Woman Eat? The Equation
Mifflin-St Jeor gives a woman's maintenance near 2,300 kcal with a 10% standard error. The equation's two constants, the arithmetic, and why the band matters.
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How Many Calories Should I Eat? A Band, Not a Number
Mifflin-St Jeor estimates daily calories within about 10%. Learn the arithmetic, the band, and how to use two weeks of scale readings to find your own.
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How Wrong Is Your Calorie Count? Error Sources and Ranges
Calorie counting accuracy depends on label error, database variance, portion estimation, and cooking. This page stacks those errors and shows the real range.
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Meal Timing and Energy Balance: What the Evidence Supports
Meal timing affects adherence and performance, not energy balance. Derive your maintenance calories with Mifflin-St Jeor and see the range around the midpoint.
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NEAT Calories: The Energy You Don't Count
NEAT calories are the energy burned outside sleep, eating and exercise. Ranges span hundreds of kcal between people of the same size, and NEAT falls in a deficit.
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Reverse Dieting: Coming Out of a Calorie Deficit
What happens when a calorie deficit ends: glycogen and water weight, maintenance calories after weight loss, and how to eat at maintenance without regain.
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TDEE: Total Daily Energy Expenditure and Its Limits
TDEE is an estimate of daily calorie burn, built from equations with known error. Learn its four parts, why watches disagree, and how to use a range.
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The 7,700 Calorie Rule and Where It Breaks
The 7,700 kcal per kg rule describes adipose tissue, not body weight. See the equation, its two failure modes, and a worked example with real numbers.
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Weight Loss Plateau: Four Causes and How to Check
A weight loss plateau has four common causes: intake drift, falling maintenance, reduced NEAT, and water retention. Each has a check you can run at home.
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What Exercise Actually Burns: A Reference on Energy Cost
Exercise burns less than most readouts claim. See how calories burned are derived, why watches run high, and how compensation erodes the deficit.
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Why the Deficit Shrinks as You Do
Metabolic adaptation explained: the arithmetic of a lighter body plus adaptive thermogenesis, with a worked weekly example and the uncertainty in each figure.
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Why the Scale Moves When Fat Does Not
Daily scale swings of 1–2 kg are mostly water, glycogen, sodium, and gut contents. Learn the arithmetic behind weekly averages and true fat loss.