Frequently Asked Questions

Start from your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) — the calories you burn in a day. Estimate it from your age, sex, height, weight, and activity level, then subtract ~300–500 kcal to lose fat, eat at TDEE to maintain, or add ~10–15% to build muscle. Our free TDEE calculator does the math; treat the result as a starting point and adjust based on what the scale does over 2–3 weeks.

BMR (basal metabolic rate) is the energy your body uses at complete rest just to stay alive — breathing, circulation, organ function. TDEE is your total daily burn: BMR plus the thermic effect of food (digestion), NEAT (everyday movement like walking and fidgeting), and exercise. BMR is usually 60–70% of TDEE, which is why most of your “metabolism” is not something you control at the gym.

Not in the dramatic way the myth suggests. Your body does adapt to a deficit — this is called adaptive thermogenesis — by lowering NEAT and slightly reducing BMR, which can slow fat loss. But it does not “shut down” fat burning or make you gain weight while eating less. The fix is sensible deficits, enough protein, resistance training, and periodic diet breaks at maintenance — not eating even less.

For weight change, total calories are what matter — a deficit means fat loss regardless of how you split macros. Macros matter for body composition and how you feel: enough protein (around 1.6–2.2 g/kg) protects muscle in a deficit, and adequate fat supports hormones. A practical approach is to set a calorie target, hit a protein floor, and let carbs and fat fill the rest.

A common guideline is about 0.5–1% of body weight per week. Leaner people should aim at the slower end to preserve muscle; people with more fat to lose can tolerate the faster end. Pair the deficit with high protein and resistance training. Faster crash diets cost you more muscle and are harder to sustain — and sustainability is what actually decides results.

Meal timing does not override energy balance. If your total daily calories put you in a deficit, you lose fat whether you eat them at noon or at midnight. Timing can help indirectly — front-loading protein, fueling workouts, or simply avoiding late-night overeating — but the clock itself does not add or remove fat. Total intake does.

Most “plateaus” are one of three things: (1) you are eating more than you think — tracking drifts over time; (2) water retention is masking real fat loss on the scale, especially with new training or high stress; or (3) your TDEE dropped because you now weigh less and move less (adaptive thermogenesis). Tighten your tracking, weigh in daily and watch the weekly average, and if it is truly stalled for 2–3 weeks, cut another ~150–250 kcal or add activity.