Editorial Policy
On this page 9
Every guide on this site is meant to be checkable. This page explains how topics are chosen, which sources count, how a guide is built, how sensitive subjects are handled, and what happens when a figure cannot be verified.
How topics are chosen
Topics come from questions people repeat. Before a single guide was written, tens of thousands of post titles from the largest calorie-counting and weight-loss communities were read and grouped, along with the standing answers that community moderators keep for their most frequent questions. A question earns a guide when it keeps coming back.
Community posts are used to find questions and the words people use to ask them. They are never treated as evidence for an answer.
Source hierarchy
Sources are ranked, and the ranking is applied the same way every time.
| Tier | Sources | Used for |
|---|---|---|
| First | Government data and guidance (USDA FoodData Central, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, FDA labeling rules), public health agencies (CDC, NIH, NIDDK), and peer-reviewed research | Any figure, threshold, safety statement or claim about what research shows |
| Second | Professional bodies, academic medical centers and established health publishers | Context and practical guidance, and figures where no primary source is reachable, always with the uncertainty stated |
| Context only | App makers, brands, supplement sellers, influencers and forums | Understanding how people use a term or what they ask. Never the basis for a number |
How a guide is built
- Research the search results. The pages that currently rank for the question are read and measured, to see what they cover and, more usefully, what they leave out.
- Plan the evidence. Every claim that needs support is listed before writing starts, with the kind of source it needs.
- Draft. Written in the third person, reporting what the sources establish. No invented experience, no case studies, no testimonials, no before-and-after stories.
- Evidence pass. Each claim is either linked to its source or qualified in the visible text so the reader can see the uncertainty.
- Readability check. Every guide is measured for reading ease, sentence length and plain language, so it works for someone reading on a phone in a spare minute.
- Publication. Published under a named author with a publication date and an updated date.
Figures that cannot be verified
When a number cannot be confirmed against a first-tier source, one of three things happens, and never a fourth:
- It is verified and cited, with the source linked.
- It is qualified in plain language, so the reader knows it is an estimate or a range.
- It is cut. A precise-sounding number with no reliable source is worse than no number.
Handling sensitive subjects
Weight and food are personal, and for some readers they are painful. Guides follow these rules:
- No shaming language about bodies, foods or eating, and no “good” and “bad” foods.
- No promises of a particular result or a particular speed of weight loss.
- Calorie levels below commonly recommended minimums are never presented as a goal.
- Guides that touch on very low intake, rapid loss, overeating or daily weighing include a note about when to get professional help, and a helpline.
- Medications, eating-disorder treatment, pregnancy and dieting for under-18s are out of scope.
Guidance changes
Dietary guidelines are revised, research moves on, and food labeling rules change. Guides carry an updated date that reflects a genuine revision, not a cosmetic change to look fresh to a search engine.
Authorship
Every guide carries the author’s name, a short biography and a link to a full profile. The author is not a doctor or registered dietitian, and the site does not claim otherwise. No guide is attributed to a credentialed reviewer who did not review it.
Independence and the app
The site is owned by WeightPlot and links to the WeightPlot app. Guides are written to answer the question, not to sell the app, and no other company can pay for inclusion, favorable wording or the removal of criticism. See ownership and funding.
What is never published
No guest posts, no paid links, no sponsored content presented as editorial, no supplement or diet-pill promotion, and no guide published without its sources checked.