Calories & Counting
How much to eat, and how to log it accurately: calorie targets, deficits, food scales, raw and cooked weights, restaurant meals, labels and the calories people miss.
The questions this hub will answer
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- How many calories to eat to lose weight
- BMR vs TDEE: which number the deficit comes off
- Activity levels decoded: sedentary vs lightly active
- How big a calorie deficit is too big
- Where the 1,200-calorie floor comes from
- Starvation mode vs metabolic adaptation
- Why your calorie number drops as you lose
- Should you eat back exercise calories?
- How accurate are fitness tracker calorie burns
- Net calories vs total calories
- Do you need a food scale?
- Raw vs cooked weight: logging meat, rice and pasta
- Logging a batch-cooked recipe
- Frozen food: weigh it frozen, thawed or cooked?
- Estimating restaurant and takeout calories
- How accurate are nutrition labels?
- Hidden calories: oils, sauces and zero-calorie sprays
- Alcohol calories and how to log drinks
- Protein while losing weight
- Weekly calorie budgets and banking calories
- You went over your calories: what one high day does
- Choosing a calorie tracker: the features that matter
- AI photo calorie counting: how accurate is it?
From the team behind these guides
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The other hubs
The Scale & ProgressReading weight changes the right way: daily fluctuations, water weight, trend lines, plateaus, measurements, progress photos and moving to maintenance.
Meals, Movement & HabitsTurning a calorie target into everyday life: sample days at common calorie levels, hunger, eating out, exercise, water, sleep and the habits that keep it going.