How we use your weight to set your target

Dynamic Pace does not hand everyone the same 2,000 calories. Your target starts from your own body measurements, how much you move outside workouts, and the pace you choose. Here is the method, step by step, so you can check the numbers yourself. These are general educational estimates, not medical advice.

Step 1: Resting energy from your weight, height and age

We estimate the energy your body uses at rest with the Mifflin–St Jeor equation, derived from 498 healthy adults:

10 × weight (kg) + 6.25 × height (cm) − 5 × age + 5 (male formula) or − 161 (female formula)

You choose the formula; it is an equation basis, not a label. Weight is the largest input: each extra kilogram adds about 10 kcal a day to your resting energy. Your age is taken on the day you save your plan, so a target does not change on a birthday. Re-saving your plan recalculates it with your current weight.

Step 2: Add your everyday movement

Resting energy is multiplied by a factor for a typical day outside deliberate exercise:

• Mostly sitting: 1.2
• A mix of sitting and walking: 1.375
• Standing and moving much of the day: 1.55
• Physically demanding work: 1.725

The result is your maintenance energy. Workouts are not added on top, so food never becomes something to earn. Not sure? Start with mostly sitting; it is the conservative choice.

Step 3: Turn your goal pace into a daily adjustment

If you want to lose or gain, you pick a weekly pace from 0.05 to 0.50 kg. We convert it with the planning figure of 7,700 kcal per kg: pace × 7,700 ÷ 7 days, which is 1,100 kcal a day for each kg a week. Only gentle paces are offered. Losing is capped at 500 kcal a day or 20% of maintenance, whichever is lower; gaining at 300 kcal or 10%. A weight-loss target never drops below 1,200 kcal (female formula) or 1,500 kcal (male formula). A pace that does not fit is not rounded to a faster one; you pick again.

A worked example

A 35-year-old on the male formula, 75 kg and 175 cm, with a mix of sitting and walking, aiming to lose 0.25 kg a week:

• Resting: 750 + 1,093.75 − 175 + 5 = 1,673.75 kcal
• Maintenance: 1,673.75 × 1.375 = 2,301 kcal
• Adjustment: 0.25 × 7,700 ÷ 7 = 275 kcal
• Target: 2,301 − 275 = 2,026 kcal

Within the limits: 275 is under both 500 and 20% of maintenance (460), and 2,026 is above the 1,500 kcal floor.

Step 4: Macros follow the calories

Calculated plans take 20% of energy from protein and 30% from fat, with carbohydrate the rest (4 kcal per gram of protein and carbohydrate, 9 per gram of fat). In the example that is about 101 g protein, 68 g fat and 253 g carbohydrate. Targets you enter yourself are kept exactly as you typed them.

Where your weigh-ins come in

Daily weight jumps with water, salt and digestion, so Dynamic Pace does not react to a single reading. Your weigh-ins are smoothed into a trend: each day moves 10% of the way toward the latest weigh-in. The weekly change is shown only after at least two weigh-ins covering a week or more, and is stated in plain words, such as moved 0.5 kg down over 9 days.

Compare that trend with the pace you chose. If it is far off after several weeks, your plan can be updated with your new weight and a pace that fits. We do not change your target behind your back, and we do not nudge you to weigh in.

Sources

• Mifflin et al. (1990), A new predictive equation for resting energy expenditure
• Hall et al. (2011), Quantification of the effect of energy imbalance on bodyweight
• Walker, The Hacker's Diet (the smoothed weight trend)