Where your calorie target comes from — and why it's not "1200 for everyone"

"How much should I eat to lose weight?" is the first question in any tracker. Today — how the app calculates your target under the hood, with the real formula and an example. And why a universal "1200 kcal" doesn't exist.

Why you need a "target" at all

A calorie target is the reference point you fit your eating to: a daily number below which you lose weight, around which you maintain, above which you gain. Without it, counting becomes "I count, but I'm not sure why" — you have numbers but no baseline. It's calculated in three steps.

Step 1: basal metabolic rate (BMR)

BMR is how much energy your body spends just to stay alive: breathing, staying warm, pumping blood, renewing cells. Even lying down all day, that energy is spent.

We use the Mifflin-St Jeor formula — today's standard:

• Men: BMR = 10 × weight(kg) + 6.25 × height(cm) − 5 × age + 5
• Women: BMR = 10 × weight(kg) + 6.25 × height(cm) − 5 × age − 161

You can already see why the target differs from person to person: someone at 60 kg vs 90 kg, tall vs short, has a noticeably different baseline burn.

Step 2: activity adjustment (TDEE)

BMR is your "at-rest burn." Next we multiply it by an activity factor to get TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) — how much you spend per day including movement:

• 1.2 — sedentary, no exercise
• 1.375 — light activity (1-3 workouts a week)
• 1.55 — moderate (3-5 workouts)
• 1.725 — high (6-7 workouts)
• 1.9 — very high (physical job + training)

TDEE is maintenance: how much to eat to keep your weight steady.

Step 3: the goal

From maintenance we set the goal:

• Weight loss: −15-20% of TDEE. No more: an aggressive cut brings binges, muscle loss, and a slowing metabolism.
• Maintenance: TDEE as is.
• Gaining: +10-15%, a careful surplus.

Example. A woman, 30, 165 cm, 65 kg, moderate activity:

• BMR = 10×65 + 6.25×165 − 5×30 − 161 = ~1370 kcal
• TDEE = 1370 × 1.55 = ~2120 kcal (maintenance)
• Deficit −18% = 2120 × 0.82 = ~1740 kcal (for weight loss)

Notice: even in a deficit it works out to ~1740, not "1200."

Why "1200 for everyone" doesn't work

"1200 for women, 2000 for men" is the most stubborn myth. For a tall, active person 1200 is severe starvation — half their actual needs; for a petite, sedentary one it can even be a bit much. A target that ignores sex, height, weight, and activity is useless, and often harmful: too low a goal all but guarantees a binge.

An honest take on accuracy

As with any calculation, there are limits, and we don't hide them:

• The formula is an estimate. Mifflin-St Jeor lands within a margin of most people's real burn, but any given person's metabolism may run higher or lower than calculated.
• The activity factor is subjective. People often overestimate their activity — hence "I eat at my target and the weight won't budge."

So we give a starting target, and from there it needs to be corrected against reality: if after 2-3 weeks the weight isn't moving the right way, we nudge the number by 100-200 kcal. Go by your weekly average weight, not morning fluctuations: the scale lies less than the formula.

Why you shouldn't cut too hard

The temptation to "set it to 1000 and lose faster" almost always backfires: a steep deficit hits your muscles, drains energy and mood, slows metabolism, and ends in a binge. A slow 15-20% cut works because you can actually sustain it for months — and it's the duration, not the harshness, that decides the result.

You can see and recalculate your target in NutriApp — and from there you just fill it with food. How the macros of what you eat get counted, we covered in a separate post on recipes.

Do you calculate your target with a formula, or set it "by eye"? Share it in the VK discussion.