Understanding the calorie budget

Jstar

I'm confused about the calories summary, I'm just not getting the budget thing because I don't' understand how it is calculating that number.

I used a couple of websites to manually calculate how much weight I want to loose and based macros around that number. In this case, 2241 with a rough goal of 2 pounds lost per week. That 2241 already factors in the deficient target from my maintenance calorie intake. Meaning, so long as I stay at or slightly below 2241, I should loose weight at the desired rate.

Is CRON creating a deficit budget based upon 2241 minus it's own calculations of 2 pounds per week? Is it factoring in the exercise and energy burn data from apple watch?

Consumed calories makes perfect sense. The "burned" circle makes zero sense to me. Here's a screen shot of real data from my board.

Karen_Cronometer

Hi Jstar,

The Calories Summary gives you an overview of your energy balance that is separate from the custom energy target and macros that you have chosen for your needs.

Energy balance is the difference between your calories consumed and calories burned. If you have also set a weight loss goal, it will subtract additional calories to give you an estimate of the amount of calories you can consume to help you reach your goal. You can hover over the scale icon in the corner of the Budget to get an explanation in words of where your number is coming from.

However, if you have set your own targets for weight loss, I would recommend you not show the weight goal in your diary. You can access these settings under Settings > Targets > Weight Goal. Turn off the switch next to "Show weight goal in diary"

Best,

Jstar

EDIT: I think the attached pic answers my question about the BMR calculation and the activity number. Which leaves the question of the "burned number". That purple "budget number" says that I have those many calories left to consume before I over my deficit limit for the day. And it makes that calculation based upon BMR, set activity level, and amount of calories burned through exercise, right?

OK, I think I got it. My custom daily kcal target is 2241 kcal.
Cronometer sets my BMR as 1955 which I presume is the base amount of calories I should eat each day and still expect to loose roughly 2lbs of weight each week. Do you by what scale of criteria cronometer is using to set that BMR? I've seen a few different measuring methods.

On top of that BMR is an "activity number" and a "burned number". Is the activity calculated based upon the activity level I set in the settings? And is the burned number calculated by an activated as recorded by say, an apple watch?

Karen_Cronometer

Hi Jstar,

You got it! Calories burned is your BMR + Activity Level + additional exercises you have logged/imported to your diary

The budget is: Calories burned - Calories Consumed - calories needed to reach your weight loss goal

Jstar

Thank you Karen! One more question: Is it possible for me to see total calories consumed for the week and total calories burned based upon activity tracker recordings? Daily is fine, but I like big picture trends as well for planning and progress tracking. If I can't see big picture, I get agitated and easily give into cravings.

joannefilm

Hi Everyone,
I am brand new to Cronometer and my calorie budget is 1800 calories. That is way too high for me. I've been on 1200 calories for a long time now, and, although I want to lose weight, I can only achieve that if I stay on my 1200 calories. Can I change my calorie budget manually? Thanks, Joanne

Karen_Cronometer

Hi Joannefilm,

You can enter in custom targets! Please go to Settings > Targets > Macronutrients.
Select the option to rack macros using Fixed Values, then enter in your energy target below.

Best,

Karen_Cronometer

@Jstar my apologies for missing your question earlier!

In the Trends tab, you can view your Nutrition Report that summarizes your average daily nutrition over a selected time period (the last 7 days, by default) to get a sense of your nutrition over time.

You can also view individual graphs in the Trends tab. You can plot both calories consumed or calories burned over time to see your progress. There really is alot you can do with charts! Learn more about them in our user manual: https://cronometer.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360018298812

Best,

Jm78hzl

Hi there! I have been using Crono for a while now and am wondering if the app will adjust my calorie limit based off my weight inputs or do I have to recalculate manually?

Karen_Cronometer

Hi Jm78hzl,

If you are using dynamic targets (macro ratios or the keto calculator) your energy target is calculated for you using your current weight.

Jm78hzl

Okay I get it! Thank you for the response Karen!