Fat loss or Weight gain is difficult with Cronometer because it can't track maintenance calories
Weight loss requires a calorie deficit. Weight gain requires a calorie surplus.
Deficit / Surplus = TDEE (total daily calorie burn) - Calorie Intake (food you eat)
With cronometer, you can track the "calorie intake" part.
But the maintenance calorie or total daily energy burn tracking is missing, so unless you can track both, it's hard to reliably be in a deficit or surplus for weight loss or gain.
Cronometer currently does not have adaptive TDEE or maintenance calorie tracking, and wearables like Apple Watch, Garmin, or Whoop can overestimate calorie burn.
There are two apps that can help with this and can be "coupled" with Cronometer:
a) MacroFactor, which costs $72/year
b) MacroCodex, which is free and has no ads
So, if you're stuck with fat loss or weight gain, calorie tracking alone may not be sufficient. Also track your maintenance calories!
Pro tip: connect these maintenance trackers with Cronometer or import your data into them and look at your maintenance calories!
Comments
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You can figure out your approximate maintenance calories and load those in as a goal. Then track your weight every day. It will fluctuate quite a bit, but you will start to see a trend. If your trend is flat, you're in maintenance. It's not super useful to track every movement you make every day. I requested recently the ability to use a linear trend line rather than a moving average for weight. The trend line will show approximately where you're headed and how long it will take to get there or it will be a flat trend, which is exactly what you want in maintenance.
