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Calorie and Macro Tracking Guides

Practical guides to calorie tracking and tracking macros, written by the person who builds MyPlate. I'm not a dietitian, which is exactly why every number here is cited to published research rather than asserted.

Why Macro Calculator Apps Disagree About Your Protein Target
Nutrition

Why Macro Calculator Apps Disagree About Your Protein Target

Five credible bodies put your protein target between 0.8 and over 3 grams per kilogram. They disagree about the kilogram, not the protein.

Updated 14 Sep 2026 · 13 min read Read →
Can Calorie Tracking Cause an Eating Disorder? What the Research Shows
Weight Loss

Can Calorie Tracking Cause an Eating Disorder? What the Research Shows

Surveys link calorie tracking to eating disorder symptoms. The one trial found no harm. Both are true, and they describe different people.

Updated 11 Sep 2026 · 12 min read Read →
Raw or Cooked: How to Count Calories in Food You Make Yourself
Nutrition

Raw or Cooked: How to Count Calories in Food You Make Yourself

A cooked chicken breast weighs a quarter less than the raw one. Cooked rice weighs nearly three times its dry weight. Which number to log.

Updated 9 Sep 2026 · 11 min read Read →
Calorie Tracking and Your Menstrual Cycle: What Actually Changes
Weight Loss

Calorie Tracking and Your Menstrual Cycle: What Actually Changes

Half a kilo of water around your period, about 168 calories a day of extra appetite, and a metabolic effect that keeps shrinking as the studies improve.

Updated 7 Sep 2026 · 12 min read Read →
Weight Loss Plateau: Why It Usually Is Not Your Metabolism
Weight Loss

Weight Loss Plateau: Why It Usually Is Not Your Metabolism

How much of a stall is scale noise, why the 3,500-calorie rule over-predicts by 11 kg, and what to check before you cut again.

Updated 4 Sep 2026 · 11 min read Read →
How to Track Meals You Didn't Cook: Restaurants and Takeaway
Nutrition

How to Track Meals You Didn't Cook: Restaurants and Takeaway

Menu counts measured in a bomb calorimeter, how far off a portion estimate runs, and six rules for logging a plate somebody else made.

Updated 30 Aug 2026 · 11 min read Read →
Why Most Calorie Apps Ask for Too Much
Nutrition

Why Most Calorie Apps Ask for Too Much

Barcode scanning and portion adjusting cost about a minute a meal, and that is where tracking dies. What a simple calorie tracker app does instead.

Updated 30 Aug 2026 · 10 min read Read →
Do You Actually Need to Track Macros to Lose Fat?
Weight Loss

Do You Actually Need to Track Macros to Lose Fat?

Four trials say the macro split barely moves the scale once calories are matched. Protein is the exception, and it changes what the loss is made of.

Updated 28 Aug 2026 · 11 min read Read →
Calorie Chart: Common Foods, by Portion
Nutrition

Calorie Chart: Common Foods, by Portion

Calories and macros for 154 everyday foods at a portion you would actually serve, scaled from USDA data. Plus where the numbers go wrong.

Updated 26 Aug 2026 · 14 min read Read →
How Accurate Are Calorie Tracking Apps, Actually?
Nutrition

How Accurate Are Calorie Tracking Apps, Actually?

Self-report, food labels, databases and photo estimates each carry published error. Here is the size of every one, and what the number is still good for.

Updated 24 Aug 2026 · 12 min read Read →
Maintenance Calories: How to Find Yours and Stop the Regain
Weight Loss

Maintenance Calories: How to Find Yours and Stop the Regain

What you burn in a day, how to find it, and why the number falls once you have lost weight. The metabolism research says the opposite of what you have been told.

Updated 20 Aug 2026 · 14 min read Read →
Best Kcal Tracker Apps in 2026: An Honest Comparison
Nutrition

Best Kcal Tracker Apps in 2026: An Honest Comparison

Eight trackers compared on price, free tier and where their numbers come from. The accuracy research does not say what most comparisons claim.

Updated 19 Aug 2026 · 11 min read Read →
How to Count Calories Without Losing Your Mind
Nutrition

How to Count Calories Without Losing Your Mind: A Beginner's Guide

Set a target, count calories in food without a scale, and know how far to trust an estimate. What the self-monitoring research actually supports.

Updated 17 Aug 2026 · 9 min read Read →
Macros Explained: How Much Protein, Carbs and Fat You Actually Need
Fitness

Macros Explained: How Much Protein, Carbs and Fat You Actually Need

What each macro does, how much of it the evidence supports, and why the cutting split most macro tracking apps hand you sits outside the official ranges.

Updated 17 Aug 2026 · 10 min read Read →
The 4-Week Habit Rule: How Consistent Tracking Leads to Real Results
Weight Loss

The 4-Week Habit Rule: How Consistent Tracking Leads to Real Results

Four weeks won't make logging automatic. The research says about two months. Here is what four weeks does buy you, and how to get through them.

Updated 17 Aug 2026 · 9 min read Read →

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