Keep a deficit you can live with

On a lose-weight goal, CaloriTrack sets the day about 500 kcal under your estimated burn. A deficit near that size is what a loss of about half a kilo a week often looks like. It is a starting guess, not a prescription. Real burn depends on your job, your walking, and how your body responds.

The estimate uses Mifflin–St Jeor for basal burn, then multiplies by the activity you picked. If you sit all day and chose “very active,” the target will be too high. If you are on your feet and chose “sedentary,” it will be too low. Fix the activity level before you chase a smaller number.

The app will not set a target under 1,200 kcal. That floor is a guardrail so a small person with a low estimated burn is not handed a tiny day. It is not a goal to hit, and it is not proof that 1,200 is right for you. Some adults need more than that to cover training, pregnancy is a separate case, and a clinician may set a different floor.

Do not “beat” the floor by logging only part of the day. If the calculated target is 1,200 and you are miserable, the next move is maintenance or medical advice, not 900.

Hunger that crowds out the afternoon, feeling cold, snapping at people, workouts that fall apart, or waking at 3 a.m. hungry are signs to add food. Switch the goal to maintain for a week or two. A week at maintenance is part of a long loss, not a reset of your character.

Do not stack a second cut on top because you exercised. The activity setting already raises the estimate. Eating back a huge “reward” and also cutting the base day is how logs become fiction. Log the food. Leave the exercise in the activity level unless a coach has a reason to do something else.

Change the target when the four-week line says the rate is wrong, not when one evening feels strict. Open your profile to see the daily number and the split across meals. The split is a guide for planning, not a rule that dinner may not be larger than lunch.