Guides · Calories
Why does my calorie target keep dropping?
How much it should really move each week · Last checked November 2026
Two reasons. A lighter body burns less, so your target slowly drifts down as you lose. And adaptive apps take food away when your weight stalls. A small drop over weeks is normal. A big cut every week, with no reason and no say, isn’t.
Reason 1: a lighter body burns less
Your resting burn is roughly 10 kcal a day per kilo of body weight (the Mifflin-St Jeor equation). Example: a 30-year-old woman, 165 cm, training 4 days a week:
- At 75 kg: maintenance is about 2,280 kcal. A steady cut (0.75% of body weight a week) puts her at about 1,660 kcal.
- At 69 kg: maintenance is about 2,185 kcal. The same pace puts her at about 1,615 kcal.
So 6 kg lost only moves her target down by about 45 kcal. If your app cuts far more than that, it isn’t just your weight.
Reason 2: your body adapts
After weight loss, people burn less than their new weight predicts. In a Columbia University study, burn after a 10% loss was “significantly below” what the weight lost would explain. It’s real, but it’s gradual, not a weekly cliff.
Reason 3: your app reacts to the scale
Adaptive apps compare your weigh-ins to the plan. The problem: a single weigh-in moves with water, salt and what’s still in your gut. One heavy Monday can trigger a cut you didn’t need.
How much should it change?
- Judge two weeks or more, not one day.
- Small steps: about 100 kcal at a time.
- First ask whether you ate to plan. If you didn’t, cutting calories fixes nothing.
- Hunger and tiredness count. A cut you can’t keep isn’t a cut.
- A floor: don’t go below about 1,200–1,500 kcal without a professional.
- A reason every time, and your OK.
How BECOME does it
- Your target is worked out again from each new weigh-in, so Reason 1 is built in.
- Once a week you weigh in and say how it went. The app compares the last two weeks with your plan:
- Losing slower than half the plan, and you ate to plan: −100 kcal.
- Ate to plan only some days: no change. Hit most days first.
- Losing faster than 1.5× the plan: +100 kcal, to protect muscle and energy.
- Hungry or tired two weeks running: +100 kcal.
- Never more than 500 kcal away from your starting plan, and never below 1,200 kcal (women) or 1,500 (men).
- Nothing changes silently. You see “Your numbers moved.” with the reason, then choose Approve new numbers or keep your current calories.
Sources
- Mifflin M.D., St Jeor S.T. et al. A new predictive equation for resting energy expenditure in healthy individuals. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1990. doi:10.1093/ajcn/51.2.241
- Rosenbaum M., Leibel R.L. Models of energy homeostasis in response to maintenance of reduced body weight. Obesity, 2016. PMC4965234
General guidance, not medical advice.
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