Articles / Dieting & troubleshooting
Dieting & troubleshooting
Deficits, rates, plateaus, water weight, logging accuracy — the practical side.
How big should a calorie deficit be?
A deficit sized from a weekly rate of body weight, not a round number: the 0.3 / 0.5 / 0.75 percent rates, the 35 percent cap and the floors, worked for 75 kg.
First principlesDieting & troubleshooting4 minIs a 500-calorie deficit right for everyone?
Where the 500 kcal deficit comes from (3,500 kcal per pound), why it fits a 90 kg person and not a 55 kg one, and how a percent-of-body-weight rate scales.
First principlesDieting & troubleshooting5 minHow fast should I lose weight?
Rates of loss as a percent of body weight per week — the 0.3, 0.5 and 0.75 settings, what a faster rate cost in one athlete trial, and picking a rate to hold.
Human trial dataDieting & troubleshooting5 minDoes a calorie deficit have to be daily, or does weekly count?
Weekly counts. Why the week is the planning unit, how a 2,891 kcal weekly deficit can be spent unevenly, and why one high day does not undo a week.
First principlesDieting & troubleshooting5 minWhy has my weight loss stalled?
Four causes of a weight-loss plateau in order of likelihood: expenditure that fell with your weight, logging drift, water hiding the trend, and a stale target.
First principlesDieting & troubleshooting5 minWhy do calorie calculators stop at 1,200 or 1,500 calories?
Calorie floors explained: what the 1,200 and 1,500 kcal limits protect, how the standard and lower settings differ, and what happens when a target hits one.
First principlesDieting & troubleshooting5 minHow to reverse diet after a cut
A reverse diet is a slow gain goal with attentive tracking: what the method claims, the simple version at the conservative rate, and reading the trend line.
First principlesDieting & troubleshooting6 minDo refeeds, diet breaks and carb cycling work?
Refeeds, diet breaks and carb cycling defined, what a weekly budget already gives you, and what the one diet-break trial we can cite (MATADOR) actually found.
Human trial dataDieting & troubleshooting7 minHow accurately do you need to track calories?
Two kinds of logging error and why only one matters: a steady bias gets priced in, a half-logged day distorts three weeks of estimates. The honest minimum.
First principlesDieting & troubleshooting6 minWhy did I gain 2 kg overnight?
Two kilograms overnight cannot be fat — that would take 15,400 kcal. What it is instead, what a 7-day-half-life trend does with the spike, and when it is real.
First principlesDieting & troubleshooting7 minCan you lose fat and gain muscle at the same time?
Body recomposition on paper: why a kilogram of fat and one of muscle are not an even energy swap, who it tends to work for, calories, and how to tell.
First principlesDieting & troubleshooting6 minDoes one bad day of eating ruin a diet?
No — here is the arithmetic. What a 3,000, 4,000 or 5,000 kcal day does to a week's deficit, why the scale lies the next morning, and what to log afterwards.
First principlesDieting & troubleshooting6 minShould you weigh food cooked or raw?
Either, as long as the weight matches the database entry. Why cooking changes grams but not calories, the ways to mix them up, and a method for batch cooking.
Method / guideDieting & troubleshooting6 minWhat should you eat when you're sick or on a deload week?
Expenditure arithmetic for a light week: what the activity multiplier can and cannot see, why protein does not move, and three ways to set the calorie target.
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Zyra is a training and nutrition tracking tool. Nothing on this page is medical advice, a diagnosis, or an individual prescription. The numbers are estimates from published formulas and the apps' own rules — consult a qualified professional for decisions about your health, and a coach for your training.