Why there's a floor
When your goal is to lose weight, the app converts your chosen pace into a daily deficit — but never past a safety floor. Aggressive targets built on too little food cost you energy, mood, recovery, and adherence, so the calculator refuses to go there even if the pace you picked implies it.
There are two limits working together. The deficit is capped at 25% of your expenditure (a surplus, on a gaining goal, is capped at 20%). And your calories are floored — by whichever of these three is highest:
| Standard | Lower floor | |
|---|---|---|
| Absolute minimum, men | 1,500 | 1,200 |
| Absolute minimum, women | 1,200 | 1,000 |
| Share of your resting metabolism | 80% of BMR | 64% of BMR |
The third row is the one that does the work for larger bodies. A man with a 2,200 BMR gets a floor of 1,760, not 1,500 — the percentage wins. A 55 kg woman with a 1,300 BMR gets 1,200, because there the absolute minimum wins. Same rule, different binding constraint.
When the floor kicks in
If your pace asks for fewer calories than the floor allows, the app sets your target at the floor and tells you so — you'll see that your calories were adjusted to the minimum safe amount. Your real-world result: you'll lose a bit slower than the pace you picked, sustainably.
The lower-floor option
In the custom plan setup you can opt into a lower floor. It doesn't just swap the absolute minimums for 1,200 and 1,000: it multiplies the whole floor by 0.8, so the resting-metabolism component drops from 80% of your BMR to 64%. Both parts move together. The app warns you when you pick it: low floors can affect energy, mood, and recovery, and it's worth involving a professional if you're unsure. If any of the situations in our Health Disclaimer apply to you, talk to one first.
For the curious: the numbers
| Detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Deficit cap | 25% of your expenditure |
| Surplus cap | 20% |
| Floor | The highest of: gender minimum × multiplier, the hard minimum, and 80% of BMR × multiplier |
| Standard multiplier | 1.0 — minimums 1,500 (men) / 1,200 (women) |
| Lower-floor multiplier | 0.8 — minimums 1,200 / 1,000, and 64% of BMR |
| Collaborative mode | 50% of BMR, safeguards off |
| Applies to | Losing goals only |
When floors don't apply
Maintenance and gaining goals never touch a floor. And in Manual mode, where you type your own targets, the calculator isn't involved at all — the numbers are entirely yours.
There is one more case worth knowing about, because it is easy to walk into without noticing. Collaborative mode relaxes the safeguards: instead of the table above, the floor becomes a flat 50% of your BMR, with no warning attached. It is the only way to go below the standard floor while still using the adaptive engine, and it is deliberate — collaborative mode assumes you are steering. Worth being sure that is what you want.