How We Calculate Everything (Methodology)

Calories and TDEE

Resting metabolic rate uses the Mifflin-St Jeor equation (1990), which outperforms Harris-Benedict in validation studies for the general population. TDEE is that figure multiplied by an activity factor between 1.2 (sedentary) and 1.9 (very active manual work or daily training).

Activity multipliers are estimates, not measurements. Anyone's real expenditure can sit a few hundred calories either side, which is why we tell you to adjust based on three weeks of weight data rather than trusting the calculator's first answer.

Protein, carbs and fat

Protein targets use 1.6–2.2g per kg of bodyweight, the range supported by the meta-analytic literature for people training to lose fat or build muscle. Fat is set at 0.8–1g per kg to protect hormonal function, and carbohydrate takes the remaining calories.

We express protein density as grams per 100 kcal rather than per 100g. Per-100g figures flatter watery foods; per-100-kcal answers the question that matters when you are dieting.

Food and macro figures

Every food figure on this site is read off the actual product label in an Irish supermarket, not pulled from a crowd-sourced database. Where a figure comes from a specific pack we name the product and the pack size, because own-brand equivalents differ.

Meal-plan totals are computed by our generator from those label figures, not typed by hand, so the site and the downloadable guides cannot drift apart. Prices are what we paid, on a stated date, in Aldi or Lidl unless noted.

Prices, and where they come from

Every price we publish is one we paid ourselves, in a named shop, on a stated date. Groceries move constantly, so a price here is a snapshot rather than a live figure — if you find a difference in your own shop, ours is out of date, not wrong on purpose.

We cross-check our figures against Open Prices, the open price database run by the non-profit behind Open Food Facts, and we contribute our own readings back to it. That matters for two reasons: our numbers can be checked by anyone rather than taken on trust, and the comparison catches our own mistakes.

Open Prices is crowdsourced, which means it carries the usual caveat — individual entries can be wrong, out of date, or from a different shop or pack size than ours. Where the two disagree we go with the figure we photographed in-store and say so. We would rather publish one verified price with a date on it than a large database of numbers nobody stands behind.

Body fat estimates

The body-fat calculator uses circumference-based estimation. It is accurate to within a few percent — useful for tracking direction over months, not for a precise number. Bioimpedance scales are less reliable again, because they infer body fat from hydration.

Where the exercise and nutrition claims come from

Claim-heavy pages carry a references section listing the papers behind them. Where the evidence is genuinely mixed we say so rather than picking the side that sounds better.

Personal-experience claims are labelled as exactly that. Keith went from 90kg to 72kg; that is one person's result, not evidence, and it is never presented as a study.

What we don't do

No dosage advice on any compound, ever. No medical advice. No commission on any link, so nothing here is recommended because it pays. No email gate, so no figure is held back to collect an address.

If you find an error, tell us and we will fix it and date the correction. That is the entire quality process — one person, checking labels, publishing the method.

Frequently Asked Questions