Glossary

Nutrition tracking glossary

Short definitions you can link from guides and calculators. For TDEE and BMR numbers, use the tools — these pages are meanings, not ranking calculators.

15terms defined

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Adaptive thermogenesis
BMR
Calorie deficit
Calorie density
Calorie surplus
Calorie tracking
Diet break
Energy balance
Food diary
Macros
Maintenance calories
NEAT
Protein
TDEE
Weigh-in

Term

Adaptive thermogenesis

Adaptive thermogenesis is the extra reduction in energy expenditure during a calorie deficit that is larger than you would expect from the lost body mass alone. It is real, usually modest, and not a broken metabolism.

Term

BMR

BMR (basal metabolic rate) is the calories your body burns at complete rest to keep breathing, circulation, and temperature going. It is typically 60–70% of daily energy. This page is the definition, including RMR. The number belongs on the BMR calculator.

Term

Calorie deficit

A calorie deficit is a sustained gap between the energy you eat and the energy you burn, covered by stored energy including body fat. It is an average over days and weeks — not a single low-calorie day.

Term

Calorie density

Calorie density is how many calories a food carries per gram. The same weight of food can differ enormously in energy.

Term

Calorie surplus

A calorie surplus is a sustained gap where intake sits above expenditure. Stored energy, including body fat and some lean tissue, covers the difference. Like a deficit, it is an average over weeks — not one high-calorie day.

Term

Calorie tracking

Calorie tracking is recording the energy in what you eat, so intake becomes something you can see and compare rather than guess.

Term

Diet break

A diet break is a planned period of eating at maintenance in the middle of a fat-loss phase. Reverse dieting is the slower climb from a deficit back to maintenance after the phase ends. Both are tools for adherence and measurement — not metabolic magic.

Term

Energy balance

Energy balance is the relationship between energy in (food and drink) and energy out (rest, movement, training, digestion) over time. A deficit, maintenance, and a surplus are three readings of the same scale.

Term

Food diary

A food diary is a running record of what and when you eat, kept so patterns become visible instead of remembered.

Term

Macros

Macros are macronutrients — protein, carbohydrates, and fat — the three nutrients that supply energy and make up your calorie total. Protein and carbohydrate provide about 4 calories per gram; fat about 9.

Term

Maintenance calories

Maintenance calories are the average daily intake that keeps body weight flat across several weeks. A calculator estimates them from TDEE; three weeks of logging and weigh-ins tells you whether the estimate was right.

Term

NEAT

NEAT is the energy you spend on everything that is not sleeping, eating, or sports-like exercise — walking to the shop, typing, standing, fidgeting. It is the most variable part of daily burn, and the part activity multipliers compress into a single dropdown.

Term

Nutrition tracking glossary

Adaptive thermogenesis

BMR

Calorie deficit

Calorie density

Calorie surplus

Calorie tracking

Diet break

Energy balance

Food diary

Macros

Maintenance calories

NEAT

Protein

TDEE

Weigh-in