Deficit Tracking Sheet
Track what actually happens, not what the model predicts. The gap between the two is the useful information.
BFCBrilliance · bfcbrilliance.com/tools/calorie-deficit-calculator
The plan
- Start date
- Start weight
- Target weight
- POUNDS TO LOSE
- Daily deficit
- Predicted lb/week
- PREDICTED WEEKS
- Predicted finish (optimistic)
- Reviewed with
Weekly log — expect reality to fall behind the model
| Week | Date | Weight | Lost this week | Predicted | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The model, and its limits
- The rule
- 1 lb ≈ 3,500 calories
- Days needed
- pounds x 3,500 / daily deficit
- 500 kcal/day
- about 1 lb per week
- 1,000 kcal/day
- about 2 lb per week — aggressive
- ⚠ The rule is STATIC
- your body is not — it overestimates
- ⚠ Why
- a smaller body burns less; the deficit shrinks
- Documented by
- Hall et al., Int. Journal of Obesity
- Accurate over
- weeks
- Optimistic over
- months
- ⚠ This is not
- medical advice
Before starting
- A deficit you could hold for months, not weeks
- Discussed with a doctor or dietitian if it is large
- Weighing on the same scale, same time of day, same conditions
- Weekly averages used — daily weight is mostly water
- Expecting the curve to FLATTEN, and not treating that as failure
- A plan for the plateau written down before it arrives
- Protein and nutrition considered, not only the calorie total
- Something being tracked besides weight — measurements, clothes, strength
This model runs fast, on purpose disclosed
The 3,500-calorie rule assumes your deficit never changes size. It does: a smaller body burns fewer calories, so the same intake produces a shrinking deficit. Researchers have documented that this overestimates real loss. Use the sheet to compare options and to get the shape of the answer — not to pick a finish date.
The plateau is in the model's error, not in you
Real loss flattens well before this straight line does, and that bend arrives at almost exactly the point people decide the diet has stopped working. It hasn't — the arithmetic was optimistic. Expecting it in advance is the difference between adjusting and quitting.
This sheet knows nothing about you
It is arithmetic. It cannot see your health, your medication, your history or your circumstances. Large deficits, rapid loss, existing conditions, pregnancy and eating disorders all make this the wrong tool. Talk to a doctor or a registered dietitian.