How Tara calculates targets and its limits

Reviewed 15 October 2026. Estimates are not individual measurements.

Energy

Tara predicts resting energy with Mifflin–St Jeor, revised Harris–Benedict, Ten Haaf, Katch–McArdle or Cunningham. Automatic selection is an app rule, not a guarantee of accuracy.

Mifflin–St Jeor (kcal/day):
10 × weight (kg) + 6.25 × height (cm) − 5 × age + s
s = +5 for men; −161 for women

The hourly model multiplies resting energy by activity factors and estimates digestion from macros. This is a custom approximation, not a clinically validated algorithm. Exercise now uses standard MET × kg × hours and subtracts the sedentary time it replaces. Work, steps and exercise can overlap: do not enter the same movement twice. METs are population averages.

Weight-loss deficits are capped at 20% or 500 kcal/day, whichever is smaller; lean profiles use 15%, and adults 65+ use 10% or 300 kcal. These are conservative app rules. The 1,200/1,500 kcal floors do not guarantee adequate nutrition for an individual. Surplus is capped at the smaller of 15% or 500 kcal. The 7,700 kcal/kg conversion is approximate; water, glycogen and tissue composition change. It cannot promise a goal date.

Protein

ISSN describes 1.4–2.0 g/kg/day as sufficient for most healthy people who exercise. Needs vary with training and energy balance. Tara's precise defaults, reference-weight rules are app choices, not individually validated prescriptions.

Carbohydrates and fat

Carbohydrate needs depend on training duration, intensity and energy availability. Tara uses approximate training bands and assigns protein in g per kg. Fat is also set in g per kg of reference weight: 0.8 g/kg if you want to lose fat and 1 g/kg otherwise (0.8 in the endurance style and 1.3 in the Mediterranean one), never below 20% of energy or above 30% (35% in the Mediterranean style). Ranges for athletes run from 0.5 to 1.5 g/kg and general guidelines ask for 20–35% of energy. Carbohydrates take the remaining energy. At the same calories, cutting fat instead of carbohydrates does not cause more fat loss. Low-carbohydrate templates do not guarantee ketosis, improved health or performance.

Rounded targets follow 4 kcal/g protein, 4 carbohydrate and 9 fat. Do not force food-label calories to match: fibre, polyols, alcohol, specific factors and rounding can explain differences. Food calories remain independent of target arithmetic.

Food accuracy

The selectable catalogue contains 91 foods matched to Anses Ciqual 2025 records, with a source and identifier in each food detail. These are average values per 100 g edible portion, not exact measurements of an individual food. The 199 generic foods awaiting verification are no longer selectable; enter their label or your own recipe. Official energy may differ from 4P + 4C + 9F because of fibre and other components. Open Food Facts is collaborative: check the label. Missing nutrient data are unknown, not zero. Collagen grams are not inferred from animal tissue.

Weigh edible portions and match raw or cooked state. For recipes, enter all ingredients and final cooked weight. Water loss changes values per 100 g. Labels per 100 ml require volume measurement or a known density conversion; 100 ml is not always 100 g.

Water and supplements

EFSA's adequate total water intake is 2 L/day for adult women and 2.5 L for men under moderate conditions (+300 ml in pregnancy and +700 ml while breastfeeding), including food and drinks. Since at least 1 L is needed per 1,000 kcal, Tara uses the higher of that reference and 1 ml per kcal of what you burn or eat, whichever is more: in a deficit your expenditure counts (eating less brings less water with food, not a lower need), and in a surplus, what you eat. A 3,000 kcal muscle-gain plan asks for 3 L of total water. On training days sweat is added: 0.6 L per hour by default or your rate measured by weighing yourself before and after (most athletes sweat 0.8–1.5 L/h). Drink when thirsty and don't gain weight during exercise: overdrinking in long sessions can lower blood sodium (2015 hyponatremia consensus). How to spread it through the day and by goal: How much water to drink, and when. Tara's 80% beverage share and 0.6 L/hour exercise addition are approximate assumptions. Adjust for thirst, heat and losses; do not force drinking or gain weight during exercise.

Caffeine is optional. EFSA identifies up to 200 mg per dose and 400 mg/day from all sources as without safety concern for healthy adults. These are not targets or individual guarantees. Illness, medication, pregnancy and breastfeeding require individual advice. Incomplete food logs cannot diagnose nutrient deficiencies.

Interpreting micronutrients

EFSA references describe healthy populations; they are not individual targets or deficiency tests. Each nutrient distinguishes complete, partial and missing data. An explicit zero is a known value. A recipe reports a nutrient total only when every ingredient provides that value. Comparable averages require at least three confirmed complete days with known composition for that nutrient. This is a display rule, not a clinical assessment.

Recipes sum ingredients and account for final weight but do not model cooking, draining or degradation losses. Supplement checkmarks in Habits do not add nutrients to the diary. Iron uses an age-based approximation that does not establish menopause; zinc depends on dietary phytate.

Vitamin D and magnesium show total intake references, not automatic supplement doses. The European magnesium upper limit of 250 mg/day applies to certain salts and MgO in supplements, water or added to foods; it excludes naturally occurring food magnesium. Experimental collagen protocols do not generate daily targets. Injury information does not prescribe a protein quantity to treat an injury.

Adjustment and scope

Review uses 14–21 consecutive confirmed complete days ending yesterday, with at least 6 weigh-ins spanning 12 or more days, weights in both halves, and a weight within the last 3 days of the window. An unconfirmed day breaks the window; it is never filled with zero. Median slopes between weights at least 7 days apart reduce isolated outlier influence. Adjustments pause above 1% weekly weight change or estimates outside 60–150% of initial expenditure. Reviews are allowed every 7 days, limited to the smaller of 100 kcal or 5%, and within 20% of the questionnaire estimate. Differences below 50 kcal preserve the base. Trend weight uses double exponential smoothing (level and pace, Holt's method) so it doesn't lag behind your weigh-ins while you lose or gain; a single weigh-in more than 2.5 kg away counts as 2.5 kg and doesn't change the pace. Manual macros are preserved. These are product safeguards, not clinical validation or a guarantee of results.

Automatic plans are not intended for minors, underweight, pregnancy, breastfeeding, kidney disease, diabetes or an eating-disorder history. They are blocked for profiles declaring these circumstances. Other illnesses, medication or injuries may also need professional advice. Injury information does not replace diagnosis, treatment or rehabilitation.

Sources and scope

These sources support general concepts and ranges. They do not certify Tara's code or every catalogue value.

Total non-training steps use a conservative overlap deduction for occupational movement. Outside-work steps can be entered separately. This overlap is an application assumption, not a measured value. Protein is no longer reduced by a BMI-based reference weight below BMI 30 when body-fat data are absent.

Targets for the current day

Exercise replenishment defaults to 100% of estimated incremental exercise, plus the same digestion allowance used in baseline expenditure. This avoids a hidden additional deficit on training days; it is still an estimate. Calendar and logged sessions use the same formula. Daily carbohydrate allocation uses that day’s effective workload, preserves protein and reserves at least 20% of energy for fat. If the energy budget cannot cover the usual carbohydrate band, Tara flags it rather than adding unlimited calories. Manual targets are preserved during updates and new manual or AI proposals must pass conservative checks.

The protein reference weight is capped continuously at BMI 30 when body composition is unknown; this is a product assumption, not a measured protein requirement. Diet labels alone do not add an exact extra dose. g/kg values describe the actual rounded protein assigned.