A target is a plan
Your calorie target is a starting estimate from setup. It is not a metabolic measurement, and it is expected to need adjusting.
Fat loss
Lose Fat Without Treating Every Day Like a Pass-or-Fail Test.
Track food, weight, activity and progress while Loopa helps make the longer-term direction easier to see.
Food, weight and hydration tracking are available in Loopa Basic. Premium adds planning, deeper analysis and forecasting.
Loopa Basic
What success actually means
The result is a trend over weeks, not a verdict each morning.
Fat loss rarely follows a perfect line. A useful tracker should still make sense after a restaurant meal, a missed week, or a temporary weight increase.
The outcome is what happened
The weight trend across several weeks, with measurements and progress photos beside it, is the result you are actually looking for.
One day is one point
Loopa counts a logging streak, and a day with no entries ends it. A high day or a missed week does not reset your targets, your history or your trend.
What Loopa tracks
Three signals, read together.
No single one of these proves fat loss by itself. Together, they provide context.
What you logged
Calories and macros from the food database, a barcode, or figures you entered yourself. Meals are unlimited in Basic.
DatabaseEnteredLoopa Basic
How your weight is moving
Every weigh-in, with a smoothed trend line drawn over the top. Basic shows a rolling 30 days; Premium reads your whole history.
EnteredTrendBasic: 30 days
The context around the scale
Progress photos and activity you log yourself are in Basic. Body measurements and structured workouts are Premium.
EnteredEstimatedLoopa Basic
Seven kinds of number, and Loopa keeps them apart
- MeasuredA device produced it, such as a connected scale or watch.
- EnteredYou typed or picked it.
- DatabaseA food, product or published record supplied it.
- EstimatedLoopa calculated it, like estimated expenditure or a body-fat estimate.
- TrendA mathematical smoothing of the measurements you logged.
- TargetA planning value, like a calorie or protein target.
- OutcomeWhat actually happened over time.
Estimates and limits
What Loopa can estimate, and what it cannot know.
Loopa can estimate
- Resting energy, from your weight, height, age and sex, using the Mifflin-St Jeor equation.
- Total daily expenditure, by multiplying that estimate by a broad activity factor.
- A calorie target from the pace you choose, never set below your estimated resting energy.
- The burn from activity you log, shown on your day as an estimate. It does not change your target.
- A projection of your weight trend on Premium, drawn as a range with its assumptions shown.
Loopa cannot know
- Whether a pound lost was fat, water, glycogen or lean tissue.
- Your actual metabolic rate, which no equation measures.
- Future adherence, illness, medication changes, water shifts or changes in how much you move.
- Whether a calorie level is medically right for you.
Loopa is a tracker, not a medical service. Its targets and forecasts come from equations and the product’s configured planning limits, and they are not a judgment about what is right for you. People with medical conditions, pregnancy, an eating-disorder history, medication effects, bariatric surgery or other circumstances may need individualized professional guidance.
The practical daily loop
Four small actions, repeated.
Nothing here needs to be perfect to count.
1
Log what you eat
Search, scan a barcode, enter your own figures, or re-log a saved meal.
2
Weigh in when you can
Individual readings are inputs. The trend line is what makes the direction easier to see.
3
Check what is left
Calories left and protein to go show on the Food screen as the day fills in.
4
Review weekly, adjust slowly
Look at a few weeks of trend before changing the target or the pace.
Choose your plan
Free vs Premium for fat loss
Neither tier is required to run a fat-loss phase. This is which tools sit where, for this goal only.
Start here
Loopa Basic
$0, with no ads.
- Food and macro logging, with unlimited meals
- Barcode scanning
- Describing a meal in plain words or by voice 10 a day, shared with voice
- Saved meals you build yourself
- Weight logging
- The weight trend line 30 days
- Water and fluids
- Activity you log yourself
- Progress photos
- My Pantry
Loopa Premium adds
$12.99 a month or $69.99 a year for one person. Loopa Premium Family covers up to 6 people for $19.99 a month or $119.99 a year.
- The AI meal planner and shopping list
- Photo meal logging
- Eating Out and photographed menus
- The forecast and its calibrated projection
- Full history beyond the rolling 30 days
- The personal report
- Body measurements
- Device sync, including Apple Health and Health Connect
How Loopa handles it
The fat loss tools, on real screens
What each tool does, what it assumes, and which plan it is in.
Your targetLoopa Basic
A starting estimate with visible boundaries
Loopa estimates a planning target from the information entered during setup and applies the product’s configured goal-rate boundaries.
The target is a starting estimate, not a metabolic measurement. If your weight trend and the plan disagree for several weeks, the plan is what you change.
The configured boundaries
- Pace options: maintain, about half a pound a week, about a pound a week (the default), about two pounds a week, or a maximum deficit. Behind them are daily deficits of 250, 500, 1,000 and 1,500 kcal.
- The calculated target is never set below your estimated resting energy, and neither is a target you type in yourself.
- If you tell setup you are pregnant or nursing, the pace is set to maintain.
The weight trendBasic: 30 days
One Weigh-In Is a Point. The Trend Is the Pattern.
Loopa shows individual values plus a smoothed trend. Use individual readings as inputs; use the trend to make the longer direction easier to see.
Short-term changes are often dominated by water, glycogen and food still in transit rather than fat, so a few higher readings are not a verdict.
How the trend line works
- It is an exponentially weighted moving average with a smoothing factor of 0.10, which gives each reading a half-life of about 6.6 days.
- It needs at least three weigh-ins across seven days, and says what is missing instead of guessing.
- Basic draws a rolling 30 days. Your total change since you started is always calculated from your full record.
The forecastLoopa Premium
A useful forecast shows its assumptions
Loopa’s forecast uses the product’s configured planning boundaries and may decline to show a requested scenario when it falls outside those limits. Its output is labeled as an estimate.
It cannot know future adherence, illness, medication changes, water shifts or adaptive behavior. It recomputes estimated expenditure at each lower weight, so a fixed intake produces a smaller deficit over time.
- Inputs: your current weight and goal, your calorie target or a figure you try in What If, estimated resting and total expenditure, and, once there are at least three weigh-ins across 14 days, your own recent rate.
- It will not project below an intake of 1,500 kcal for male profiles or 1,200 kcal for female profiles.
- It stops 52 weeks out, draws a band 20 percent either side of the central line, and says so when your current plan does not reach your goal.
- The forecast screen and the calibrated projection require Premium. The What If simulator also works in Basic, without calibration to your own logged rate.
Eating outLoopa Premium
A restaurant meal can still fit the plan
Name the restaurant or photograph the menu, and Loopa ranks items against what is left of your day. Log what you ordered in one tap.
Loopa can filter suggestions using available ingredient information and your exclusions. Restaurant ingredients and cross-contact must still be confirmed independently when allergies matter.
- Menu nutrition is marked as published only where the restaurant publishes it; everything else is an estimate.
- Items flagged for something on your never-eat list are removed before ranking.
- On iPhone and Android.
Meal planningLoopa Premium
Plan the days before they happen
The meal planner builds 1, 3, 5 or 7 days against your calorie and macro targets, your diet style and your never-eat list, and ends in one combined shopping list.
It will not plan without a calorie target set, so it never plans against a placeholder.
- Swap one meal and the rest of the plan stays fixed.
- My Pantry, the list of what is already in your kitchen, is in Basic.
Evidence and limitations
Where the numbers come from, and what they cannot tell you.
- Scientific fact
The Mifflin-St Jeor equation estimates resting energy expenditure from weight, height, age and sex. It was developed in healthy adults, so for any one person it is an estimate.
Source: Mifflin MD et al., American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1990
- Scientific fact
Physical activity level multipliers turn a resting estimate into a daily total. They describe typical levels of activity, not a measurement of yours.
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO Food and Nutrition Technical Report Series 1, 2001
- General guidance
The 2013 AHA/ACC/TOS guideline for adults with overweight or obesity lists a 500 or 750 kcal a day energy deficit as one of three ways to prescribe a reduced-calorie diet.
- Scientific fact
An American College of Sports Medicine position stand concluded that resistance training does not enhance weight loss but may increase fat-free mass and increase loss of fat mass.
Source: Donnelly JE et al., Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 2009
- General guidance
Protein recommendations for athletes losing weight are set at 1.6 to 2.4 g per kg a day. That population is not every adult, and Loopa keeps protein visible beside calories so you can track both.
Source: Hector AJ et al., International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, 2018
- Product design choice
The weight trend is an exponentially weighted moving average. It smooths day-to-day movement; it does not identify what changed.
- Product fact
The forecast’s intake floors, 52-week horizon and 20 percent band are fixed product settings, not an individual medical judgment.
The limits. Equations and trends describe groups and patterns. They cannot tell you whether a specific pound was fat, and a published range is not a personal prescription.
Last reviewed: . This is the date the claims and sources on this page were checked, not a medical approval. Every source Loopa cites
FAQ
Questions about fat loss in Loopa
Answered against the product as it works today.
How does Loopa estimate my target?
Setup estimates resting energy with the Mifflin-St Jeor equation from your weight, height, age and sex, multiplies it by an activity factor to estimate daily expenditure, and subtracts the daily deficit for the pace you choose: 250, 500, 1,000 or 1,500 kcal, or none at maintenance. The result is never set below your estimated resting energy. You can type your own target instead, and it is held to the same floor. Either way it is a starting estimate, not a measurement.
How much weight should I expect to lose?
Loopa does not promise a rate. The pace you choose rests on an energy estimate, and what actually happens depends on how closely that estimate fits you, what you eat, water shifts and many other factors. Watch the trend over several weeks. On Premium, the forecast shows an estimated projection with its assumptions and a range around it.
Do I need to weigh food?
No. You can search the database, scan a barcode, enter your own figures, or describe a meal in plain words or by voice, which Basic allows 10 times a day. Food search, barcode scans, manual entry, recent foods and saved meals never use that allowance. Weighing portions makes entries more precise; it is not required.
What if my weight goes up for several days?
Short-term changes are often dominated by water, glycogen and food still in transit rather than fat. Keep logging: the trend line smooths day-to-day movement, and a few weeks of trend say more than a few days of readings.
Can I lose fat using Basic?
Yes. Food and macro logging with unlimited meals, barcode scanning, weight with a rolling 30-day trend, water, activity you log yourself, progress photos and My Pantry are all in Basic, with no ads. Premium adds meal planning, photo logging, Eating Out, the forecast, full history and the personal report.
Does Loopa know whether weight lost was fat?
No. A scale reading and a trend line cannot separate fat from water, glycogen or lean tissue. Loopa’s body-fat figure is an estimate from a published formula, not a laboratory measurement. Measurements and photos add context; none of them proves fat loss by itself.
Does Loopa guarantee a goal date?
No. The forecast, on Premium, is labeled as an estimate and drawn with a range. It stops 52 weeks out, it will not project below an intake of 1,500 kcal for male profiles or 1,200 kcal for female profiles, and it says so when your current plan does not reach your goal. Those are product planning limits, not a medical judgment about you.
What if I am taking medication that affects weight?
Some medications change appetite, weight or water balance, and a target from an equation does not account for them. Follow your prescriber’s guidance. If you take GLP-1 medication, Loopa’s protocol tracking on Premium records doses, symptoms and patterns beside your food and weight.
What if I have had bariatric surgery?
Your bariatric team’s instructions come first. Loopa’s bariatric support includes free education, situation cards and sourced procedure guidance, with stage, supplement and lab tracking on Premium.
Does Loopa tell me how few calories I can safely eat?
No. Loopa applies product planning limits: a calculated or typed target is never set below your estimated resting energy, and the forecast will not project below 1,500 kcal for male profiles or 1,200 kcal for female profiles. Those limits are not an individualized medical minimum. That question belongs with your clinician or a registered dietitian.
Start with one day of logging.
Log what you eat, weigh in when you can, and give the trend a few weeks before you judge it.