Targets are planning values
Your protein and calorie targets are settings you can change. They describe a plan, not what your body will do with it.
Muscle gain
Track the Food, Training and Progress Behind a Lean Gain Phase.
Keep protein, calorie intake, workouts, body weight and measurements in the same record so you can see whether the plan is moving in the direction you intended.
Food and macro tracking are free. Structured workout tracking and advanced progress tools follow current Premium terms.
Loopa PremiumWorkout tracking is part of Loopa Premium.
What success actually means
Building muscle is a training problem, a nutrition problem, a recovery problem, and a measurement problem.
Loopa handles the tracking side. The training stimulus, your recovery, your biology and time do the rest.
Outcomes take months
Training records, measurements and the weight trend over months are the result. A single week tells you very little.
The scale cannot tell you what you gained
A rapid scale increase cannot be assumed to be muscle gain. Water, glycogen, food in transit, fat and lean tissue all move the number.
What Loopa tracks
Four signals, read together.
None of these alone tells Loopa exactly how much muscle was gained.
What was actually logged
Protein from the food you logged, against a protein target shown beside calories all day.
DatabaseEnteredTargetLoopa Basic
Above, below or around the plan
Whether total intake is generally above, below or around your calorie target.
DatabaseEnteredTargetLoopa Basic
Sets, reps, load and RPE
Exercises, sets, reps, load and RPE, with previous sessions and personal records, when you use Premium workout tracking.
EnteredLoopa Premium
The slower evidence
The weight trend and progress photos are in Basic. Body measurements, full history and training records are Premium.
EnteredTrendEstimatedBasic: 30 days
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
- Your maintenance calories, from estimated resting energy and an activity factor.
- An estimated one-rep max from a logged set of 12 reps or fewer.
- Training volume by muscle group, labeled as an estimate.
- A body-fat estimate from a published formula, shown beside your weight.
Loopa cannot know
- How much of a weight change was muscle.
- Whether a new record came from muscle gain, technique, skill, neural adaptation or programming.
- The right training program for your body.
- Your exact energy needs, which change with training and recovery.
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
Log the meals, log the session, glance at protein.
Most of the effort is logistics: eating enough, often enough, and writing down the training.
1
Log each meal
Search, scan a barcode or re-log a saved meal. Protein updates as you go.
2
Check protein in the afternoon
Protein sits beside calories, so you can see whether dinner needs to do more.
3
Log the session
On Premium, each set’s weight and reps, with last time shown as the placeholder.
4
Review weekly
Compare the weight trend, records and measurements before changing intake.
Choose your plan
Free vs Premium for muscle gain
Neither tier is required for a muscle-gain goal. This is which tools sit where, for this goal only.
Start here
Loopa Basic
$0, with no ads.
- Food and macro logging, with protein beside calories
- Barcode scanning
- Describing a meal in plain words or by voice 10 a day, shared with voice
- Saved meals for the things you eat every day
- Weight logging
- The weight trend line 30 days
- Water and fluids
- Vitals, including sleep hours you log
- Activity you log yourself
- Progress photos
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.
- Workout logging: sets, reps, weight and RPE
- The exercise library
- Routines, programs and the training calendar
- Personal records and strength analytics
- Body measurements
- The AI meal planner and shopping list
- Full history beyond the rolling 30 days
- Device sync, including Apple Health and Health Connect
How Loopa handles it
The muscle gain tools, on real screens
What each tool does, what it assumes, and which plan it is in.
Energy intakeLoopa Basic
Loopa does not calculate a surplus. You can set one.
When your goal weight is at or above your current weight, setup plans at maintenance: estimated resting energy times your activity factor, with no deficit.
If you want to eat above that, type your own daily calorie target. The resulting weight trend helps show whether body weight is moving faster, slower, or about as expected.
How a typed target is handled
- A typed target is accepted from 800 to 10,000 kcal a day and is never applied below your estimated resting energy.
- If your protein target costs more calories than your calorie target, the calorie target rises to fit it.
- A rapid scale increase cannot be assumed to be muscle gain.
ProteinLoopa Basic
A number you can see all day
Protein sits beside calories on the Food screen, with how much is left to go. The target shown in Loopa is a planning target informed by your account setup and the current product methodology: grams per pound of goal weight, from the diet style you choose or a figure you type.
Meals are unlimited. Some AI-assisted logging shortcuts have a daily Basic allowance: describing a meal in plain words or by voice, 10 a day. Food search, barcode scans, manual entry, recent foods and saved meals never use it.
- There is no ceiling. Above 1.2 g per pound of goal weight, about 2.65 g per kg, Loopa shows a health notice and asks you to acknowledge it before saving.
- More is not automatically better. Published ranges describe groups, and your target is a setting you can change.
TrainingLoopa Premium
Nutrition Is Only Half of a Gain Phase
Premium workout tracking records exercises, sets, reps, load and RPE, shows the last session as you log the next, and runs routines and multi-week programs on a calendar.
Build routines from the exercise library, start from an included starter program, or follow a program a Loopa coach assigns. Loopa does not decide the ideal hypertrophy program for you.
- An exercise library of 453 movements, searchable by muscle and equipment.
- Six record types: estimated one-rep max, heaviest weight, most reps, best set volume, best pace and longest distance.
- A strength record is not proof that muscle mass increased. It can also reflect technique, skill, neural adaptation, body mass or programming.
Body compositionLoopa Premium
A body-fat estimate, not a body-fat measurement
Body measurements cover waist, chest, hips, thigh, arm and neck, plus a body-fat percentage you enter yourself. Reading and logging measurements are Premium.
Loopa’s body-fat estimate uses the U.S. Navy circumference formula when your measurements allow it, then Relative Fat Mass, then a formula based on BMI, age and sex. The formula used is named on screen, and a figure you enter always takes its place.
- An estimate is shown beside your weight in Basic; logging a body-fat figure is Premium.
- Do not subtract a body-fat estimate from scale weight to calculate muscle gained. An estimate cannot support that arithmetic.
- Progress photos are in Basic and are not limited to 30 days.
Evidence and limitations
What the research describes, and who it describes.
- General guidance
The International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand describes an overall daily protein intake of 1.4 to 2.0 g per kg of body weight as sufficient for most exercising individuals.
Source: Jager R et al., Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 2017
- Scientific fact
A 2018 meta-analysis of resistance-training studies found that protein supplementation beyond total intakes of about 1.62 g per kg a day produced no further gains in fat-free mass.
Source: Morton RW et al., British Journal of Sports Medicine, 2018
- General guidance
The American College of Sports Medicine describes progressive overload, the gradual increase of stress placed on the body during training, as a core principle of resistance-training progression.
Source: American College of Sports Medicine, Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 2009
- Scientific fact
In a small laboratory study, one night of total sleep deprivation reduced muscle protein synthesis by 18 percent.
- Product design choice
Protein targets are set in grams per pound of goal weight, and above 1.2 g per pound Loopa shows a notice rather than refusing the number.
- Product fact
Estimated one-rep max uses the Epley formula, weight times one plus reps divided by thirty, and returns nothing above 12 reps.
The limits. Published protein ranges come from studies of mostly trained adults. Resistance-trained adults are not automatically representative of every Loopa user, and none of these findings is 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 muscle gain in Loopa
Answered against the product as it works today.
How much protein should I eat?
Loopa does not prescribe a number. The International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand describes 1.4 to 2.0 g of protein per kg of body weight a day as sufficient for most exercising individuals, and a 2018 meta-analysis of resistance-training studies found no further gains in fat-free mass beyond about 1.62 g per kg a day. Those findings describe groups. Your target in Loopa is a setting you can change, and above 1.2 g per pound of goal weight the app shows a notice first.
Does Loopa know how much muscle I gained?
No. Scale weight, measurements, photos and training records each add context, and none of them isolates muscle. The body-fat figure is an estimate from a formula, so subtracting it from scale weight does not produce a muscle-gain number.
How large should a surplus be?
Loopa does not set one. When your goal weight is at or above your current weight, setup plans at maintenance calories, and you can type your own daily target above that. Then watch the weight trend over several weeks: a rapid increase cannot be assumed to be muscle, and a flat trend is worth comparing against what you actually logged.
Why did my weight jump suddenly?
Short-term jumps are often dominated by water, glycogen, sodium and food in transit, especially after a change in carbohydrate intake or training. The trend line smooths day-to-day movement, and a few weeks of trend say more than a few days.
Do I need Premium?
Not for the nutrition side. Food and macro logging, protein, weight with a 30-day trend, water, sleep and activity you log yourself, and progress photos are in Basic. Structured workout logging, the exercise library, programs, records, body measurements, meal planning and full history are Premium.
Can Loopa build workouts?
You build routines and programs yourself from the exercise library, start from one of the included starter programs, or follow a program a Loopa coach assigns. All of it is part of Premium. Loopa does not generate a training program tailored to you.
What is estimated 1RM?
An estimate of the heaviest weight you could lift once, calculated from a logged set with the Epley formula: weight times one plus reps divided by thirty. Loopa returns nothing for sets above 12 reps and labels the figure an estimate. Warm-up sets never set a record.
Are body-fat numbers exact?
No. They are estimates from published formulas: the U.S. Navy circumference method when your measurements allow it, then Relative Fat Mass, then a formula based on BMI, age and sex. A figure you enter yourself is shown instead of the estimate.
What if I am using TRT or another prescribed hormone therapy?
Hormone therapy is medical treatment managed by your prescriber, and it is separate from a muscle-gain goal. If you want to record it, Loopa’s protocol tracking on Premium logs doses, symptoms, wellbeing and labs beside your food and training.
Start with the food log tonight.
Food and macro tracking are free. Add workout tracking when you want the training in the same record.