Research
Energy balance
Body weight changes are significantly related to calorie balance over a week, but daily weight changes only weakly explain daily calorie balance variations.
Your weekly weight change is a moderate indicator of your weekly calorie balance, but daily weight fluctuations are a poor indicator of daily calorie balance. Do not try to adjust your daily food intake based on daily scale readings.
GoodQualifiesMEDIUM confidence
Weight change and calorie balance over 1 week were related, the correlation averaging 0.40. There was a correlation of 0.32 between daily weight changes and calorie balance. A rather small amount of variation in calorie balance can be explained by contemporary changes in weight.
Why this rating
Statistically significant correlations, but the explanatory power (r^2) is low.
Source
Food intake and energy expenditure of army recruits
O. G. Edholm et al. · British Journal Of Nutrition · 1970
DOI 10.1079/bjn19700112
cross_sectional · n=64Cited 188×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- In young military recruits undergoing high-intensity training, daily food intake does not acutely regulate or compensate for daily energy expenditure, as there is no significant day-to-day correlation between the two.Good
- While daily intake does not track daily expenditure, total energy intake over a multi-week period significantly correlates with total energy expenditure in structured training environments.Good
Related findings · Energy balance
- Achieving a total body weight loss of 10-15% (or >10-15 kg) through Total Diet Replacement (TDR) induces remission of Type 2 Diabetes in individuals with short-duration disease.Strong
- Bariatric surgery is superior to medical management alone for inducing significant long-term weight loss, remission of type 2 diabetes, and reduction in mortality for patients with BMI ≥ 40 or ≥ 35 with comorbidities.Strong
- Achieving type 2 diabetes remission requires significant weight loss (≥15 kg) via major caloric restriction, independent of macronutrient composition.Strong
This is one finding among thousands. Every one is graded and traced to its source, so you can see what the evidence actually supports. Browse the research →