Targets & Limits Guide
Platebreaker supports three ways to express nutrient targets. The right choice depends on the nutrient and your situation.
Absolute Amounts
Section titled “Absolute Amounts”Fixed daily amounts in grams, milligrams, or micrograms. This is the most straightforward option and what most health authorities use for their recommendations. If your doctor says “100g protein daily” or your blood work shows you need 18mg iron, enter those numbers directly.
Percentage of Energy
Section titled “Percentage of Energy”Express a target relative to your daily calorie intake. Useful for macronutrients where the absolute amount should scale with how much you eat. The standard ranges from health authorities:
- Protein: 10–35% of calories
- Carbohydrates: 45–65% of calories
- Fat: 20–35% of calories
When you set a target as a percentage, it recalculates automatically if your energy target changes. So if you set protein at 25% and later increase your calorie target, the gram amount adjusts.
The math: Target (g) = (Calories x Percentage) / Calories per gram. Protein and carbs are 4 calories per gram, fat is 9.
Per Kilogram of Body Weight
Section titled “Per Kilogram of Body Weight”Scale a target with your body size. Mainly used for protein, where needs vary a lot by activity level:
| Situation | Protein (g/kg) |
|---|---|
| Sedentary (minimum) | 0.8 |
| Recreationally active | 1.0–1.2 |
| Endurance athlete | 1.2–1.6 |
| Strength training | 1.6–2.2 |
| Weight loss (preserving muscle) | 1.8–2.2 |
When you set a target per kilogram, it updates when your weight changes. More responsive than a fixed number if your weight is in flux.
Upper Limits
Section titled “Upper Limits”Upper limits (ULs) represent the maximum daily intake unlikely to cause harm. Most people should not raise these. The main reason to lower a limit would be a healthcare provider’s recommendation for a specific condition, like reducing sodium for hypertension or limiting potassium for kidney disease.
Raising limits above the authority default should only happen under medical supervision.
When to Customize
Section titled “When to Customize”If your healthcare provider has given you specific numbers, enter them. Same for verified deficiencies from blood tests or training requirements for athletes.
Be cautious about customizing without professional input, especially for children and adolescents where growth makes needs harder to predict, or for medical conditions where getting the numbers wrong could cause harm.
For how to actually make these changes in the editor, see Nutrient Targets.