When you sign up for Carbon, the first thing you will need to do is create a goal. Here are the steps to get you set up and started towards reaching your goals!
Step 1: what's your goal?
You can choose from:
Lose Weight
Gain Weight
Maintain Weight
Reverse Diet
If you are unsure which goal to choose, click here to see our article on choosing the best goal for you!
Step 2: tell us about yourself
This section is pretty straightforward. You will be asked to answer:
Your Sex
Your Birthday
These questions will help the coach assess your caloric needs and metabolic age to build a plan specific to you.
Step 3: please provide your metrics
This step asks three questions to get an idea of where you are starting and looking to go.
Current weight - This tells the coach where you are starting.
Goal weight - If you are unsure about your goal weight, don't stress! Goals can change over time. Choose either your long-term or short-term. Regardless of what you choose, this will NOT influence your weekly adjustments by the coach. This is here to help you visualize how you are progressing to your goal.
Body fat - If you know your body fat, select "yes" and input this into the app. If you do not know your body fat and select "no. Then Carbon will ask for your waist measurement. This will let the coach run a simple calculation to estimate your body fat.
Note: You will not be asked for a goal weight when creating a Reverse Diet or Maintain Weight goal
Step 4: do you know how many calories it takes to maintain your current weight?
If you know your maintenance calories, select "yes." Then input that value. This will give the coach a better idea of your metabolism without estimating it from the start. You will not see steps 5 and 6 if you select yes.
If you don't know your maintenance calories, that's okay! Just select "no," and Carbon will do the science for you to figure it out.
Steps 5 & 6: describe your lifestyle and exercise
By describing your lifestyle and exercise activity, Carbon will better understand your calorie needs. Click here to read a more detailed description of lifestyle and exercise activity.
Step 7: selecting your weekly rate of progress
No matter the goal you choose, this step is extremely important. It will dictate:
Your starting calories
How the coach will respond at your weekly check-in. This will be different depending on the goal you choose. Below we outline this in detail.
Lose weight: how fast do you want to lose weight?
The rate you set will dictate the required amount of progress you need to make on average each week. There is a recommended weight loss range suggested by the coach. Choosing a rate within this range will help you:
More easily adhere to your macro targets because they won't need to be as low
Avoid excessive metabolic adaptation
Lose more body fat by decreasing muscle loss
Build healthier habits because it will be a more sustainable lifestyle
Gain weight: how fast do you want to gain weight?
The rate you set will dictate the required amount of progress you need to make on average each week. There is a recommended weight gain range suggested by the coach. Choosing a rate within this range is best if your goal is to limit body fat gain.
Reverse dieting: how much weight are you okay with gaining?
The amount you set will dictate the max allowable weight gain you are okay with within a given week. Most weeks, you won't gain anything, but the coach needs a maximum amount to know when to hold your calories for the following week.
There is a recommended maximum weight gain suggested by the coach. Choosing a rate within this range is best if your goal is to increase your calories while limiting body fat gain.
The coach will also ask if you wish to receive an initial calorie boost. We recommend only selecting a calorie boost if you are on very low calories or at a very low body fat.
Note: You will not be asked step 7 if you choose a maintenance goal
Step 8: what diet do you prefer
Here, you will choose what type of diet you prefer. You can choose:
Balanced (recommended)
Reduced-Carb
Low-Fat
Plant-Based
Ketogenic
If you have any questions about these specific diets, feel free to reach out to our support team!
Step 9: does everything look okay?
Make sure to look over everything! Once you select "Create New Goal" at the bottom of the screen, you won't be able to go back and edit anything.
Step 10: how to adjust your macros
Another great feature of Carbon is adjusting your macro targets to fit your personal preferences.
To do this, tap "adjust macros" directly under your new macro targets. This will bring you to the diet preferences setting. If you left that screen already, you can get there by going to settings > diet preferences. To read more about our diet preferences, click here.