The Balance Factor^©(BF) is the macronutrient value of a food or meal. It is calculated using the product’s Nutrition Facts table and provides a guide for the consumer to make healthy choices. Healthy choices are those that have the recommended balance of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins as per Canada’s Food Guide and the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

To use the Balance Factor, simply scan a product’s barcode or search for a product’s brand name or food type using The Balance Factor App. You have found a healthy choice if the product’s BFis close to 0 or less. Products with a high BFcan be part of a healthy choice if they are combined with a product having a low BF.

Foods that have a Balance Factor close to 0 or less are always healthy choices. Choose healthy meals where multiple products’ Balance Factorscombine to become a single BFclose to zero. For example, a healthy meal choice would be a piece of toast with a BF = +12 combined with an egg with a BF = -12 to give a combined Balance Factor = 0.

Use the Balance Factorapp to help you make meals with Balance Factors close to 0. As your body’s metabolism responds to eating balanced meals, your healthy choices will gravitate towards a certain Balance Factor ideal for your body. A Balance Factoris specific to each individual and may fluctuate slightly in response to body type and lean mass to fat mass ratios. However, there is no ideal Balance Factorthat accelerates fat burning or that the user is trying to reach. It is the CONSISTENCY of eating at a similar Balance Factorat each meal that users successfully reach their fat loss goals.

What is the Caloric Goal?

The Caloric Goal is the number of calories you must eat to support your body’s metabolism in order to burn body fat. This number has been determined using a Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) calculator and you are given a comfortable range to eat 125 calories above or 100 calories below your Caloric Goal.

The Caloric Goal is 500-600 calories less than your body’s Caloric Need or TDEE. The Caloric Need is the number of calories your body burns on a daily basis. This deficit of calories causes your body to use stored fat to meet its Caloric Need. The CONSISTENCY of eating at your Caloric Goal and the accumulation of your body giving up stored calories drives the body to burn excess body fat and reduce in size.

As your body size and weight decreases, the deficit of calories also reduces. Your body will slow the release of body fat when there is no longer a difference between the Caloric Goal and the Caloric Need. At such a time, if more fat loss is desired, the Caloric Goal is lowered in 50 calorie intervals until your ideal size is reached.

What do the Progress Graphs show?

The Balance Factor App plots graphs to reflect your Caloric Goal and Balance FactorCONSISTENCY. The graphs are produced as a result of you tracking your daily calories.

The Balance Factorgraph reveals your preferred Balance Factorby calculating the BF from a weighted combination of daily meals in the tracking program. This graph is dynamic and captures a 20-point Balance Factorrange that dictates where your meals’ Balance Factors are as a result of the balance of the macronutrients. For members, an exact Balance Factor range is calculated and displayed as daily vertical lines on the graph.

The Calorie graph has a static green zone that spans 125 calories above and 100 calories below the Caloric Goal. The goal is to eat within that range of calories. The Calorie graph has a static yellow zone that spans from 125 to 500 calories above the Caloric Goal to the line indicating the Caloric Need.

Points that fall within the yellow zone just outside the green zone when denoting an “Active” day will not slow the progress of the body burning fat. The CONTINUOUS deficit of calories within 500-600 of the Caloric Need (as well as the CONSISTENCY of the Balance Factor) drives the speed of fat burn. The goal is for the dots to ultimately stay within the green zone. (For members, the goal is to keep the range lines similar in height to the green zone with the dot inside the zone.)

Calorie Graph

To access the Calorie Graph, tap the heart with the graph icon on the Home Screen. This button gives you direct access to the How Am I Doing? screen and your progress graphs.

The Calorie Graph indicates whether you are eating enough calories and meeting your Caloric Goal on a consistent basis.

Your individual Caloric Goal is the minimum number of calories you must eat to maintain your metabolism and permit the body to burn fat. It is displayed in the centre of the green zone on the graph.

Your individual Caloric Need is the amount of calories your body requires each day and is displayed at the top of the yellow zone.

Maintenance Graph to Stay the Ideal Size

If your app is set to Maintenance, your goal is simple: Eat enough calories to stay within the green and yellow zones. The closer you are to your Caloric Goal (green zone), the easier it is to maintain your metabolism and stay your ideal size in Maintenance Mode.

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking you are on a diet. The Balance Factor program is not about dieting. This app makes sure you are getting enough calories to permit the body to burn unwanted body fat and uses the Balance Factor to ensure you are getting a balance of the three macronutrients. This is your formula for success!

Balance Factor Graph

To access the Balance Factor Graph, tap the heart with the graph icon on the Home Screen then tap the BF in the bottom left corner.

The Balance Factor Graph indicates whether you are eating a consistent ratio of carbohydrates to proteins and fats at each meal to stabilize your blood sugar and give your body the ideal environment to burn body fat.

The Balance Factor Graph guides you to consistently keep your Balance Factors within a 20-pt range.

Look at the number in the centre of the green line. The Balance Factor App calculates your average weighted Balance Factor as you track your meals. A Balance Factor close to 0 means you are eating a nice balance of carbohydrates to proteins and fats. The higher your BF, the higher the percentage of carbohdyrates you are eating compared to proteins and fats. The lower your BF, the lower the percentage of carbohydrates compared to proteins and fats.

Trends Graph

To access the Trends Graph, tap the heart with the graph icon on the Home Screen then tap the trend you are tracking to the right of the BF in the bottom left corner.

The Trends Graph indicates whether your sleep, anxiety, or inflammation/pain issue is influenced by eating at a consistent ratio of carbohydrates to proteins and fats at each meal. Stabilizing your blood sugar and giving your body the ideal environment to optimize your metabolism can have a positive impact on your sleep patterns, emotional, and physical health.

What is the Balance Factor Health Challenge?

The Balance Factor Health Challenge is a challenge designed to inspire EVERY person to improve their overall nutrition regardless of their eating preference, body type, genetic make-up, and/or health and wellness goals. The Health Challenge can be implemented as a Maintenance or Fat Burning Challenge in the workplace, the community, or the home.

Have the participants download the Balance Factor App on any Apple device. Challenge score cards are found by tapping the heart with the graph icon on the Home Screen then tapping Summary on each participants app. Score card tabulating requires no input from the participant.

Choose a start date to begin the challenge of building and tracking balanced meals that meet each participant’s individual Caloric Goal. Each week a winner is declared using the highest Challenge Score amongst the participants. This score is based on 3 measurable outcomes: Calories Burned, Days Exercised, Avg. Cals/Day. At the end of the 30-day to 90-day challenge period (using 30 day increments), the participant with the highest Challenge Score in the ‘Past 30 Days’ or ‘Past 90 Days’ wins.

The Balance Factor User Guide

Getting Started

The Balance Factor App helps you achieve your health and wellness goals through fat loss. You can use the Balance Factor to combine foods into meals that balance the macronutrients – carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. Eating enough calories and keeping your macros balanced turns your body into a fat burning machine.

Download the Balance Factor App on any Apple device then quickly create a simple Profile to calculate your caloric goal.

Identify Balance Factors

The Home Screen, My Pantry, and Daily Tracking programs have a barcode scanner and search bar feature that you can use to identify a product’s serving size, calories, and Balance Factor.

Use this information to build healthy balanced meals and choose foods to meet your caloric goal.

To scan a product:

On the Home Screen, tap the barcode icon.
Scan the product.

Note: You can compare this product to another product by tapping COMPARE with another product.

To scan a product to make a meal:

On the Home Screen, tap My Pantry, then tap ‘Make a Meal’.
Enter the meal name, choose the meal category, and tap ‘Add an Ingredient’.
Tap the barcode icon.

To scan a product into Daily Tracking:

On the Home Screen, tap Daily Tracking on the Home screen, then tap ‘Add an Ingredient’.
Tap the barcode icon.

To compare groups of products:

On the Home Screen, tap Daily Tracking , then tap ‘Add an Ingredient’.
Enter a product or a brand name in the search bar.

Note: To access Balance Factors without a scanner, tap the search bar instead of the barcode icon as per instructions above.

Make Meals in My Pantry

You can make a meal by combining ingredients from the Balance Factor database and already scanned personal ingredients. These meals can be used for tracking your calories and creating meals plans. You can edit existing meals including ones shared by friends.

Use the Meal Categories B/L/D/S to denote Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Snack. This simplifies your meal search when daily tracking and allows the app to calculate a weighted Balance Factor.

To make a meal:

On the Home Screen tap My Pantry, then tap ‘Make a Meal’.
Enter a Meal Description and choose a Meal Category.
Tap ‘Add an Ingredient’.

To edit a meal:

On the Home Screen tap My Pantry, then tap the meal you want to edit.
Tap Edit this Meal.
Tap the ingredient you want to edit.

Make Meals in Daily Tracking

To make a meal:

In Daily Tracking, tap ‘Add an Ingredient’.
Choose a Meal Category.
After all ingredients are entered, tap ‘Create a Meal!’.

To edit a meal:

On the Home Screen, tap My Pantry then tap the meal you made in Daily Tracking.
Tap Edit this Meal.
Edit the ‘Meal Description’ to rename the meal.
Tap the ingredient you want to edit or tap ‘Add an Ingredient’ to add more ingredients.

Create Recipes:

You can use a recipe to define the number of servings in a meal. The Calories and Balance Factor^©for one serving are calculated automatically and one serving is then added to your Personalized Ingredients list.

To enter a recipe:

On the Home Screen, tap My Pantry, then tap Make a Meal.
Enter a description and meal category for the recipe.
Tap Add an Ingredient.

To add a personalized ingredient:

On the Home Screen, tap My Pantry, then tap Personalized Ingredients.
Tap “+”, then enter the information from your product’s Nutrition Facts label.

Meal Planning:

You can create a meal plan instantly by using your inventory of meals in My Pantry or recorded meals from previous days. The individualized meal plan is calculated using your ideal caloric goal and Balance Factor^© for a one or two week period. You can print or email someone a copy of the meal plan and its grocery list.

To create a meal plan using meals from My Pantry:

On the Home Screen, tap My Pantry then tap ‘Meal Planner’.
Choose the My Pantry option, then tap GO!.
In the Meal Planner, tap # of weeks option then tap ‘Create Meal Plan’.
Tap your starting date for the meal plan.

To create a meal plan from previous meal history:

On the Home Screen, tap My Pantry then tap ‘Meal Planner’.
Choose the What I Ate option, then tap GO!.
In the Meal Planner, tap # of weeks option then tap ‘Create Meal Plan’.
Tap your starting date for the meal plan.

To print or email a copy of the meal plan and grocery list:

On the Home Screen, tap Calendar, then tap ‘Upcoming Meals’.
Choose the time period options then tap GO!.
Tap a date on the calendar for a start date, then tap a date for an end date.

Note: Meal plans will be entered into Daily Tracking and the Calendar. Meals from the meal plans can be edited on a daily basis through the Daily Tracking program.

Track Meals:

The Daily Tracking program uses the colors – green, yellow, and red to help you choose meals that accumulate to meet your caloric goal. It calculates a weighted Balance Factor that reflects the balance of macronutrients you are having at each meal and as a daily total. Do your best to stay in green, meaning that your meals are balanced.

Meeting your daily caloric goal and eating a good balance of macronutrients at each meal, optimizes your metabolism, helps you burn excess body fat, and reduces your risk of disease.

To find your caloric goal:

On the Home Screen, tap Daily Tracking.

To add meals to Daily Tracking:

On the Home Screen, tap Daily Tracking then tap ‘Add an Meal’.
Tap the Meal Category (B/L/D/S) you want, then tap the meal.
Tap Save.

To add ingredients to Daily Tracking:

On the Home Screen, tap Daily Tracking then tap ‘Add an Ingredient’.
Enter a product or brand name in the search bar.

To edit meals or ingredients in Daily Tracking:

On the Home Screen, tap Daily Tracking.
Tap the meal or ingredient you want to edit.

To see a breakdown of the day’s meals and ingredients:

On the Home Screen, tap Daily Tracking.
Tap the magnifying glass icon.

To edit a previous day:

On the Home Screen, tap Calendar.
Tap the day you wish to edit.

Fast Track Meals

The Calendar program has a ‘Week at a Glance’ feature that lets you track a day with any meal or ingredient from the meals eaten over the previous week. This feature is ideal for those who eat meals as leftovers the next day.

To Fast Track a Meal:

On the Home Screen, tap Calendar.
Tap ‘Week at a Glance’.
Tap ‘Pick Next Day’s Meals’.

To See a Previous Week of Meals:

On the Home Screen, tap Calendar.
Tap ‘Week at a Glance’.

Restauranteur Program

The Restauranteur program lets local restaurants add their menu items to the Balance Factor and Food Lover apps. Our team will provide the restauranteur with printable Nutritional Menu Brochures with calculated Balance Factors that will be published on the Balance Factor website.

App users can download the menus of their favourite restaurants (with calories and BF’s) directly onto their app. This encourages restaurant goers to make healthy choices while promoting the growth and prosperity of local restaurants.

To add menu items to the apps:

On the Home Screen, tap the three dots then tap Profile. Tap the ‘R’ towards the bottom of the screen.
Activate the ‘I’m a Restauranteur’ switch.
On the Home Screen, tap My Pantry, then tap ‘Make a Meal’.
Enter a Meal Description using your restaurant’s name before each item and choose a Meal Category.
Tap ‘Add an Ingredient’.
When your menu items are all saved in My Pantry, tap Done.
On the Home Screen, tap the three dots then tap Share My Menu.

Record Trends

The Daily Tracking program has a lifestyle behaviour feature that lets you record trends with sleep, anxiety, inflammation and pain issues. Recording this information helps you manage your lifestyle behaviours relative to meeting your Caloric Goal and ideal Balance Factor.

Activate the Trend program by tapping the three dots on the Home Screen then tap Profile. Tap Trends.

To record trends:

On the Home Screen, tap Daily Tracking.
Tap Trend?

Note: Trend data can be found by tapping ‘Sleep’ or ‘Anxiety’ or ‘Inflam.’ on the “How Am I Doing” screen in the graph program.

Record Glucose

The Daily Tracking program has a glucose monitoring feature that lets you record glucose levels in morning, at mealtimes, post-prandial, and during exercise. (Morning glucose is denoted as the first reading of the day prior to eating the first meal.) Recording this information helps you manage your glucose control relative to meeting your Caloric Goal and ideal Balance Factor.

Activate the Glucose Monitoring program by tapping the three dots on the Home Screen then tap Profile. Tap Glucose Monitoring.

To record glucose at meals:

On the Home Screen, tap Daily Tracking.
Tap Add a Meal or make a meal by tapping Add an Ingredient.
Tap the Meal Category (B/L/D/S) you want, then tap Save.
Tap the clock.

To record glucose during exercise:

On the Home Screen, tap Daily Tracking.
Tap Active.
Tap the red Blood Drop.

Note: Glucose data can be retrieved by tapping the clock at each meal in Daily Tracking or by tapping ‘Glucose’ on the “How Am I Doing” screen in the graph program.

Record Fasting Periods

You can record fasting periods using the Glucose Monitoring program’s clock feature. Simply enter the time you finished your last meal the day before and the beginning of your first meal the next day to record the number of hours you fasted.

To enter meal times:

On the Home Screen, tap Daily Tracking.
Tap Add a Meal or make a meal by tapping Add an Ingredient.
Tap the Meal Category (B/L/D/S) you want, then tap Save.
Tap the clock.

To check fasting periods in Week at a Glance:

On the Home Screen, tap Calendar.
Tap Week at a Glance.

Note: Fasting periods appear at the bottom of each day’s meals below Total Calories.

To check fasting periods in the Glucose graph:

On the Home Screen, tap the small heart with the graph.
Tap Glucose.
Tap a grey block on the day you wish to check your fasting period.

Record Success

You can record symptoms of fat burning and track “active” or “fasting” days directly in the Calendar program. This provides instant gratification, motivation and displays patterns of progress to help you stay the course.

To record “active” or “fasting” days:

On the Home Screen, tap Daily Tracking.
Tap Active or Fasting.

To record symptoms of fat burning:

On the Home Screen, tap Daily Tracking.
Tap More.

Note: An icon representing either an “active” or “fasting” day will be entered into the Calendar. Any combination of the three emojis that represent symptoms of fat burning (i.e. thirstiness, reduced bowel movements, frequency of urination) will be entered into the Calendar by tapping the “More” button and selecting the appropriate emoji.

Record Measurements

You can record progress from changes in girth measurements and clothing size by using the Progress program on the Home screen. This feature uses objective outcomes to graph progress by comparing your results to “normal” standards.

To record girth measurements:

On the Home Screen, tap the Progress button then tap ‘+’ and enter your measurements for that date.
Tap OK, then tap Show Me to see your graph.

To record WHR ‘waist to hip’ ratio measurements:

On the Home Screen, tap the Progress button then tap ‘+’ and enter your waist and hip measurements for that date.
Tap OK, then tap Show Me to see your graph.

To record String Test (waist to height) measurements:

On the Home Screen, tap the Progress button then tap ‘+’ and enter your waist measurements for that date.
Tap OK, then tap Show Me to see your graph.

Check Progress

You can track your progress by reviewing the graphs on the How Am I Doing? Screen. The Calorie graph has an ‘ideal’ green range spanning 100 calories above and below your Caloric Goal and plots your daily calories. The Balance Factor^©(BF) graph has a dynamic green zone that calculates your average weighted BF from the meals you are tracking.

A good progress report shows most dots being within the green zones.

To check progress using Success Indicators:

On the Home Screen, tap the Calendar program.

To check progress using Caloric Goal:

On the Home Screen, tap the heart icon.

To check progress using the Balance Factor:

On the Home Screen, tap the heart icon.
Tap the BF option.

To check progress using girth measurements:

On the Home Screen, tap the Progress button.
Tap OK, then tap Show Me to see your graph.

On the Home Screen, tap the heart icon.
Tap Summary.

Check Monthly Progress

You can track your monthly progress by reviewing the graphs on the How Am I Doing? Screen. The Monthly Measurables feature displays a 6-month overview of all the app’s measurable outcomes and lets you simultaneously compare the progress of multiple measures. This feature is ideal for workplace health and wellness programs that are seeking aggregate data for improvement in individual health as well as workplace culture and proof of employee participation.

A good progress report shows green ‘UP’ arrows for improvement or green checkmarks for maintenance. A red ‘DOWN’ arrow shows a trend towards poorer progress.

To check progress for all measurable outcomes:

On the Home Screen, tap the heart with the graph icon.
Tap Monthly Measurables.

To check 6-month outcomes and compare multiple measures:

On the Home Screen, tap the heart with the graph icon.
Tap Monthly Measurables.
Swipe right and tap HERE.
Tap up to 3 measures for a 6-month comparison of aggregate data.

Note: The 6-month comparable measures can be displayed as a line graph or as trend arrows by scrolling down through the graph titles on the left side of the screen.

You can share the meals and ingredients that you have saved in your Pantry with other Balance Factor^© App users. This expands your meal options and helps to add variety to our meal planning and adds items to your “Ingredients List”.

To share your pantry with friends:

On the Home Screen, tap the three dots then tap Share My Pantry.
Tap OK, then type an email address into the To: space then tap the arrow.

To edit a meal shared from other Balance Factor users:

On the Home Screen, tap My Pantry, then tap the meal you wish to edit.
Tap Edit this Meal.

Get Support

Ask us a question or send in your eating summary and Calorie/BF graphs and we’ll respond as quick as we can. Purchase the Balance Factor^©Playbook to help you identify and remove your dietary roadblocks and start on your fat burning journey today.

To ask a question:

On the Home Screen, tap Support then enter a subject and question.
Tap the arrow to send the question.

To send us your eating summary:

On the Home Screen, tap Support then enter a subject and question.
Tap Attach my Eating Summay, then tap Send.
Tap the arrow to send the question.

To ask advice on your progress:

On the Home Screen, tap the heart icon, then tap Send Us Your Graphs for Advice. (Members only.)
Tap the arrow to send us your progress graphs.

On the Home Screen, tap Support then tap User Guide.

Access Website

You can access the Balance Factor^© website including specific pages of interest directly through the Balance Factor^©App. This allows you to interact with the website and return to the screen in the app that you were using.

On the Home Screen, tap Support, then tap Learn More.
On the Home Screen, tap Calendar. Tap the Balance Factor icon.
On the Home Screen, tap the three dots. Tap Profile then tap Intro. Tap More…

On the Home Screen, tap the three dots then tap Balance Factor.
On the Home Screen, tap the heart icon then tap Balance Factor & You.
On the Home Screen, tap Support, then tap Balance Factor.
On the Home Screen, tap the three dots. Tap Profile then tap Intro. Tap What’s a B.F.?

On the Home Screen, tap Calendar then tap Balance Factor Health Challenge.
On the Home Screen, tap the heart icon then tap Summary then tap Balance Factor Health Challenge.

On the Home Screen, tap Support then tap User Guide.
For Non-Members only…On the Home Screen, tap My Pantry then tap User Guide.

This website is intended to supplement, not replace, the advice of a trained health professional. If you know or suspect that you have a health problem, you should consult a health professional. The administrator of this website specifically disclaim any liability, loss, or risk, personal or otherwise, that is incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, of the use and application of any the contents on this website.