Calorie balance connects two sides of your record: the food you entered and an estimate of the energy you used. In CORPUS, it is a way to examine your recorded intake in context, whether your chosen goal is a deficit, maintenance or something else. It is not a direct measurement of a change in body tissue.
Start with the two sides of the comparison
Total Burn combines CORPUS’s Base estimate (BMR) with available active energy from Apple Health. A compatible wearable can supply supported activity to Health; CORPUS needs the relevant permissions and readable data. Workouts are part of active energy, not an extra amount to add again. Steps provide context and do not add another calorie value.
A deficit means estimated Total Burn is greater than logged intake. A surplus means logged intake is greater than estimated Total Burn. History represents deficit balances with a minus sign and surpluses with a plus sign; some day views show a magnitude beside the word “deficit” or “surplus.” Food Target is a separate comparison against your planned intake target.
Illustrative arithmetic only. These invented values explain a record; they are not recommended calorie targets or predicted outcomes.
One hypothetical day
Record | Value |
|---|---|
CORPUS Base estimate | 1,600 kcal |
Apple Health active energy | 500 kcal |
Estimated Total Burn | 1,600 + 500 = 2,100 kcal |
Logged food | 1,900 kcal |
Estimated balance | 1,900 − 2,100 = −200 kcal: a 200 kcal deficit |
The calculation can be correct for the inputs while the inputs remain incomplete or estimated. Food still needs to be recorded by you. Health imports and the resulting calculations reduce repeated entry; they cannot fill in an unlogged meal.
Read today as a changing record
Today’s balance changes as food and activity arrive. CORPUS uses a full-day Base estimate, rather than prorating Base to the current hour. Do not read a morning “balance so far” as an exact measure of energy used up to that moment. Revisit the completed day and check the food entries as well as the activity data.
Move from one day to a week or month
History offers daily views, Monday–Sunday weeks and calendar months, with Totals and Daily Avg modes. A total adds the included records. A daily average divides by the days eligible for that metric; it does not automatically divide by seven or by the number of dates in a month.
For example, suppose three days have complete food records and eligible burn estimates. Their estimated balances are −200, +100 and −150 kcal. Together they total −250 kcal; their daily average is about −83 kcal across those three days. That describes the three included days, not a seven-day result.
Calories, burn, balance, steps and sleep can use different coverage counts. Balance is calculated from matched food-and-burn days. Subtracting the separate period food and burn averages need not reproduce the balance average. Check the coverage information before comparing two periods.
Also check the date range: future-dated food plans can appear in a selected period’s food totals and averages, but future days do not contribute calorie balance. A current-period total is not always a total of food already consumed.
Use movement and sleep as context
Movement can help you understand why the activity side of the estimate differs between days. Sleep records sit alongside nutrition and activity; sleep duration is not an input to the calorie-balance arithmetic. Seeing two patterns together does not establish that one caused the other.
Choose a day, week or month that matches the question you want to answer.
Check food completeness, any future plans and each metric’s coverage.
Read the total or average as a description of those included records.
Compare with your chosen goal without treating an estimate as a guaranteed outcome.
You can still record food, reuse Recipes and Templates, and review nutrition without a wearable. A planning activity estimate is different from daily Total Burn; it does not guarantee that a daily balance will be available when Health activity data is missing.
Sources & further reading
CORPUS — App Store product description and release notes. Accessed 2026-09-30.
Apple: Manage Health data on your iPhone, iPad or Apple Watch. Accessed 2026-09-30.
Drafted with AI assistance and checked in a separate automated editorial review. This article has not received human or medical review. Our editorial standards.