The Shape Score: A Single Number for Six GLP-1 Variables
The Shape Score combines six daily inputs into one 0–100 number: protein hit, hydration, steps, strength training, sleep, and consistency. It is designed for the GLP-1 reality where calorie counting is unhelpful and the meaningful levers are different. Aim for 70+ daily.
Most weight-loss apps were built for an older problem: people whose bottleneck was willpower and whose intervention was calorie counting. The Shape Score was built for the GLP-1 reality, where calorie counting is mostly redundant and the meaningful levers are completely different.
What the Shape Score measures
Six inputs, weighted and combined into a 0–100 daily number:
1. Protein hit (30% of score). Did you eat your protein floor today? (0.7–1.0 g/lb of goal weight)
2. Hydration (15%). 80+ oz of fluids?
3. Movement (15%). 7,000+ steps?
4. Strength training (15%). A lifting session today (or yesterday)?
5. Sleep (15%). 7+ hours last night?
6. Consistency (10%). A streak of meeting the daily basics?
A perfect day is 100. Most patients land in the 60–80 range on a good day, and 30–50 on a bad one.
Why these six and not calories
A traditional calorie-counting app would track:
- Calories in (food)
- Calories out (exercise)
- Net deficit
For a willpower diet that's the right model. For GLP-1 it's the wrong one because:
- The medication produces the calorie deficit automatically
- Counting calories on top often pushes intake too low (under-fueling, muscle loss)
- The variable that actually matters (protein) gets buried in the macro split
- The variable that determines what you keep (lean mass) isn't measured at all
The Shape Score swaps "calories" for "protein" as the primary lever. Then it adds the variables that determine whether your weight loss is fat or muscle: lifting, sleep, hydration, movement, consistency.
Why protein is weighted heaviest
Because on GLP-1 it's the variable most likely to be missed and most consequential when missed. Patients can survive a low-step day. They can survive a poor sleep night. A week of low protein on GLP-1 produces measurable lean mass loss, and the loss compounds quickly.
A Shape Score that didn't weight protein heavily would be marketing rather than measurement.
Why hydration matters more than people think
Mild dehydration on GLP-1 produces:
- Headaches (often misread as caffeine withdrawal)
- Fatigue (often misread as the medication)
- Constipation
- Reduced workout performance
- Bad mood
Many patients land in the 50–60% hydrated range and don't realize it. The Shape Score catches this.
Why strength training is daily-relevant
A lifting session counts for the day it happens and for the day after (recovery and adaptation are the second half of the workout). Two sessions per week covers most of the week's score. Three sessions covers it entirely.
Weeks where lifting drops to zero, the strength score is zero. The signal is loud.
Why steps over "exercise minutes"
Steps capture daily movement that "exercise minutes" miss. A patient who does a 30-min Peloton class but sits the rest of the day has different metabolic outcomes than a patient who walks 12,000 steps spread throughout the day. The walker wins for general health, glucose control, and gut motility.
The Shape Score uses steps because they're a better proxy for actual daily activity than gym minutes.
Why sleep is in there at all
Sleep matters for cravings, recovery, glucose control, and mood. A pattern of 5-hour nights blunts every other input. Including it in the score forces it into daily attention.
7 hours is a reasonable target for most adults. Going to bed at the same time and waking at the same time matters more than the exact hour count.
Why consistency is its own input
Streaks matter. The patient who hits 80 every day for a month outperforms the patient who hits 100 some days and 30 others — even at the same average. The consistency input rewards the pattern that produces results.
What a typical week looks like
Monday (good day):
- Protein: 130 g (target 120) → full credit (30/30)
- Hydration: 90 oz → full credit (15/15)
- Steps: 8,400 → full credit (15/15)
- Strength: lifted today → full credit (15/15)
- Sleep: 7.5 hrs → full credit (15/15)
- Consistency: 5-day streak → full credit (10/10) Score: 100
Tuesday (rest day, busy):
- Protein: 110 g → partial credit (25/30)
- Hydration: 65 oz → partial credit (10/15)
- Steps: 4,200 → partial credit (8/15)
- Strength: lifted yesterday → full credit (15/15)
- Sleep: 6.5 hrs → partial credit (12/15)
- Consistency: streak holds → full credit (10/10) Score: 80
Wednesday (sick day):
- Protein: 60 g → minimal credit (10/30)
- Hydration: 100 oz → full credit (15/15)
- Steps: 1,500 → minimal (3/15)
- Strength: no lifting in 48 hrs → minimal (5/15)
- Sleep: 9 hrs → full credit (15/15)
- Consistency: streak broken → reduced (5/10) Score: 53
The score communicates the day. The trend communicates the month.
What the Shape Score is not trying to do
It is not:
- A calorie tracker
- A "perfect day" gamification
- A weight predictor (though over time it correlates)
- A medical metric
It's a daily summary of the inputs that determine GLP-1 outcomes. Aim for 70+ on average and the body composition follows.
Bottom line
The Shape Score is an attempt to capture, in a single daily number, the variables that actually matter on a GLP-1 medication: protein, hydration, movement, strength training, sleep, and consistency. It replaces the calorie-deficit math (which the medication has handled for you) with the lean-mass-preservation math (which it hasn't). 70+ daily is the threshold most successful patients live above.