How Many Calories Should You Actually Eat to Lose Weight?

This is probably the most common question in weight loss, and also the most overcomplicated one. The core idea is simple: eat less than your body burns, consistently, and you lose weight. The tricky part is figuring out what "less" actually means for you specifically.

Step 1: Find Your Maintenance Calories

Your maintenance number, often called TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure), is how many calories your body burns in a day accounting for your basic bodily functions plus your activity level. This isn't the same for everyone, it depends on your age, weight, height, gender, and how active you are.

Step 2: Create a Deficit, But Not a Huge One

Once you know your maintenance calories, a deficit of 400-500 calories per day is generally a sustainable place to start. That translates to roughly 0.4-0.5kg of fat loss per week, which sounds slow, but it's the pace that's actually maintainable without your body fighting back through extreme hunger or fatigue.

Why Crash Diets Backfire

Dropping to 1000-1200 calories overnight might show quick results on the scale, but a lot of that early drop is water weight, not fat. Beyond that, extreme deficits tend to slow your metabolism, increase muscle loss, and make you so hungry that bingeing becomes almost inevitable. Slower and steadier wins here more often than not.

Adjusting Over Time

As you lose weight, your maintenance calories drop slightly too, since a lighter body burns less energy. If your weight loss stalls for more than 2-3 weeks despite sticking to your plan, it's usually time to recalculate your numbers rather than cutting calories further out of frustration.

Don't Forget Protein

Whatever your calorie target ends up being, keeping protein high within that budget protects your muscle mass and keeps you fuller for longer. This matters more the longer your deficit goes on.

The Simplest Way to Get Your Number

Rather than doing the math by hand, plug your age, weight, height, and activity level into a calculator built for this. It'll give you your maintenance calories and a target based on your specific goal in a few seconds.