How Many Calories Should I Eat to Lose Weight?
The simple math behind weight loss, how to pick a safe deficit, and the mistakes that stall most diets.
Weight loss runs on one rule: eat fewer calories than your body burns. The trick is knowing what your body actually burns — and cutting the right amount below it.
Step 1: Find your maintenance calories
Your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) is the number of calories that keeps your weight stable. For most adults it lands between 1,800 and 3,000 kcal depending on size, age and activity. Calculate yours first — guessing is how diets fail before they start.
Step 2: Subtract a sensible deficit
A deficit of 500 kcal/day trends toward about 1 lb of loss per week. Bigger deficits work faster but cost more muscle, more hunger and more rebound. Two guardrails:
- Never eat below 1,500 kcal (men) or 1,200 kcal (women) without medical supervision.
- Aim to lose no more than about 1% of body weight per week.
Our calorie deficit calculator checks both automatically for any goal weight and timeline.
Step 3: Protect muscle while you cut
Keep protein at 0.7–1 g per pound of body weight and lift weights 2–3 times a week. Dieters who do both lose nearly the same weight but dramatically less muscle in controlled trials. Get your split from the macro calculator.
Why the scale stalls (and what to do)
After a few weeks, loss often slows: your lighter body burns less, water retention masks fat loss, and portions quietly grow. Recalculate your TDEE every 10–15 lb lost, tighten tracking for one honest week, and only then adjust calories another 100–200 down.