How Many Calories to Lose Weight?
Weight loss comes down to one principle: eat fewer calories than you burn. But the practical questions — how many fewer, how fast, and how to keep it off — are where most diets succeed or fail. Here's a sensible, sustainable approach.
Step 1: find your maintenance calories
Before you can create a deficit, you need to know your maintenance level — the calories that keep your weight steady, also called your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure). It's your resting metabolism scaled up for activity. A typical adult woman maintains on roughly 1,800–2,200 calories and a man on 2,200–2,800, but your personal number depends on your size, age, and how active you are.
Get your personalized numbers: the calorie calculator estimates your maintenance and gives targets to lose, maintain, or gain — or use the TDEE calculator directly.
Step 2: choose a moderate deficit
Since roughly 3,500 calories equal about a pound of fat, a daily deficit of:
- 250 calories → about 0.5 lb/week
- 500 calories → about 1 lb/week
- 1,000 calories → about 2 lb/week (aggressive)
For most people, a 300–500 calorie deficit is the sweet spot: fast enough to see steady progress, gentle enough to stick with and preserve muscle. Don't drop below about 1,200 calories/day (women) or 1,500 (men) without medical supervision — it's hard to get enough nutrients, and extreme restriction backfires.
Why crash diets fail
Very aggressive deficits are tempting because the scale moves fast, but they tend to collapse: they're miserable to maintain, they sap your energy, and they strip away muscle along with fat — which lowers your metabolism and makes regain more likely. Slower, sustainable loss keeps more muscle and is far more likely to become permanent. The goal isn't to lose weight fastest; it's to lose it and keep it off.
Step 3: protect muscle and stay full
Two habits make a deficit dramatically easier and healthier:
- Eat enough protein. It preserves muscle while you lose fat and keeps you fuller than carbs or fat. Aim for roughly 0.7–1.0 g per pound of body weight (see the protein calculator).
- Lift or stay active. Resistance training signals your body to keep muscle. It also nudges up the calories you burn.
Set your protein target first, then fill the rest of your calories with carbs and fat you enjoy — the macro calculator handles the split.
Step 4: adjust as you go
Here's the catch nobody warns you about: as you lose weight, a lighter body burns fewer calories, so the same intake becomes a smaller deficit and progress slows. This is normal, not failure. Recalculate your targets every 10–15 pounds, and remember the scale is noisy day to day — water weight can mask real fat loss for a week. Track the trend over weeks, not the daily number. Model a specific goal-and-date with the calorie deficit calculator.
Medical disclaimer: This is general educational information, not medical or nutritional advice. The 3,500-calorie rule is an approximation. Consult a doctor or registered dietitian before starting a weight-loss program, especially if you have health conditions. Last reviewed: July 2026.