How Many Calories Should I Eat to Lose Weight?
Weight loss comes down to a calorie deficit — but the right number is personal. Here is how to find a target that actually works, and stays safe.
If you want to lose weight, you have to eat fewer calories than your body burns. That is the whole mechanism — a calorie deficit. The hard part is not the principle; it is finding a daily number that is low enough to make progress but high enough to be sustainable, protect your muscle, and keep you sane.
This guide shows you how to set that number from your own body and activity, in three steps.
Step 1: Find your maintenance calories (TDEE)
Your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) is roughly how many calories you burn in a day. It is the sum of your resting metabolism (the energy to keep you alive — your BMR) plus everything you do on top of that. Most evidence-based calculators estimate it with the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, then multiply by an activity factor.
Eat at your TDEE and your weight holds steady. Eat below it and you lose. So your maintenance number is the anchor for everything else.
Step 2: Subtract a safe deficit
A pound of fat stores roughly 3,500 calories, so a daily deficit of 500 calories trends toward about a pound of loss per week. The CDC considers 1 to 2 pounds (about 0.5–1 kg) per week a healthy, sustainable pace.
- Modest deficit (about 250/day): slow but very easy to maintain — good if you have less to lose.
- Standard deficit (about 500/day): ~1 lb/week; the sweet spot for most people.
- Aggressive deficit (750+/day): faster, but harder to stick to and more likely to cost you muscle.
You can let a tool do the subtraction for you: the Calorie Deficit Calculator works backward from a goal weight and date to show the daily deficit required — and flags it if that pace is too aggressive.
Never go below the floor Very-low-calorie diets backfire: you lose muscle, your metabolism adapts, and the weight tends to return. As a general rule, do not drop below about 1,200 calories/day for women or 1,500 for men without medical supervision, and avoid losing more than ~1% of your body weight per week.
Step 3: Keep protein high and adjust monthly
Calories decide whether you lose weight; protein and training decide whether that loss is fat or muscle. Keep protein high (see how much protein you really need) and lift something heavy a few times a week. Then re-check your numbers every 3–4 weeks — as you get lighter, your TDEE falls, so the deficit that worked at the start will eventually stall.
What to do when you plateau
- Recalculate your TDEE at your new weight — your target should drop a little.
- Tighten up tracking for two weeks; portions creep over time.
- Add movement (steps) rather than cutting calories further.
- Take a planned maintenance break — a week at TDEE can help adherence.
People also ask
How many calories should I eat a day to lose weight?
Start from your maintenance calories (TDEE) and subtract 250–500 per day for a sustainable 0.5–1 lb weekly loss. The exact number depends on your age, sex, size, and activity — calculate your TDEE first, then subtract.
Is 1,200 calories a day enough?
1,200 is widely treated as the lowest safe target for women (about 1,500 for men) and is too low for many active people. If a calculator suggests going below that, raise the calories and lose weight more slowly instead.
Why am I not losing weight in a calorie deficit?
The most common reasons are under-counting calories, a TDEE estimate that is too high, water-weight fluctuations masking fat loss, or your deficit shrinking as you get lighter. Re-measure, tighten tracking, and give it 2–3 weeks.
Do I need to count calories forever?
No. Counting is a learning tool. Most people track for a few months to calibrate portion sizes, then maintain with awareness rather than weighing everything.
Bottom line: find your TDEE, subtract a deficit you can live with, keep protein high, and re-check monthly. Slow and steady genuinely wins here.
Reviewed & sources
- Mifflin MD, St Jeor ST, et al. A new predictive equation for resting energy expenditure in healthy individuals. Am J Clin Nutr. 1990.
- National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). Body Weight Planner.
- CDC. Losing Weight — healthy weight loss is about 1 to 2 pounds per week.