How Many Calories Should I Eat to Lose Weight?

Generic calorie targets like '1,200 for women, 1,800 for men' are wildly inaccurate for anyone who isn't dead center of the population. Your calorie target for weight loss is a function of your own TDEE — and that depends on age, weight, height, gender, and activity level.

This guide gives you the simple math, the safe deficit ranges, and a 4-step process for setting a daily target that actually works.

Step 1 — find your TDEE

Use the Mifflin–St Jeor formula plus an activity multiplier (sedentary 1.2 to very active 1.9) to get TDEE. The free calculator on this site does it instantly. Pick the lower of two activity tiers if you're unsure.

Step 2 — pick a deficit size

Standard ranges and what each one does:

• 250 kcal/day: very slow, very sustainable. ~0.25 kg/week. Best for late-stage cuts.
• 500 kcal/day: the classic. ~0.5 kg/week. Good balance for most people.
• 750 kcal/day: aggressive but workable for heavier people. ~0.7 kg/week.
• 1,000+ kcal/day: only for people with substantial body fat to lose, and only short-term. Loses muscle if not paired with high protein and lifting.

Step 3 — never below BMR (without supervision)

Eating below BMR for long stretches drives down NEAT, lean mass, and metabolic rate through adaptive thermogenesis. As a working floor, women shouldn't go below ~1,200 kcal/day and men below ~1,500 kcal/day without medical supervision.

Step 4 — verify and adjust at 3 weeks

After 3 weeks, evaluate weight trend (7-day rolling average). If you lost roughly what the math predicted, your target works. If you lost less, drop another 100–150 kcal. If you lost more, the formula overestimated TDEE — eat 100–150 more.

Worked example

A 70 kg woman, 35 years old, 165 cm, moderately active. BMR = 1,431 kcal. TDEE = 2,218 kcal.

She wants to lose 5 kg. At a 500 kcal/day deficit she eats 1,720 kcal/day. Expected loss: ~0.5 kg/week, so 10 weeks. Protein target: ~120 g/day (1.8 g/kg). After 3 weeks she has lost 1.6 kg (slightly faster than predicted) — she could nudge up to 1,800 kcal for sustainability.

Common mistakes and misconceptions

• Eating 1,200 kcal because someone said so. A 6-foot active man cutting at 1,200 is starving. The number means nothing without context.
• Believing the scale on day 4. Daily weight bounces 1–2 kg. Use weekly rolling averages.
• Adding back exercise calories. If you used a TDEE multiplier, exercise is already counted. Don't eat 400 kcal back after a workout.
• Eating low all week then bingeing on weekends. Weekly totals matter more than daily. Stay closer to target every day.

Tips for hitting your calorie target

• Front-load the day with protein and vegetables. Calorie targets get easier when the first 700 kcal are filling.
• Pre-log lunch and dinner before breakfast. Decisions made cold-bloodedly beat in-the-moment hunger choices.
• Use a food scale for the first 2 weeks. Eyeballing portions is the most common source of stalls.
• Build in a planned 'reset' meal once a week so restriction feels less permanent.

Related questions

Keep reading on this site

• TDEE & Body Fat Calculator — auto-calculates fat-loss calorie targets
• Calorie burn calculator — see your TDEE breakdown
• What is a calorie deficit? — the math behind weight loss
• How to reduce body fat — the full fat-loss protocol