How Many Calories Should I Eat to Lose Weight?
There is no universal calorie target — it depends on your body and activity. Here is the simple, evidence-based way to estimate how much you should eat to lose weight at a healthy pace.
Key takeaways
- Weight loss comes down to a calorie deficit — eating fewer calories than your body burns.
- A deficit of about 500 calories per day leads to roughly 1 pound (0.45 kg) of loss per week for many people.
- First estimate your TDEE (the calories you burn per day), then subtract your deficit to find your target.
- Avoid going too low. Very aggressive deficits are hard to sustain and can cost you muscle, energy, and adherence.
There is no single calorie number that works for everyone. The right amount to eat for weight loss depends on your size, age, sex, and how active you are. But the underlying math is refreshingly simple, and you can estimate a sensible target for yourself in a few minutes.
The principle: to lose weight, you need to eat fewer calories than your body burns — a calorie deficit. The most common, sustainable approach is a deficit of around 500 calories per day, which adds up to roughly one pound of weight loss per week. Here is how to find your personal number.
Step 1: Estimate how many calories you burn (TDEE)
Your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) is the total number of calories you burn in a day. It is the target you will subtract from. TDEE has two main parts:
- Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) — the calories your body burns at complete rest just to keep you alive (breathing, circulation, organ function). This is the majority of your daily burn.
- Activity — everything on top of that: exercise, walking, fidgeting, and digesting food.
A widely used way to estimate BMR is the Mifflin-St Jeor equation:
Note
Mifflin-St Jeor BMR formula
Men: BMR = (10 × weight in kg) + (6.25 × height in cm) − (5 × age) + 5. Women: BMR = (10 × weight in kg) + (6.25 × height in cm) − (5 × age) − 161.
Then multiply your BMR by an activity factor to get TDEE:
| Activity level | Multiply BMR by |
|---|---|
| Sedentary (little or no exercise) | 1.2 |
| Lightly active (1–3 days/week) | 1.375 |
| Moderately active (3–5 days/week) | 1.55 |
| Very active (6–7 days/week) | 1.725 |
| Extremely active (physical job + training) | 1.9 |
Step 2: Subtract your deficit
Once you have your TDEE, subtract a deficit to get your daily calorie target for weight loss. A moderate, sustainable deficit is usually 500 calories per day:
Note
A worked example
Say your TDEE is about 2,200 calories a day. A 500-calorie deficit means eating around 1,700 calories a day, which should produce roughly one pound of weight loss per week. Adjust based on your real-world results over a few weeks.
How low is too low?
It is tempting to slash calories for faster results, but bigger is not better. Very low intakes are hard to stick to, can leave you tired and hungry, and tend to cost you more muscle along with fat. As a general guardrail, most health authorities advise that adults not drop below roughly 1,200 calories a day for women or 1,500 for men without medical supervision.
Tip
Slower is often faster
A moderate deficit you can maintain for months beats an extreme one you abandon in two weeks. Sustainability is the single biggest predictor of long-term weight-loss success.
Calories matter — but so does what you eat
A calorie deficit drives weight loss, but the *composition* of your diet shapes how you feel and what you lose:
- Protein helps preserve muscle in a deficit and keeps you full. Many people aim for a higher-protein diet when losing weight.
- Fiber from vegetables, fruit, legumes, and whole grains adds volume and satiety for few calories.
- Minimally processed foods make it far easier to stay in a deficit without feeling deprived.
Why the scale is not the whole story
Calorie formulas are estimates, and bodies are not perfectly predictable machines. Daily weight fluctuates with water, sodium, hormones, and digestion. Rather than judging a single weigh-in, track the trend over two to four weeks. If you are losing too fast, eat a bit more; if the scale has not budged at all, tighten the deficit slightly. Treat your starting number as a hypothesis and let real results fine-tune it.
The bottom line
To lose weight, estimate your TDEE, subtract a moderate deficit of around 500 calories a day, and aim for a sustainable pace of about one pound per week. Favor protein and whole foods, do not undercut your needs with an extreme deficit, and adjust based on the trend rather than any single day. Simple, patient, and repeatable wins.
Frequently asked questions
Estimate your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) — the calories you burn in a day — then subtract about 500 calories for a steady loss of roughly one pound per week. The exact number is personal, but as a rough guide many adults land somewhere between 1,200 and 2,000 calories a day while losing weight. Avoid dropping below about 1,200 (women) or 1,500 (men) without medical supervision.
For many smaller or less active women, around 1,200 calories can produce weight loss, and it is often cited as a general lower limit for adult women. But it is quite restrictive, can be hard to sustain, and is too low for many people — especially taller, heavier, or more active individuals. Base your target on your own TDEE rather than a one-size-fits-all number, and consult a professional before going very low.
The most common reasons are underestimating how much you actually eat, overestimating how much you burn, or judging progress on a single day when water weight is masking fat loss. Track intake carefully for a couple of weeks, look at the trend rather than daily numbers, and adjust your target if needed. If you are genuinely eating below your needs and weight will not move over several weeks, it is worth talking to a doctor.
A commonly recommended, sustainable pace is about 1 to 2 pounds (0.5 to 1 kg) per week. Faster loss is possible but harder to maintain and more likely to cost you muscle. Slower, steady loss that you can sustain tends to produce better long-term results.
References & further reading
- 1.Healthy Eating for a Healthy Weight — CDC
- 2.Healthy Weight — NHS
- 3.Weight Control — MedlinePlus (NIH)
Eashan Vagish
Founder, Dalia Health
Eashan Vagish is the founder of Dalia Health, where he works on making heart and metabolic health easier to understand and track. He writes these guides to answer the health questions people actually ask — in plain language, with links to reputable sources.
Medical disclaimer: This article is for general educational purposes only and is not medical advice. It is not a substitute for diagnosis or treatment from a qualified healthcare professional. Always talk to your doctor about your individual health, and seek immediate care for any urgent symptoms.
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