How Many Calories Should I Eat to Lose Weight?

This is the most important number in weight loss. Not your macros. Not your meal timing. Not which foods are "clean." Your calorie target.

If you eat fewer calories than your body burns, you lose weight. If you eat more, you gain weight. Everything else — protein timing, carb cycling, intermittent fasting — is a rounding error compared to this fundamental equation.

The problem is that most people either don't know their number, or they're using a number that's wrong. And a wrong calorie target is worse than no target at all — it creates the illusion of effort without the results.

Let's fix that.

The Formula (And Why Most Calculators Get It Wrong)

Your daily calorie target for fat loss is calculated in three steps:

Step 1: Calculate your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)

Your BMR is how many calories your body burns just existing — breathing, pumping blood, maintaining body temperature. Even if you stayed in bed all day, this is what your body needs.

The most widely validated formula is the Mifflin-St Jeor equation:

Males: (10 × weight in kg) + (6.25 × height in cm) − (5 × age) + 5

Females: (10 × weight in kg) + (6.25 × height in cm) − (5 × age) − 161

Quick conversions: Divide your weight in lbs by 2.2 to get kg. Multiply your height in inches by 2.54 to get cm.

Example: A 35-year-old woman, 160 lbs (72.7 kg), 5'5" (165 cm):

(10 × 72.7) + (6.25 × 165) − (5 × 35) − 161 = 727 + 1,031 − 175 − 161 = 1,422 calories/day

That's her BMR — what her body burns at complete rest.

Step 2: Multiply by your activity level (TDEE)

Your Total Daily Energy Expenditure accounts for movement throughout the day. Multiply your BMR by the appropriate factor:

Activity Level	Description	Multiplier
Sedentary	Desk job, minimal walking	1.2
Lightly active	Some walking, light exercise 1-2x/week	1.375
Moderately active	Exercise 3-5x/week or active job	1.55
Very active	Hard exercise 6-7x/week or physical job	1.725

Be honest here. Most people overestimate their activity level. If you have a desk job and exercise 3 times a week, you're "lightly active" — not "moderately active." Those 3 gym sessions don't offset 10 hours of sitting.

Continuing our example: 1,422 × 1.375 (lightly active) = 1,955 calories/day

That's her maintenance. Eating this amount keeps her at 160 lbs.

Step 3: Subtract your deficit

For fat loss, subtract 300-500 calories from your TDEE. That creates a rate of 0.5-1 lb per week — the sweet spot for sustainable loss.

Final number: 1,955 − 400 = 1,555 calories/day

At this intake, she'd lose roughly 0.8 lbs per week, or about 3.2 lbs per month.

Why not a bigger deficit? Because deficits larger than 500 calories increase muscle loss, spike hunger hormones, and lead to metabolic adaptation — your body learns to burn less. A moderate deficit preserves muscle and is dramatically more sustainable. Research from the Mayo Clinic confirms that aggressive restriction often leads to plateaus faster than gradual approaches.

Calorie Targets by Bodyweight (Lookup Table)

If you don't want to do the math, find your approximate target here. These assume a lightly active person with a 400-calorie deficit.

Women

Weight	Age 25	Age 35	Age 45	Age 55
130 lbs	1,400	1,350	1,300	1,250
150 lbs	1,500	1,450	1,400	1,350
170 lbs	1,600	1,550	1,500	1,450
190 lbs	1,700	1,650	1,600	1,550
210 lbs	1,800	1,750	1,700	1,650

Men

Weight	Age 25	Age 35	Age 45	Age 55
160 lbs	1,900	1,850	1,800	1,750
180 lbs	2,050	2,000	1,950	1,900
200 lbs	2,200	2,150	2,100	2,050
220 lbs	2,350	2,300	2,250	2,200
250 lbs	2,550	2,500	2,450	2,400

These are estimates. Individual metabolism varies by 10-15%. Use these as a starting point, then adjust based on what actually happens over 2-3 weeks.

What a Day Actually Looks Like at Different Calorie Targets

Numbers are abstract. Here's what these targets look like as actual meals.

1,400 calories/day

• Breakfast: 2 eggs + 1 slice whole wheat toast + fruit (350 cal)
• Lunch: Large salad with 4 oz grilled chicken, vegetables, light dressing (400 cal)
• Snack: Greek yogurt with berries (150 cal)
• Dinner: 5 oz salmon + roasted vegetables + small portion rice (500 cal)

This is not starving. It's three real meals and a snack. The key is protein at every meal — it's what keeps you full on fewer calories.

1,800 calories/day

• Breakfast: 3 eggs + avocado toast on whole grain bread (500 cal)
• Lunch: Turkey and vegetable wrap + apple (450 cal)
• Snack: Protein shake + banana (300 cal)
• Dinner: 6 oz chicken thigh + sweet potato + steamed broccoli + small salad (550 cal)

More food. Still a deficit for most men. Notice how each meal centers around a protein source — that's the anchor of eating to lose weight.

2,200 calories/day

• Breakfast: Overnight oats with protein powder, berries, and peanut butter (550 cal)
• Lunch: Large bowl with rice, ground turkey, beans, vegetables, salsa (600 cal)
• Snack: Cottage cheese + nuts + fruit (350 cal)
• Dinner: 8 oz steak + baked potato + roasted vegetables (700 cal)

This is a generous deficit for a larger or more active man. It doesn't feel like a diet. That's the point — sustainability.

The 5 Most Common Calorie Mistakes

1. Using your fitness tracker's calorie burn

Your Apple Watch says you burned 500 calories in that workout. You didn't. Wearable calorie estimates are consistently 27-93% too high, depending on the device and activity. Never eat back exercise calories based on tracker data.

2. Not counting liquid calories

A large latte is 250 calories. A glass of orange juice is 110. Two glasses of wine is 300. A smoothie can easily hit 500. Drinks are the most common source of untracked calories. Switch to water, black coffee, or tea during your deficit.

3. Eyeballing portions

A "tablespoon" of peanut butter is 90 calories. The amount most people actually scoop is closer to 2.5 tablespoons — 225 calories. A "handful" of almonds ranges from 100-400 calories depending on your hand. For the first two weeks, measure things. After that, you'll have calibrated your eye.

4. Tracking weekdays but not weekends

Five days at a 400-calorie deficit = 2,000 calories saved. Two weekend days of eating 800 calories over maintenance = 1,600 calories added back. Your actual weekly deficit is now 400 calories — not 2,800. At that rate, you'd lose about one pound every nine weeks. We cover this trap in detail in our guide on why your workout isn't producing results.

5. Setting the deficit too aggressively

Going from 2,500 to 1,200 calories overnight is a recipe for bingeing, muscle loss, and metabolic slowdown. Start with a 300-400 calorie deficit. If you're not losing after 2-3 weeks, reduce by another 100. Gradual beats aggressive every time.

How to Adjust When Progress Stalls

You've been eating at your target for 6 weeks. You lost 5 lbs in the first month. Then the scale stopped. What happened?

Your TDEE dropped. When you lose weight, your body needs fewer calories to maintain itself. A 10 lb loss might reduce your TDEE by 70-100 calories. Your original deficit has shrunk.

Here's the adjustment protocol:

1. Recalculate. Plug your new weight into the Mifflin-St Jeor equation. Your new TDEE will be lower.
2. Reduce by 100-150 calories. Don't slash 500 more. Just enough to restore the deficit.
3. Consider adding activity. Instead of eating less, move more. An extra 20-minute walk per day burns 80-100 calories without making you hungrier.
4. Check compliance. Before adjusting, honestly assess: have you been tracking accurately? Including weekends? Including that handful of trail mix at 3pm? Often the plateau is a tracking problem, not a metabolism problem.
5. Wait. Weight loss is not linear. Water retention, hormonal cycles, sodium intake, and sleep quality all cause temporary stalls. If the scale hasn't moved in less than 2 weeks, don't change anything yet. If it's been 3+ weeks with accurate tracking, then adjust.

Should You Count Calories Forever?

No. Calorie counting is a tool for building awareness, not a permanent lifestyle.

Phase 1 (weeks 1-4): Track everything. Use MyFitnessPal, Cronometer, or any free app. Log every meal, every snack, every drink. This builds your calorie intuition.

Phase 2 (weeks 5-12): Track loosely. You now know roughly what 500 calories looks like. Log meals mentally or just track protein (the hardest macro to estimate). Spot-check with the app once or twice a week.

Phase 3 (ongoing): Estimate and adjust. You can eyeball portions, you know your go-to meals, and you understand the system. Check in with tracking for a week every month or two to recalibrate.

The goal isn't to count calories forever. The goal is to understand food well enough that you don't have to.

If meal prepping, this gets even easier — you calculate once on prep day, then just eat what you prepped without daily tracking.

The Minimum Calorie Floor

A quick safety note: there are calorie levels below which you shouldn't go without medical supervision.

• Women: Generally should not eat below 1,200 calories per day
• Men: Generally should not eat below 1,500 calories per day

These floors exist because below them, it becomes extremely difficult to get adequate micronutrients (vitamins, minerals) from food alone. If the math puts you near or below these numbers, your deficit should come from increased activity — not less food.

The Bottom Line

Your calorie target is the foundation of weight loss. Everything else — protein, meal timing, exercise selection — matters, but none of it works without the deficit.

Find your number. Use the Mifflin-St Jeor formula or the lookup tables above.

Track for a few weeks. Build awareness of what your target actually looks like in real food.

Adjust when needed. Recalculate every 10-15 lbs lost. Reduce by small increments, not large cuts.

Be patient. 0.5-1 lb per week is excellent progress, even when it doesn't feel like it. That's 25-50 lbs in a year.

And if you'd rather not do the math at all — a Fitvello plan calculates your exact calorie target, protein needs, and builds a complete meal plan around them. Personalized to your body, your goals, and your diet.