How Many Calories Should You Eat to Lose Weight?

To lose weight, you eat fewer calories than your body burns in a day, a total known as your TDEE. A common guideline is a deficit of about 500 calories a day, which supports roughly half a kilogram, or one pound, of loss per week. Find your TDEE, subtract the deficit, and do not drop below a safe daily minimum, often cited near 1,200 calories for women and 1,500 for men, without guidance from a healthcare provider.

How Many Calories Should You Eat to Lose Weight?

The short answer is that you eat fewer calories than you burn. A calorie is a unit of energy, and your body spends energy every day to keep you alive and moving. When you take in less energy from food than you use, your body draws on stored energy to make up the difference, and over time that shows up on the scale.

The number of calories you should eat is therefore not a fixed figure. It depends on how many you burn, which varies with your size, age, sex, and activity. The method is the same for everyone: estimate the calories you burn in a day, then subtract a modest amount to create a deficit. To estimate both your maintenance calories and a weight-loss target, the Calorie Calculator runs this math from your details. What follows is general education, not a diet plan.

Start With Your TDEE: The Calories You Burn

Before you can subtract anything, you need a starting point, and that starting point is your TDEE. TDEE stands for total daily energy expenditure, the full count of calories your body uses in a day, and it has a few parts that add together.

The largest part is your BMR, or basal metabolic rate, the energy your body uses at rest to run your heart, brain, lungs, and other basic functions. On top of that sits the energy you spend digesting food and moving, from formal exercise to everyday walking and fidgeting. Together they make your TDEE, your maintenance level, the intake at which your weight tends to hold steady. Our sibling guide on how TDEE works breaks down each piece.

Because your BMR is the foundation of this figure, the BMR Calculator estimates that resting baseline, which the TDEE scales up by your activity level. Once you have a TDEE you trust, the rest is subtraction.

The Deficit: How Big and How Fast

A calorie deficit is simply the gap between what you burn and what you eat. Your daily target for weight loss is your TDEE minus that deficit. If your TDEE is 2,000 calories and you aim for a 500 calorie deficit, your target is 1,500 calories a day. For the full definition, see our sibling explainer on what a calorie deficit is.

The size of the deficit sets the pace. A widely used estimate treats about 3,500 calories as roughly the energy in one pound of body weight, so a 500 calorie daily deficit adds up to about 3,500 over a week and points toward about one pound of loss. This is an approximation, and real results vary, but it is a useful way to plan. The table below shows three common deficit sizes and the rough weekly pace each points to.

Many guidelines describe a loss of about half a kilogram to one kilogram, or one to two pounds, a week as a steady, manageable pace for most people. A bigger deficit moves the scale faster, but it is harder to sustain and can push your intake below a healthy floor, which is why the next section matters. The chart below shows the same three deficits side by side.

Safe Minimums: How Low Is Too Low

It is tempting to think that if a 500 calorie deficit works, a larger one works better. In practice, cutting too far can backfire. Very low intakes are hard to stick with, can leave you short on important nutrients, and may not be safe without medical oversight.

As a general reference, many sources cite a floor of about 1,200 calories a day for women and about 1,500 for men for unsupervised weight loss. Eating below those levels is generally not recommended unless a healthcare provider is guiding the plan. If your TDEE is low enough that a 500 calorie deficit would drop you under the floor, choose a smaller deficit, more physical activity, or both. The chart below uses a 2,000 calorie TDEE: the target intake is what you keep eating, and the deficit is what you leave on the table each day.

What Affects Your Number

Two people of the same weight can need very different calorie targets. The formula is the same, but the inputs differ. A few factors matter most.

Body Size and Composition

A larger body generally burns more calories at rest, so it usually has a higher TDEE and more room for a deficit. Muscle also uses more energy than fat, so people with more muscle often maintain a higher intake.

Activity Level

Movement is the part of your TDEE you can change most directly. Adding activity can widen your deficit without cutting food, helping you stay above the safe minimum while still losing weight.

Age and Sex

Metabolic rate tends to ease down with age, and on average men carry more muscle than women. These are averages, not rules for any one person, but they explain why standard minimums differ by sex.

Food Quality, Not Just Quantity

Calories tell you about energy, but not about nutrition. The World Health Organization emphasizes a diet rich in vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and legumes, with limited free sugars, salt, and certain fats. Hitting a calorie target with mostly nutritious foods supports your health far better than hitting the same number with low-quality choices.

How to Build a Deficit You Can Keep

The best deficit is one you can live with. A plan that feels like punishment tends to end quickly, while a gentle approach is easier to sustain. A few principles help.

• Start moderate: a 250 to 500 calorie deficit is easier to hold than an aggressive cut and still moves the scale.
• Split the work: combine eating a little less with moving a little more, so neither side has to do everything.
• Favor filling foods: protein, fiber, vegetables, and whole grains help you feel satisfied at a lower calorie count.
• Watch the floor: if your target would fall below a safe minimum, shrink the deficit rather than the safety margin.
• Reassess over time: as your weight changes, your TDEE changes too, so your target may need updating.

Consistency over weeks and months matters more than any single day. Weight loss is not about being perfect; it is a small, repeatable gap between what you burn and what you eat, kept within safe limits.

FAQs About Calories for Weight Loss

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Educational note: This article is general health information, not medical or nutritional advice, and it is not a substitute for care from a qualified professional. It is written to inform without judgment, and it does not endorse extreme dieting or rapid weight loss. Calorie needs, safe minimums, and the right approach for you depend on your health, medications, and personal circumstances. Before you start a weight-loss plan or make a significant change to how you eat, talk to a healthcare provider or a registered dietitian. Reviewed for accuracy by Dr. Abdullah Khalil, MBBS, as part of our editorial review process. Content last reviewed September 10, 2026.