Weight loss · FitScan

How Many Calories Should You Eat to Lose Weight?

Every diet that has ever worked, keto, fasting, low-fat, paleo, works for exactly one reason: it puts you in a calorie deficit. You don't need a special plan. You need to know roughly how many calories you burn, then eat a bit less. Here's how to find that number and set a deficit you can actually stick to.

Step 1: Estimate your maintenance calories

Your maintenance level, often called TDEE, total daily energy expenditure, is the number of calories that keeps your weight stable. It depends on your size, age, sex and activity. A rough starting point for many adults is 14 to 16 calories per pound of bodyweight. A 170-pound moderately active person sits somewhere around 2,400 to 2,700 calories. This is an estimate, not gospel, your real number is whatever holds your weight steady over two or three weeks.

Step 2: Set a sustainable deficit

A deficit of 300 to 500 calories per day is the sweet spot for most people: enough to lose roughly half a pound to a pound of fat per week, small enough that you're not starving and bingeing. Aggressive deficits backfire, they burn muscle, tank your energy and training, and almost always end in a rebound. Slower is faster when 'faster' means you actually finish.

Step 3: Track honestly for two weeks

The number one reason people 'can't lose weight despite eating nothing' is that they're eating more than they think. Cooking oil, sauces, the bites while cooking, weekend drinks, they add up invisibly. Log everything honestly for two weeks. You don't have to do it forever; you just need to calibrate your eye so you know what a real portion looks like.

Step 4: Adjust based on the trend, not the day

Daily weight bounces around with water, sodium and digestion, it means nothing. Weigh yourself a few times a week and watch the weekly average. If it's not moving down after two to three weeks, trim another 150 to 200 calories or add more movement. If you're losing faster than a pound a week and feeling wrecked, eat a little more. Steer by the trend line, not the noise.

See your timeline before you start

FitScan's transformation simulator takes the guesswork out of step four. Set your goal and timeline and it projects your weight, body fat and waist week by week using sustainable rates, and tells you honestly if a goal isn't realistic, then offers a timeline that is. Download FitScan ID free to see your own projection.

Related feature: Transformation Simulator →