How Many Calories Should You Eat to Lose Weight?
Not 1,200. Not 2,000. Your number depends on your body and how you actually spend your week — and you can work it out in three steps.
"Eat 1,200 calories." "Eat 2,000." "Just eat less."
None of that is an answer. A 24-year-old man who lifts and a 55-year-old woman with a desk job do not need the same amount of food. The number is personal, and you can work it out in about two minutes.
The short version: find the calories your body burns in a day, then eat about 500 fewer. That is roughly half a kilo of fat loss per week. The three steps below show you how to get your own number.
Step 1: find your BMR
BMR is what your body burns doing nothing at all — breathing, pumping blood, staying warm. It is most of your daily total.
The standard formula is Mifflin-St Jeor. Weight in kilograms, height in centimetres, age in years:
- Men: (10 × weight) + (6.25 × height) − (5 × age) + 5
- Women: (10 × weight) + (6.25 × height) − (5 × age) − 161
A 30-year-old woman, 165 cm, 70 kg:
(10 × 70) + (6.25 × 165) − (5 × 30) − 161 = 1,420 calories
Step 2: multiply by how active you are
BMR is not your total. You also move. Multiply by the row that honestly describes your week.
| Your week | Multiply BMR by | Our example |
|---|---|---|
| Desk job, no exercise | 1.2 | 1,704 |
| Light exercise, 1–3 days | 1.375 | 1,953 |
| Moderate, 3–5 days | 1.55 | 2,201 |
| Hard, 6–7 days | 1.725 | 2,450 |
| Physical job or two sessions a day | 1.9 | 2,698 |
That result is your maintenance calories — eat this and your weight stays where it is.
Be honest here. Most people pick a row too high. Three gym sessions a week around a desk job is "light", not "moderate".
Step 3: subtract your deficit
To lose fat you eat less than you burn. That gap is the deficit.
About 7,700 calories equals a kilo of body fat. So:
- 500 fewer per day → roughly 0.5 kg per week
- 250 fewer per day → roughly 0.25 kg per week, slower but easier to stick to
- 1,000 fewer per day → too aggressive for most people, and hard to sustain
Our example, moderately active: 2,201 − 500 = 1,700 calories a day.
That is her number. Not 1,200. Not 2,000.
Why the generic numbers fail
"1,200 calories" gets repeated everywhere. For a lot of people it is far below their BMR — they are eating less at rest than their body burns lying still.
That is not a faster diet. It usually means constant hunger, poor sleep, no energy to train, and quitting in three weeks. Slow and sustainable beats fast and abandoned, every time.
As widely used guidance, going below roughly 1,200 calories for women or 1,500 for men is not something to do on your own. If your maths lands there, take a smaller deficit instead — or talk to a doctor or dietitian.
"I'm in a deficit and not losing weight"
Almost always one of these five.
- You are eating more than you think. Cooking oil, the milk in your tea, a few bites while cooking. Untracked calories are the usual answer, and they add up faster than anyone expects.
- Weekends undo the week. A 500 deficit Monday to Friday is 2,500. One big weekend can erase all of it.
- You overestimated your activity. If you picked 1.725 and the truth is 1.375, your "deficit" is actually maintenance.
- It is water, not fat. Weight swings 1–2 kg daily from salt, carbs, hormones and hydration. Judge the trend over three or four weeks, never one morning.
- Your maintenance dropped. A lighter body burns less. After losing 5–10 kg, recalculate. The number that worked at the start will not work forever.
Protein, and why it matters more than the rest
Calories decide whether you lose weight. Protein decides how much of that loss is fat rather than muscle.
A common target is 1.6 to 2.2 grams per kilogram of body weight when you are in a deficit. It also keeps you fuller than carbs or fat at the same calories, which makes the deficit easier to live with.
Get calories right first. Then protein. Everything else is detail.
Doing this without the arithmetic
You can run these numbers on paper. Most people do it once, then never recalculate as their weight changes — which is where the plan quietly stops working.
I built Calorie & Diet to keep it current. It has passed 100,000 downloads on Google Play.
What it does:
- Calculates all three steps from your height, weight, age, sex and activity level — BMR, maintenance, and your target for your goal.
- BMI, ideal weight range and a Health Score out of 100, so you can see where you stand.
- Tracks meals against the target, with a daily ring showing calories remaining and running protein, carb and fat totals.
- Gives you a diet plan built around your numbers, plus recipes with full nutrition breakdowns.
- Charts your weight trend so you judge progress over weeks instead of panicking at one morning's reading.
- Guided workout programs from beginner upward.
What you should know:
- Android only. No iPhone version.
- Free to download, with the core calculators and daily tracking free to use. Premium unlocks the full diet plan, the complete recipe library, all workout programs, unlimited history and the goal forecast.
- It is a fitness tool, not medical advice. The formulas are standard population estimates. If you are pregnant, managing a health condition, or your target lands very low, speak to a doctor or dietitian instead of following an app.
Start here
Work out your BMR. Multiply by your activity level — honestly. Subtract 500. Eat that for four weeks and track your weight trend, not single days.
Four weeks is enough to know whether the number is right. If the trend has not moved, your intake or your activity multiplier is off — adjust one, not both.
Calorie & Diet is free on Google Play if you would rather it did the maths and kept it updated as your weight changes.
Frequently asked questions
How many calories should I eat to lose weight?
Calculate your BMR, multiply it by an activity factor between 1.2 and 1.9 to get your maintenance calories, then subtract about 500. That gives roughly half a kilo of loss per week. The exact number is personal — it depends on your height, weight, age, sex and how active you actually are.
What is the difference between BMR and TDEE?
BMR is what your body burns at complete rest. TDEE, or maintenance calories, is your BMR multiplied by an activity factor to account for everything you do in a day. You base your calorie target on TDEE, not BMR.
Is 1,200 calories a day enough?
For many people it is below their BMR, meaning they would be eating less than their body burns at rest. That usually leads to constant hunger, low energy and giving up. Widely used guidance is not to go below about 1,200 for women or 1,500 for men without medical supervision — take a smaller deficit instead.
How long does it take to lose 1 kg?
About 7,700 calories equals a kilogram of body fat. At a 500-calorie daily deficit that is roughly two weeks per kilogram, though the scale will not move smoothly because of normal water weight fluctuation.
Why am I not losing weight in a calorie deficit?
Usually untracked calories such as cooking oil and drinks, weekends undoing the weekday deficit, or an overestimated activity multiplier. It can also be water retention masking real fat loss — judge progress on a three to four week trend rather than daily readings.
How much protein should I eat while losing weight?
A common target is 1.6 to 2.2 grams per kilogram of body weight while in a deficit. It helps preserve muscle so more of the loss is fat, and it keeps you fuller than the same calories from carbs or fat.
Do I need to recalculate as I lose weight?
Yes. A lighter body burns fewer calories, so the target that worked at the start will eventually become your new maintenance. Recalculate after every 5 to 10 kg lost.