Calorie Deficit Calculator
What you burn, what to eat, and how long it takes. The whole fat loss plan in three numbers.
Add it to see how many weeks the plan takes.
Fill in the fields above and your number appears here instantly.
What your numbers mean
Your daily target
Eat around this number and the weekly average takes care of itself. Missing by a hundred on a given day changes nothing. Missing by a thousand every weekend changes everything.
Why the pace matters more than the size
Half a pound to one percent of bodyweight per week keeps muscle, training quality, and sanity intact. Faster loss mostly buys you a faster rebound.
The timeline is a feature
Seeing the real number of weeks up front is what stops the crash diet decision. A twelve week plan you finish beats a four week plan you abandon.
How to adjust after two weeks
- 1Weigh in the same way every morningAfter the bathroom, before food or water, same clothing. One day means nothing. The seven day average is the number you read.
- 2Compare week two's average to week one'sLosing fat: you want a half pound to one percent of bodyweight down per week. Building: a quarter to half pound up. Holding steady inside those ranges means the numbers are right, so leave them alone.
- 3Move calories, not everything at onceOff target for two straight weeks? Change calories by roughly 150 to 200 and hold protein exactly where it is. Protein is what protects the muscle you already built.
- 4Recheck the calculator when your weight moves 10 lbA lighter or heavier body burns a different amount. Ten pounds in either direction is the trigger to run these numbers again.
Numbers are the easy part.
Eating them every day is where people fall off. Turn these macros into a full 7 day meal and training plan, built around your body, free.
Start my free 7 day kickstartCommon questions
How do you calculate a calorie deficit?
Find what you burn in a day, then subtract. One pound of fat is roughly 3,500 calories, so losing a pound a week means a 500 calorie daily deficit. This calculator does both steps from your stats and your chosen pace.
How big should my calorie deficit be?
Between 0.5 and 1 percent of bodyweight lost per week for most people. Bigger deficits do not burn more fat, they just burn more muscle and willpower. A deficit you can hold for twelve weeks beats a brutal one you quit in ten days.
Why am I in a deficit and not losing weight?
Almost always intake creeping up rather than metabolism shutting down. Weekend meals, cooking oils, and untracked bites close deficits quietly. Weigh food for one honest week before changing anything else.
How long should I stay in a deficit?
Eight to sixteen weeks, then a couple of weeks back at maintenance before deciding whether to run another block. Diets that never end are the ones people rebound from.
Do I need to eat less to lose weight, or move more?
Both work, and combining them is easiest. Cutting 250 calories and adding 250 worth of movement feels far lighter than cutting 500 from food alone, and it protects training quality.