Calorie Deficit: How Many Calories You Need To Lose Weight

How many calories should you eat?

If you want to lose weight, you should know about calorie deficit, which means consuming fewer calories than your body burns.

What Should Your Calorie Deficit Be?

Your daily calorie intake depends upon various factors, including your age, weight, height, and physical activity. Research has shown that being in a calorie deficit of 500 calories a day can result in losing one pound of weight per week. You can use this calculator to see how many calories you need to eat daily to lose weight. Try to stay within the needed one by 100-200. This will be considered your zone. Stay within this zone. If you’re already being guided by a dietician, healthcare provider, trainer or a weight loss plan. Stay with their recommendations. 

If you go over your calorie goal, that's okay. Exceeding 100-200 calories won't affect you that much, but if you go too far below your calories, you can experience some bad health symptoms, including headache, fatigue, and slow metabolism. Yes, eating too little calories can cause you to plateau!

You should never go under 1,300 calories for women and 1,500 calories for men per day. But whenever you are feeling hungry, even hitting your calorie target, have a small snack to fill you up.

Always consult your dietitian or physical health provider before reducing your daily calorie intake. Especially if you have any health conditions.

Ways to Create a Calorie Deficit

Calorie Count: You can never reduce your calorie intake when you don't know how many calories you are taking in every meal or snack. Be mindful and track your calories. Most of the food packaging mention the calories. But it can still be challenging, especially if you cook at home. Various apps, like "Lose It" or "MyFitnessPal," can help you track your calorie intake. You can also use fitness trackers or smart watches to track your caloric expenditure.

Dietary Changes: When you're trying to eat fewer calories to lose weight, focusing more on what you eat is key. That doesn't mean you should skip exercising altogether. But when it comes to shedding pounds, putting most of your effort into watching your diet is important. Remember, we're talking specifically about losing weight, not just staying healthy overall. Exercise is still really important for keeping your body in good shape and can help you lose weight by building more muscle which increases helping your metabolism making your body burn more calories at rest. Use this calculator to see how many calories you need to eat daily to lose weight.

Exercise: Your diet is your main focus when dealing with a calorie deficit. But that does not mean you should ignore your exercise. You can add some movement to burn some more calories than you usually do. This can be achieved simply by walking 10k steps a day, playing with your kids, or even dancing around the house. But remember to adjust your calories; if you burn more calories, don't forget to add back half of them to replenish your energy.

Final words

Going on a calorie deficit is not difficult at all. You can simply do that by checking the amount of calories on your plate. And replace your high-calorie dinner with something healthy and low in calories, like a good bowl of green salad or chicken salad. 

Getting 200 calories from your favorite cold drink is just empty calories, but getting the same calories from a healthy meal or a smoothie is something that your body really needs.