Calculate your personalized calorie deficit for safe, sustainable weight loss. Get your daily calorie target, macro breakdown, and timeline to reach your goal weight.
How many days to reach your goal
Here's what nobody tells you: weight loss is basically just math. You need to burn more calories than you eat. Sounds simple, right? Well, it is simple - but that doesn't mean it's easy. Your body has other plans.
The trick is finding a deficit that's big enough to see progress but not so extreme that you feel like garbage or lose muscle. Most crash diets fail because they ignore this balance completely.
You barely notice you're dieting. Progress is slow but steady, and you can stick with it forever.
You feel motivated by visible progress without being miserable. This is the sweet spot most people should aim for.
You're always thinking about food. Workouts suffer, and social situations become tricky. Only for short periods.
You feel exhausted, weak, and obsessed with food. This usually ends in a spectacular rebound.
Because your body isn't stupid. When you slash calories too dramatically, your metabolism slows down to match. You might lose weight initially, but you'll hit a wall fast and probably end up gaining it all back when you inevitably can't stick to eating like a bird forever.
Track your weight daily and look at the weekly average. If you're losing 0.5-2 pounds per week consistently, you're golden. If the scale hasn't moved in 2-3 weeks, you probably need to adjust your calories down or move more. Weight can fluctuate day to day due to water, stress, and hormones, so focus on trends, not daily changes.
It depends on how you set up your deficit. If you included exercise in your activity level, then no - it's already factored in. If you set yourself as sedentary but then start working out, you might need to eat some back to avoid too large a deficit. Listen to your body - if you're exhausted and can't recover, you probably need more fuel.
This is where most people mess up. You can't just go back to eating however you want - that's how you got here in the first place. Gradually increase your calories back to maintenance (your TDEE) and focus on maintaining your new habits. Think of this as a lifestyle change, not a temporary diet.