How Many Calories Should I Eat to Lose Weight? A Simple Guide

Losing weight comes down to one core idea: eating fewer calories than your body burns. That's a calorie deficit. The tricky part isn't the concept — it's figuring out your own numbers without turning every meal into a math problem. This guide walks you through it step by step.

First, find your maintenance calories

Your maintenance level is the number of calories that keeps your weight exactly where it is today. Everything about weight loss is measured against this number.

A quick, reasonably accurate estimate:

• Sedentary (desk job, little exercise): bodyweight in lbs × 13
• Lightly active (walking, 1–3 workouts a week): bodyweight in lbs × 15
• Very active (physical job or 4+ workouts a week): bodyweight in lbs × 17

So a 170 lb person with a desk job maintains at roughly 2,210 calories a day.

Create a sensible deficit

To lose weight, subtract 300–500 calories from your maintenance number. That range is the sweet spot: fast enough to see progress, gentle enough that you're not miserable or losing muscle.

• 500-calorie deficit ≈ about 1 lb of fat loss per week
• 300-calorie deficit ≈ about 0.5 lb per week — easier to sustain long term

Our 170 lb example would aim for roughly 1,700–1,900 calories a day.

Cutting far below this rarely speeds things up. It usually just makes you hungry, tired, and far more likely to quit.

Don't ignore protein

Calories decide whether you lose weight; protein decides what you lose. Eating enough protein protects muscle while you're in a deficit, which keeps your metabolism higher and your body looking toned rather than "skinny-fat."

Aim for roughly 0.7–1 gram of protein per pound of goal bodyweight. For most people that lands between 100 and 150 grams a day.

Recalculate as you go

Your maintenance calories drop as you lose weight, so a target that worked at the start may stall you later. If the scale hasn't moved in 2–3 weeks, trim another 100–150 calories or add a little more activity.

Skip the spreadsheet

You can do all of this by hand — or you can let software do it in seconds. Plate takes your weight, height, age, activity level, and goal, calculates your calorie target and macros, and hands you a full week of meals that already add up to the right numbers.

No math, no guesswork — just a plan you can start eating today.