Calorie Deficit Calculator

After 14 days of tracking

A calculator gets you close; your real trend gets you exact. Compare your two-week result against this table:

What you observe	What to change
Losing faster than planned, hungry, training suffering	Shrink the deficit by 100–200 kcal/day. Sustainable beats fast.
Scale flat after two honest weeks	Drop 100–150 kcal/day or add a little daily movement — not both at once.
Losing steadily at the planned pace	Change nothing. Boring is winning.
Protein hard to hit within the budget	Rebuild meals protein-first before cutting calories further.

How this calculator picks your target

It estimates maintenance with the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, then subtracts the daily deficit that matches your chosen pace (7,700 kcal per kilogram of body weight, spread over the week). The result is a range, not a promise — your true maintenance can sit anywhere in a ±10% band, so your deficit can too.

Choosing a pace you’ll actually keep

The biggest predictor of weight-loss success isn’t the size of the deficit — it’s whether you’re still running it in month three. A 0.25–0.5 kg/week pace preserves muscle, keeps hunger manageable, and leaves room for real life. If our numbers dip below a safe floor for your stats, we’ll tell you to slow down rather than hand you an unsustainable target.

When the scale disagrees with the math

It will, at some point. Water, sodium, stress, and sleep all move daily weight more than fat does. Judge your deficit on the two-week trend, not the daily reading — and when you do adjust, change one small thing at a time. The adjustment table above covers the common cases.

Frequently asked questions

How big should my calorie deficit be?

For most people, 300–500 kcal/day below maintenance (about 0.25–0.5 kg per week) balances progress against hunger and muscle retention. Bigger deficits work short-term but are harder to sustain and recover from.

Why am I in a deficit but not losing weight?

Usually one of three things — the maintenance estimate was high for you, logging is underestimating intake, or water retention is masking fat loss. Give it a full two weeks of consistent logging before changing anything, then adjust 100–150 kcal at a time.

Is 1,200 calories safe?

For most adults it's the floor, not a target. If this calculator's suggested range dips below 1,200 (women) or 1,500 (men), we flag it and suggest a slower pace instead — a deficit you can hold for months beats one you abandon in two weeks.

Should I eat back exercise calories?

If you selected an activity level that already includes your training, no — it's counted. Only add calories back for activity well beyond what you selected, and even then conservatively; exercise burn estimates run high.