By: Chris Gates

How many calories should you eat to lose weight?

That’s a question virtually every person on earth asks at some point.

And at the same time, almost everyone struggles to figure out the answer.

Until now.

Because in this article, you and I are going to map out everything you need to know so that you can learn how to figure out your calorie deficit for weight loss.

I’ll take you top to bottom and cover absolutely everything:

1. What is a calorie deficit?
2. Why does it matter for weight loss?
3. How to figure out your calorie deficit for weight loss.
4. Strategies to create sustainable success.

Once you reach the end of this article, you’ll have invaluable knowledge that you can use for the rest of your life.

So if you’re ready, let’s dive into everything!

What is a Calorie Deficit?

Before you learn about how to figure out your calorie deficit for weight loss, you need to understand what a calorie deficit actually is.

Luckily, it’s pretty simple to break down.

To be in a calorie deficit, you need to be consuming fewer calories from food than your body burns each day.

In other words, your energy in (all calories from food, drinks, etc.) needs to be lower than your energy out (calories burned).

This is simple energy balance, and a calorie deficit is actually required to lose body fat. There’s no other way for the body to do it.

So it’s really important to figure out how to set up your calorie deficit correctly.

How to Figure Out Your Calorie Deficit for Weight Loss: Maintenance Calories

Now that you know what a calorie deficit is, and why it matters, let’s start to figure out yours.

It all starts with determining your maintenance calories.

A calorie deficit puts you in negative energy balance and causes you to lose body fat.

Maintenance calories help you to remain weight stable.

So anything below your maintenance calories will put you in a calorie deficit and encourage fat loss.

Luckily, there’s a super simple equation that can help you set your maintenance calories.

• Take your current bodyweight…
• Multiply it by 15…
• And voila! You’ve got your maintenance calories.

For example, at the moment I’m writing this article for you, I’m at a bodyweight of 175 pounds. Let’s apply this equation and see what happens…

• 175 pounds…
• Multiplied by 15…
• Equals 2,625 calories.

And that makes perfect sense, because I’ve been eating right around 2,600 calories a day lately while maintaining my current bodyweight.

So plug your bodyweight into that equation, and let’s move on to the next step.

Your Calorie Deficit Calculator

Now that you’ve figured out your maintenance calories, you can set up your calorie deficit.

And once again, we can make it super simple.

To determine how to figure out your calorie deficit for weight loss, you should subtract some calories from maintenance. Because anything below maintenance will put you in a deficit.

But be careful.

While fewer calories means a bigger calorie deficit, a HUMONGOUS calorie deficit is rarely (if ever) a good thing.

For instance, if you think about my maintenance calories, which we calculated above… It would be really unsustainable for me to cut calories in half and try to eat 1,300 a day.

Sure, I’d lose weight fast. But I’d never be able to maintain my progress, because I can’t eat that little forever.

Your best best is to reduce calories slightly — somewhere in the range of 10-15% below your maintenance calories — and give your body time to adapt.

Here’s the calculation:

• (Your maintenance calories) X (0.10 to 0.15)…
• Equals the amount of calories you should reduce.

If we apply that to my maintenance calories, here’s the result:

• 2,625 X (0.10 to 0.15)
• Equals… removing 260-395 calories

Reducing anywhere between 260-395 calories from my current diet will put me in a moderate calorie deficit that’s both effective and sustainable.

If you take this approach, you’re likely to see more progress over time — and actually maintain it.

How to Figure Out Your Calorie Deficit for Weight Loss: Important Strategies to Consider

Now that you’ve figured out your calorie deficit for weight loss, you’re ready to start losing weight!

But don’t click out of this article just yet.

Because there are some important topics we need to cover to make sure you do this the right way.

Yes, figuring out how many calories you should eat is HUGE. But it’s not everything.

The way you actually go about this process of eating in a calorie deficit is what will determine your level of success.

The key is sustainability. You should do this in a way that promotes long-term adherence and progress you can maintain.

So let’s dive into a few key strategies that will help you lose weight and keep it off long term.

Meal Composition Matters

You can technically eat whatever you want and lose weight. As long as you’re eating in a calorie deficit, you’ll see progress.

But that doesn’t mean eating Pop Tarts, ice cream, and pizza every day is a good strategy.

I’m a firm believer that including some of the foods you love in your diet is really important. It will keep you sane, keep your diet somewhat fun, and prevent you from feeling overly restricted with food.

That’s all really important.

But the majority of your calories should come from mostly whole, nutritious foods.

The more you’re able to dine on:

• Lean protein sources
• Whole grains
• Fruits
• And vegetables

The fuller you’ll feel with every single meal, and the easier it will be to stay in a calorie deficit.

There’s research showing foods that are high in protein, fiber, and water content tend to make people feel the most full and satisfied. And those nutritional elements are all found in the highest quantities from whole, nutritious food sources.

On the flip side, we also know that hyper-palatable foods (cookies, cake, pizza, ice cream, donuts, Doritos, and the like) tend to give us the opposite result. The more of those you eat, the more likely you are to struggle to lose weight.

In other words, you’re more likely to gain weight eating those foods.

Not because those foods are inherently “bad.”

They’re just incredibly easy to eat a ton of, and they come with a very high amount of calories.

So all of this is to say… Focus on your meal composition.

The way you build your meals is really important to your success.

How to Figure Out Your Calorie Deficit For Weight Loss: Track Your Calories

While you’ve learned about how to figure out your calorie deficit for weight loss, it’s even more important to make sure you’re actually eating the right amount of calories.

I see people make this mistake all of the time.

You get started, and you’re really dialed in. You’re eating all of the right foods and keeping close attention to the details.

But after a few weeks, you get sloppy.

• You have a snack here.
• A drink there.
• Bites of food off your kid’s plate.
• Tastes off the appetizer menu.

And all of a sudden, these little hidden calories have actually taken you back up to maintenance.

There’s an easy way to prevent that from happening.

Track your calories.

If you don’t know how to track, I’ve got an article that breaks down everything you need to know. Give that a read.

Tracking everything you put in your mouth, and doing it as accurately and honestly as possible, will eliminate all error.

It will keep you on track, and if you’re ever struggling to lose weight it will be super easy to dig into your diet to find out why.

At the end of the day, tracking your calories is the most efficient and effective way for most people to see consistent weight loss progress.

Don’t Dramatically Slash Your Calories

We somewhat touched on this earlier in the article, but you shouldn’t feel the need to dramatically reduce the amount of calories you’re eating.

That’s why the calorie deficit calculator has you reducing by 10-15 percent.

Anything more than that will border on the edge of being unsustainable. And if you’re making unsustainable progress, then what’s the point?

The goal here is not to lose a bunch of weight so you can put it back on.

The goal is to lose weight, keep it off, and live a happier and healthier life long term.

I’ve seen this scenario happen way too often…

• You decide you want to lose weight.
• You eliminate entire food groups and cut thousands of calories out of your diet.
• Weight comes off quick, but…
• You end up starving all of the time, and can’t sustain the diet for more than 2-3 weeks.

So you end up quitting, or bingeing, or both. And you’re right back to where you started in no time (or perhaps even heavier).

It’s simple to solve this problem.

Reduce your calories by 10-15 percent, and give yourself time. There’s no rush here. You’re not racing anybody.

You have all the time in the world to lose weight. So be patient, reduce calories slightly, and focus on the process.

Stop Focusing on Calories Burned

One of the most common bad habits I see all the time is tracking calories burned.

It’s something I frequently help new online weight loss clients move away from, because of how damaging it can be.

Facts are facts, and there’s really no accurate way to know how many calories you burn each day. Research has shown calorie counters are highly inaccurate, so using them to manage your diet is only going to lead to frustration and failure.

You shouldn’t ever feel like you have to “earn” a meal, but that’s what tracking calories burned more or less encourages.

• “I didn’t work out today, so I can’t eat THAT.”
• “I had a really hard workout this morning, so I can treat myself tonight.”
• “That workout was tough! Let’s go to the bar and reward ourselves.”

Those comments are very common, and they probably don’t seem like much on the surface.

But that type of attitude can often lead to disordered eating habits. The more you talk about how you need to “clear out room” so you can eat the things you love, the more you’ll actually believe it.

It can lead you down a very dangerous path.

Not to mention the fact that you really don’t burn that many calories when you do a workout. Or at least, you don’t burn as many calories as you think.

An average day in the gym lifting weights will probably net you around 200 calories burned, which is about the same as a protein bar.

You’ll burn a bit more doing cardio, but the more you exercise the more efficient your body will become. And that means you’ll actually burn fewer calories the more consistent you are.

So stop focusing so much on the calories you burn, and instead focus all of that energy and attention on the calories going into your mouth.

Time is the Ultimate Strategy

Everything we’ve gone over has led us to this point.

You have an unbelievable amount of knowledge now on how how to figure out your calorie deficit, lose weight, and do this the right way.

But how long is it going to take?

Everyone wants quick results. You want confirmation that what you’re doing is working, and I totally get that.

But listen up. Real quick…

You need to be more focused on the process than anything else.

Because if you’re focused on the process, the results will come.

I didn’t just teach you how to figure out your calorie deficit for weight loss “to lose 10 pounds in two weeks!”

By getting in a moderate calorie deficit, you’ll be doing this the sustainable way. Hopefully, your diet won’t feel too restrictive, and if you focus on meal composition you may even feel more full while eating fewer calories.

This process is going to take time.

You could very possibly lose a few pounds in your first week, and that’s great!

But there are going to be peaks and valleys to this entire process. Your weight will…

• Spike up
• Spike down
• Plateau

It’s all a completely normal part of the process.

And if you focus your attention on all of these aspects of the process that we just outlined, and give your body time to adapt to your calorie deficit, you will see progress.

There’s no rush.

You’re not in a race.

There’s no deadline for you to lose weight.

So take a slow and steady approach.

By allowing your body to adapt to the process, and not rushing through it, you’ll lose weight in a way that you can sustain.

And that’s the goal.

I Hope This Helps!

I hope you found this article helpful! It was a blast writing it, and if you’re able to set up your calorie deficit this way and use these strategies, I really think you’ll be able to make all of the progress in the world!

If you have any questions or feedback, please feel free to drop it in the comments to this article. I’d be happy to follow up and help you out 🙂

And if you’re interested in getting 1-on-1 help on your weight loss journey, that’s exactly what I do! I work with people all over the world to burn fat, build muscle, and develop healthy lifestyle habits.

I’d love to help you get on a program that works, and take all of the guesswork out of things so you can just show up, put in the work, and know that what you’re doing is working.

Visit my coaching page to learn more.

Thanks for reading!

~ Chris