Calorie Calculator

To lose weight you need to calculate your daily calorie requirements. In other words, you need to know how many calories you require per day to simply maintain your current weight and how many calories you need to lose weight.

The calorie intake calculator below has 3 different calorie intakes, the first for weight maintenance and the other two for weight loss. Aim to use the “weight loss” daily level of calories, which is 20% less calories than maintenance.

The “extra weight loss” is 30% below maintenance. When you hit a weight loss plateau or find you are unsuccessful in losing weight with a 20% calorie reduction, try reducing your level to 30% below maintenance.

However, if you have already lost some weight and now have hit a weight loss plateau, it may just be that you need to recalculate your calorie requirements. When you weigh less, your daily calories requirements are also lower.

Avoid a massive cut in calories to lose weight:

  • It may trigger your body to go into “starvation mode” and cause your metabolism to slow down.
  • Your energy levels will be low so your level of physical activity will drop, both for intentional workouts and the general type of activity you do day-to-day called NEAT (Non-exercise activity thermogenesis), such as walking the dog or taking the stairs.
  • Very low calorie diets are often not manageable in the long-term, lack essential nutrients, often lead to binge eating, and may adversely affect health.

CALORIE CYCLING

If you are struggling to lose weight, calorie cycling might be a strategy to try. Zig-zagging (aka calorie cycling) involves having “high” and “low” calorie days, while providing the same amount of calories per week.

Calorie cycling can help keep your body from catching on to your weight loss efforts (experts think our bodies are programmed to defend against weight loss, as until relatively recently in human history food was scare) and prevent the slowdown in metabolism that tends to occur when cutting calories.1

Calorie cycling may be an alternative to try instead of further cutting calories, if your weight loss has slowed or stopped. It may also help you feel less deprived and might be easier to maintain.2

The calorie cycling numbers in the calculator are only a guide/ example of calorie cycling, so adapt it to suit your needs.

Calorie Guidelines

A general rule of thumb is that you should not lower your calorie intake below 1200 calories for women and 1800 calories for men. A second tenet is not to decrease your calorie intake by more than 1000 calories below maintenance.

Remember, you want to burn the fat (exercise with moderate calorie restriction), not starve the fat (severe calorie restriction without exercise). These methods yield entirely different results.

However, people who are entirely sedentary may have low calorie requirements just to maintain your current weight. Their calorie requirements will be close to Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) – the level of calories the body requires while at rest. Therefore, even a reasonable 500-calorie restriction could push them below the 1200-/ 1800-calorie mark.

Calories Needed on Average

WomenMen
Maintain Weight2000 – 21002700 – 2900
Lose Weight1400 – 18002200 – 2700

Calculators

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11 COMMENTS

  1. In order to know how many calories per day one consumes, is it recommended to actually count the calories of each food, or can one just know to eat healthy…watching portion size, making healthy food choices etc.. Can one still be successful by working it this way?

    Yes, I’m in love with you too!! Such a great website, the best on the web. So motivating to get back on track!

    • Hi Kate,

      Thanks so much! Basically the answer is – it depends. If you have a good grasp of portion control already it will probably work. And you’ll know it’s working because you’re losing weight or maintaining your weight (depending on your goal). However, if you don’t have a good understanding of portion control (and a lot of people don’t!), then your best bet it to count calories for a few months until you have a clear understanding of the calorie content of the foods you eat day to day. Remember not to get caught out with liquid calories, they count too, and can add up to quite a bit if you like soda, fruit juice and other sweet drinks. Hope this helps! 🙂

  2. Great calorie calculator,very accurate and the only one i use myself,i also do calorie cycling this site breaks down the weekly numbers so no need to work things out,calorie cycling is one of the best ways to lose fat tricking your body and mixing things up is the magic !!

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