How Many Calories Should I Eat to Lose Weight?

3 November 20266 min read

White plates with a mix of different foods on a table. — Photo by Stefan Vladimirov on Unsplash.

To lose weight, eat less than your maintenance, the amount that keeps your weight steady. That gap is called a calorie deficit. The NHS suggests eating about 600 calories a day less than you do now. For an average woman, who uses around 2,000 calories a day, that’s about 1,400. For an average man, who uses around 2,500, it’s about 1,900. Your own number depends on your age, height, weight and activity, and our calorie deficit calculator works it out for you.

In brief

The NHS suggests eating about 600 calories a day less than you do now.
If you weigh more, you can eat more and still lose weight.
Expect about 0.2 to 0.55 kg (½ to 1¼ lb) a week on a 250 to 600 cut, often more in the first week or two, then a little slower.
Our calculator won't suggest a target of 1,200 a day or less.

How many calories a day should you eat to lose weight?

Eat less than your maintenance. The NHS suggests around 600 calories a day less, which it calls a safe and sustainable way to lose weight. A smaller cut works too, just more slowly. Our calculator lets you pick a cut from about 150 to 500, because a smaller cut is often easier to stick with. Here’s how that looks with the NHS averages:

	Average maintenance	250 less	500 less	600 less
Women	2,000	1,750	1,500	1,400
Men	2,500	2,250	2,000	1,900

These are averages. A small, less active woman may use well under 2,000 a day, and a tall, active man well over 2,500.

How many calories should you eat for your weight?

A heavier body burns more calories, even at rest. So the more you weigh, the more you can eat while still losing weight. These tables are for a 35-year-old who exercises 1 to 3 days a week.

Women, 165 cm (5 ft 5 in) tall:

Weight	Maintenance	250 less	500 less
65 kg (10 st 3 lb, 143 lb)	1,850	1,600	1,350
75 kg (11 st 11 lb, 165 lb)	2,000	1,750	1,500
85 kg (13 st 5 lb, 187 lb)	2,100	1,850	1,600
95 kg (14 st 13 lb, 209 lb)	2,250	2,000	1,750

Men, 178 cm (5 ft 10 in) tall:

Weight	Maintenance	250 less	500 less
70 kg (11 st, 154 lb)	2,250	2,000	1,750
80 kg (12 st 8 lb, 176 lb)	2,400	2,150	1,900
90 kg (14 st 2 lb, 198 lb)	2,550	2,300	2,050
100 kg (15 st 10 lb, 220 lb)	2,650	2,400	2,150
110 kg (17 st 5 lb, 243 lb)	2,800	2,550	2,300

We worked out maintenance with the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, which our calculator also uses, times 1.375 for light exercise, and rounded to the nearest 50. For tables by age and activity, see how many calories a woman should eat and how many calories a man should eat.

If you’re smaller or less active, your numbers will be lower. Our calculator won’t suggest a target of 1,200 a day or less. The NHS calls diets under 1,200 calories very low calorie diets. It says they aren’t suitable or safe for everyone, and a dietitian may be able to support you. We explain more in is 1,200 calories a day too little.

How do you work out your own number?

Put your age, height, weight and activity into our calorie deficit calculator, and pick a pace.
Eat close to that number for three or four weeks.
Weigh at the same time of day and compare weekly averages, because your weight changes every day.
If your average is falling, keep going. If it isn’t, see what to do if you’re not losing weight below.

The formula is a starting point, and it can be off for any one person. Your weight trend over a few weeks tells you more. Our guide to finding your maintenance calories goes through this step by step. New to tracking? Start with how to count calories.

How much weight will you lose?

The NHS page on overweight and obesity suggests aiming to lose 0.5 to 1 kg (1 to 2 lb) a week. The NHS’s own 600 cut sits at the low end of that. A common rule says a pound of fat holds about 3,500 calories. By that rule:

Daily cut	Roughly per week	Roughly per month
250	0.2 kg (½ lb)	1 kg (2 lb)
500	0.45 kg (1 lb)	2 kg (4 lb)
600	0.55 kg (1¼ lb)	2.3 kg (5 lb)

This rule overstates weight loss over time, because a lighter body uses less energy, as a 2014 paper by Thomas and colleagues explains. So expect each month to be a little slower than the last. The first week or two often looks bigger, because some early loss is water. More on this in how many calories are in a pound of fat and how much weight you can lose in a month.

What if you are not losing weight?

If your weekly average still hasn’t moved after three or four weeks:

Check you’re counting everything, including drinks, cooking oil and sauces. It’s easy to underestimate how much you’ve eaten.
Re-run the calculator with your current weight. As you lose weight, you need a little less.
If you exercise a lot, check whether you’re eating back your exercise calories.
Try eating 100 to 200 less a day, but don’t go to 1,200 or below without talking to a GP or doctor.
If your weight had been falling and then stopped, read about weight loss plateaus.

If you’re always hungry or tired on your target, the cut may be too big. Eating a little more and losing a little slower is fine.

Before you make changes to lose weight, talk to a GP, doctor or healthcare professional if you have a medical condition or a special diet for your health. The same goes if you have, or have had, an eating disorder.

Where Ori fits

Ori gives you a starting calorie target from the same formula as the tables above. With Premium, Ori checks your weight trend each week and adjusts your target if your weight isn’t moving as expected. Our Stealth Health mode, which is free, hides calorie and weight numbers and tells you how things are going in plain words. You can try Ori here.

Sources

A gentle safety note

Ori supports general wellness. It is not medical care. If you have a history of disordered eating, are pregnant or breastfeeding, take medicines that affect weight or appetite, or have a clinical nutrition need, speak with a qualified healthcare professional before changing your intake or weight goal.

Read Ori's Health Disclaimer