How to Calculate the Calorie Deficit for Your Target Weight
Weight loss comes down to a simple principle: burn more calories than you eat, and your body taps stored fat for energy. One pound of body fat is commonly estimated to store about 3,500 kcal, which lets you back-calculate the total deficit needed to reach a target weight. This calculator uses your current weight, target weight, and timeframe to show your daily calorie deficit and weekly loss rate.
Losing weight too fast backfires. A safe rate is generally considered to be under 1% of body weight per week. Going faster increases muscle loss and lowers your metabolic rate, raising the risk of regaining weight afterward. If your daily deficit comes out too large, extending the timeframe to lower it is the safer, more sustainable choice.
Rather than cutting food intake alone, combining the deficit with cardio and strength training helps you lose fat while preserving muscle mass.
Frequently Asked Questions
One pound of body fat is commonly estimated to store about 3,500 kcal of energy. This figure is used to back-calculate the total deficit needed to reach a target weight.
Losing more than about 1% of body weight per week raises the risk of muscle loss and weight regain. If that happens, extending your timeframe to lower the daily deficit is safer and more sustainable.