How Many Calories Should I Eat to Lose Weight?

Put your data in the calculator below to calculate how many calories you should eat a day to maintain your current weight.

For example you calculate you need 1800 calories to MAINTAIN your current weight. Than subtract from calories to maintain weight 20% and you get calories you need to eat to lose weight.

If you want more conservative weight loss results, than subtract only 10%. Example:1800calories – 1800calories*20%(360calories) = 1440 calories.

Female     Male
Your height:	1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8  feet   0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11  inches
Your weight:	pounds
Your age:	years
Activity level:	Sedentary Lightly Active Moderately Active Very Active Extremely Active
To maintain your current weight you’ll need:	calories per day

 

Note: Be patient if you need to eat less than 1200 calories per day because you want to lose weight. 1000-1200 calories per day is a boundary you shouldn’t cross. If you are really desperate to lose weight and want to eat only 1000 calories per day, I would suggest to do it in a day without workout. In a day with physical activity I suggest never go under 1200 calories per day.

It Is More Important What Type of Calories You Eat, And Not Exactly How Many Calories You Eat Per Day

Losing weight is simple if you follow reliable daily calorie intake. You should distribute your calories like following:

40% from protein – lean meat, fish, eggs, yogurt, milk, cheese

40% from good/slow/complex carbs. Good carbs come from beans, peas, lentils, oats. Don’t eat bad/simple/fast carbs like sugar, rice, potatoes, bread, pasta

20% from good/unsaturated fat – fat from fish, nuts, seeds.

For example lets take numbers from the example above. You should eat 1800 calories to maintain your current weight, to lose weight you need to eat 1440 calories distributed as follow:

40%*1440 = 576 calories from protein

40%*1440 = 576 calories from carbohydrates

20%*1440 = 288 calories from fat

Now let’s transform calories in grams of food:

1 gram of protein is 4 calories, or 576 calories from protein are 144 grams of protein.

1 gram of carbs is 4 calories, or 575 calories from protein is 144 grams of carbs

1 gram of fat has is 8 calories, or 288 calories from fat is 36 grams of fats.

How to get protein?
Meat and fish on average contain 20% of protein, whish means that in 100 grams (4ounces) there are 20 grams protein. The good things is meat and fish don’t contain carbs and lean meat don’t contain much fat and fat from fish is very good for your body and health. In order to get 144 grams of protein per day you need to eat app. 700 grams of fish and meat per day which is huge amount – you see you don’t need to starve yourself, you will be eating ad losing weight at the same time.

Because vegetables, sauces and other additives in food also contain calories I will round off the amount of meat and fish to 500-600 grams per (more than a pound) – this is related to the example 1800 calories per day to maintain current weight.

Sometimes it is difficult to eat so much fish and meat, in such days replace a meal with protein shake. This is my favorite with a taste of Cookies & Cream.

How to get GOOD carbs?
While you are losing weight avoid – sugar, beverages, cookies, pizza, pasta, rice, potatoes, bread and anything made from dough!

You should eat your daily carbs intake from following sources:Beans, lentils, peas, oats, yogurt and milk (yes, they contain carbs). On average beans contain 15-20% carbs but they contain protein too (on average 5-7%). Beans also contain fibre 3-8%, which is very good because fibre is responsible for not getting constipated and many other health benefits. Also fibre supports weight loss and you should fibre eat fibre every day.

Oats contain lots of carbs app. 60-70%, so be careful with them, even they are good carbs if you eat many good carbs you can’t lose weight too.

How to get GOOD fats?
Unsaturated fat is good for you. The best way to supply your body with healthy fats is to eat fish like salmon, mackerel, trout, tuna etc. Fish contain Omega 3 fatty acids which have many health benefits like – prevent atherosclerosis, decrease bad cholesterol, help with depression and emotional eating, cure inflammatory and many others.

You see, it is not only important “How Many Calories Should I Eat a Day?” but also “What Type of Calories Should I Eat to Lose Weight and be Healthy?”

If you want complete diet and exercise plan, check this online presentation, there are separate sections for men and women.

Return to Weight loss management

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