Weight-loss planning
Calorie Deficit Calculator
Quick answer: This calorie deficit calculator helps you estimate how much to eat for fat loss based on your maintenance calories and target pace.
Enter your details below and see your result instantly — no sign-up required.
Estimate how much to eat to lose weight by starting with your TDEE and choosing a weekly pace. This calculator also estimates your weekly calorie deficit and, with a goal-weight input, roughly how long the cut may take if your pace stays consistent.
Explore this calculator further
Set a calorie target for fat loss
Choose a weekly weight-loss pace, then check whether the resulting calorie target is practical or too aggressive.
This is too aggressive — consider a slower approach.
How this calorie deficit calculator works
The calculator first estimates your TDEE, or total daily energy expenditure. That is your rough daily calorie burn after combining your baseline metabolism with your activity level.
From there, your chosen weekly weight-loss target is converted into a daily calorie deficit. A target of 1 pound per week is roughly a 500-calorie daily deficit, while slower targets reduce the deficit and usually feel easier to maintain.
The estimated weeks-to-goal result uses the difference between your current weight and goal weight. Real-world progress is rarely perfectly linear, but this gives you a practical planning number instead of guessing.
Frequently Asked Questions
A moderate deficit is usually easier to maintain than an aggressive one. Many people do well with a pace around 0.5 to 1 pound per week.
Not usually. Faster loss often means lower calories, higher hunger, and a harder time sticking to the plan long enough to see results.
Goal weight makes it possible to estimate how many pounds you want to lose, which is needed to estimate how many weeks your chosen pace may take.
That is a sign your planned pace may be too aggressive. Try a slower weekly target to get a more realistic and sustainable calorie goal.