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In the end of the day, figuring out how many calories you need to eat to lose weight simple – you need to burn more than you consume.

Here’s how it works in practice:

You determine your Basal Metabolic Rate, and then you apply that rate to something called the “Harris Benedict Formula,” which takes into account your daily activity levels (calorie expenditure) and spews out a rough estimate of what your daily caloric intake should be if you want to lose weight. 

How Many Calories Should I Eat to Lose Weight?

There are a ton of resources – weight loss calculators – out there to help you estimate the amount of calories YOU personally should be eating depending on your weight loss goals. I’ll explain exactly how to both understand and use those resources, along with shed some light on what you really need to do to achieve your body goals.

Step One: What are my goals?

Do I want to look fit or get skinny?

Do I want to build muscle?

How quickly do I want to lose the weight?

Figuring out what you need to be eating, and how much you should be eating should be based on specific goals you want to achieve, and you should have a pre-determined time frame in which you want to see progress. So first and foremost, define your goals.

That being said, regardless of what your goals are, you need to understand that accomplishing your objectives in a timely fashion isn’t just about how many calories you’re eating on a daily basis.

It’s about a combination of:

(1) what you’re eating

(2) how much you’re eating and

(3) whether/how you exercise.

What I’m eating & how much I’m eating

I don’t care if you’re eating 400 calories a day – if you want to lose weight and keep it off, it’s way more important to eat healthy foods and stay away from garbage than to have a low caloric intake.

You can probably lose 120 pounds in a year by eating 500 calories a day (if you’re really overweight) and exercising moderately, but the second you start to eat like a human being again (and I mean simply a normal diet), the weight will come crashing back into your life like 10-ton truck.

Stay wary of this and try to organize the calories you consume around this concept. Yes, to lose weight we need to consume less than we “normally eat.” But avoiding junk food, drinks with tons of sugar and carbs rather than merely counting calories is the name of the game if you want to maintain any weight loss you achieve. You don’t want to kill your metabolism by not eating enough.

The thing most of us don’t realize is that by changing up our diet rather than consciously counting calories, we start eating less. A study was performed at the University of Washington in which women who were overweight increased their protein intake to 30% of their total calories. The results were incredible. On average, these women started consuming 441 fewer calories per day ***without even thinking about it.***

Good calories vs. Bad calories

Have you ever heard the phrase, “a calorie is a calorie”? If you haven’t, good. If you have, completely eliminate it from your mind because it is absolute bullshit.

A calorie is NOT a calorie.

You can cut your calorie count by what you need to lose weight and not only fail in losing weight, but even continue to gain weight.

How exactly is that possible?

By messing up the hormones that control weight gain, fat metabolism, mood and hunger. If a majority of your calorie intake is coming from processed, refined and high sugar foods, chances are you’re going to have a lot of trouble losing weight – even if your overall caloric intake is cut.

Some of the most weight-loss friendly foods are very high in calories. Foods that are high in protein, fiber, and healthy fats help push towards weight loss goals because they make us feel full for longer periods of time – regardless of the calorie count.

To effectively lose weight, you need to get the most out of what you eat by consuming nutrient dense foods that your body will appreciate and use effectively.

Some of the foods that are highly correlated with weight loss are:

1. Salmon (and other fish)
2. Leafy greens
3. Nuts
4. Beans
5. Lean beef
6. Chicken
7. Avocados
8. Hummus
9. Salsa
10. Potatoes
11. Greek yogurt
12. Broth-based soups
13. Chia seeds
14. Berries
15. Oatmeal
16. Fruits
17. Quinoa
18. Eggs

Step Two: What’s my BMR?

Getting to the number of calories you need to eat daily to lose weight starts with determining your BMR. Each of us has a Basal Metabolic Rate– that is, we have a certain number of calories we’d each burn naturally on a daily basis, even if we were to lay in bed all day long.

This is because our bodies expend a certain amount of energy by simply being alive and undergoing the physiological processes that need to occur for us to remain alive and function properly (respiration, digestion, etc.).

With regards to achieving weight loss**and**preventing weight gain, the higher your BMR is, the better it is. The more calories your body naturally burns on its own without physical stimulation, the easier it will be for you to lose weight from a caloric standpoint.

As we grow older, our BMR starts to slow down (like every other bodily process). But we can maintain and even speed our BMR up by regularly engaging in cardiovascular exercise. Jogging, running, biking… any exercise that gets your heart rate up will increase the speed at which your body naturally burns calories – provided you do the activity regularly.

Get an estimate of your Basal Metabolic Rate with a BMR calculator – a simple google search does the job.

Here’s one for your convenience.

Step Three: Applying the “Harris Benedict” Formula

To get to the actual number of calories you should be eating daily, you multiply your BMR by the appropriate factor to get your overall energy expenditure in kilocalories a day. This is the break-up explaining which factor would apply to your case.

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Sedentary: Little to no exercise.

Daily calories needed = BMR x 1.2

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Mild activity level: Intensive exercise for at least 20 minutes 1 to 3 times per week. This may include such activities as bicycling, jogging, basketball, swimming, skating, etc. If you do not exercise regularly, but you maintain a busy lifestyle that requires you to walk frequently for long periods, you may meet the requirements for this level of activity.

Daily calories needed = BMR x 1.3 – 1.375

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Moderate activity level: Intensive exercise for at least 30 to 60 minutes 3 to 4 times per week. Any of the activities listed above will qualify.

Daily calories needed = BMR x 1.5 – 1.55

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Heavy or (labor-intensive) activity level: Intensive exercise for 60 minutes or longer 5 – 7 days per week. Labor intensive occupations also qualify for this activity level, including construction work, farming, landscape work, or similar occupations.

Daily calories needed = BMR x 1.7

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Extreme level: Exceedingly active and/or very demanding activities. Examples include athletes with almost continuous rigorous training schedules, and extremely demanding jobs such as shoveling coal for long hours. It is very very difficult to achieve this level of activity.

Daily calories needed = BMR x 1.9

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The number that you get after applying the formula is the total number of calories you could eat a day to maintain your current weight, assuming that you consistently maintained your current physical activity level.

Step Four: How fast do I want to lose it?

Depending on how quickly you want to drop the weight, you need to be eating more or less calories. The old rule of thumb was that to lose one pound of fat, you need to burn 3,500 calories. Essentially, if you ate 500 less calories a day than what you would need to maintain your current weight, you’d be losing one pound of fat per week.  

This view is now being contradicted by subsequent research done by the National Institutes of Health. The new rule is that the number of calories equating to a pound of fat (for purposes of loss) is said to range somewhere in between the 3,500 mark (still wisely used today) and 7,000 calories for weight-loss over 12 month periods.

Amby Barfoot has explained about this new research and the resources that have come of it:

“The BWP (body weight planner) allows you to pick your current weight, a target weight, and your timeframe for losing weight. It then calculates the changes you will need to make—lower calorie intake and increased physical activity—to reach your target. The free BWP connects to the NIH’s (National Institutes of Health) free “Supertracker,” which provides access to a food database, an exercise log, and other health tools.”

You can use the new Body Weight Planner to help you create a time frame in which you believe you can achieve your weight loss goals, and create a caloric intake plan that accommodates the time frame.

Finding a balance

Again, I can’t repeat enough how dependent your diet should be on the specific goals you have for your body. A huge part of getting the body you want is finding the right balance between exercise and diet.

Although maintaining a healthy diet will help you lose weight (more or less quickly depending on how serious you are), regular exercise brings a whole new dimension to the weight-loss game.

You’re obviously increasing the amount of calories you burn daily and over time (by increasing your BMR), but the true benefit is that good habits tend to build upon each other.

People who exercise regularly don’t really feel the need to indulge in extremely unhealthy foods all the time.

The reason is simple.

***Hard work makes you want to see progress.***

By being someone the type of person who puts hard work into either their diet, or exercise, you inevitably grow the motivation to let the desire to look good and be healthy pour into other parts of your life.

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“You can’t make yourself feel positive, but you can choose how to act, and if you choose right, it builds your confidence.”

Julien Smith

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When you start to make healthy decisions in one aspect of your life, you are guaranteed to start making other healthy decisions. Over time, these healthy decisions turn into lifestyle habits. Once you have healthy habits in place, it’s only a matter of time until you have the body you want.

Having a healthy balance between regular exercise and the foods you eat provides you with the added benefit of not feeling so bad when you do decide to indulge.

Leading a healthy lifestyle with a proper diet isn’t about depriving yourself – it’s about making better decisions on a daily basis about the type of fuel you feed your body. That being said, when you’re regularly burning calories by exercising, you have the right to reward yourself every so often.

Hacks for sticking to a healthy diet

Keep it simple!

When it comes to healthy eating, the number one rule to follow is – don’t make too many rules. You have a general idea of what is healthy and what isn’t. Make a few decisions about changes you want to make, but I guarantee that if you overdo it, you will not end up following through. Maintain a variety of foods you enjoy that are high in fiber, protein, fats, and healthy carbs.

Junk free home:

When you have a bunch of food in the house, it’s just too tempting. Don’t even give yourself the option and you’ll find a way to deal with the momentary cravings for junk.

Carry water with you everywhere:

Staying hydrated is an essential part of staying healthy, it helps keep you satisfied, and it’s easier to say not to have drinks with sugar in them when you already have a drink with you!

Plan ahead:

If you the discipline to plan (and maybe even pack) your meals ahead of time, do it. For a similar reason to why carrying water around makes it easier to be healthy, when you’ve already made decisions about your meals, there’s something about the concrete-ness of it in your mind that allows you to avoid temptation. The best time to get organized about your meals is in the morning when there is little to no distraction and you can think clearly and logically about what your food intake is going to look like for the day. If you’re one of those people that just can’t find the motivation and energy to get up early and plan ahead, The Morning Sidekick Journal is a great resource that helps you add the habit of waking up early and creating the perfect morning routine to start the day.

Juice:

The easiest way to make sure you’re getting all the nutrients you need is by blending or juicing fruits and vegetables. It makes your life easy because you can drink it all at once, and they’re really satisfying – and yummy.

Concluding remarks

In essence, the answer to the magical question “how many calories should I eat to lose weight” is both easy and not so easy to answer. You can get a good estimate of a raw number based on calculating your basal metabolic rate and applying the Harris Benedict Formula, accounting for your general activity levels. On the other hand, there is no set in

On the other hand, there is no set in stone formula for weight loss. Each of our bodies are different. Each of our physical needs are different. Some of us need to work way harder to lose weight than others. A diet that works for one person will not necessarily work for others. The key to weight loss is getting organized about how your goals, formulating a plan to achieve those goals, and tweaking the plan based on the results.

What you should do after reading this article

1. Write down the goals you have for your body and when you’d like to accomplish those goals by.
2. Find out what your BMR number
3. Apply the Harris Benedict formula to get an estimate of the number of calories you would need to eat daily to maintain your current weight.
4. Based on the time-frame in which you want to lose weight, find the number of calories you need to cut on a daily basis to get there.
5. Start counting!

The Nutrition Sidekick Journal

The Nutrition Sidekick Journal

The Fat Loss & Nutrition Sidekick Journal is a book and journal that guides you through understanding how fat loss works, how to structure your diet optimally for health and weight loss, and keeps you on track during the process!

The journal is split into three phases. Each phase provides a tracking page and daily content specifically tailored to help you defeat the struggle associated with the phase you're in of the habit-building process.

Step 1: Learning

The introduction to the journal guides you through having a fundamentally sound understanding of how you can cause your body to burn fat through the foods you eat. It also helps you calculate YOUR ideal macronutrient ratios for fat loss as a starting point.

Step 2: Accountability and Tracking

Each morning, you’ll write your target calorie goal for the day, water drinking goal, exercise goal (these can be small and lenient), and what you’re planning to eat. Each evening, you track what you actually ate, the number of calories consumed, potential obstacles the next day that may make it hard to stick to your goal, and how you can make small improvements to your eating regimen.

Step 3: Making Use of The Curated Content

Each day you're given learning tools, inspiration and guidance for improving the quality of your eating regimen. These include expert tips and strategies, daily challenges, affirmations, links and descriptions to phenomenal videos and podcasts, and more.

External Support:

When you buy your Fat Loss & Nutrition Sidekick Journal, you're joining a movement. Our private Habit Nest Facebook community is extremely active with members who are on the same journey you'll be on. We help keep each other on the journey with a positive mindset and talk through our struggles together!

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