Weight Loss: Calories & Macros
Eat in a consistent calorie deficit while keeping protein high to preserve muscle.
Example TDEE
2,740 kcal
Target
2,240 kcal
Protein
160 g
The strategy for weight loss
Weight Loss comes down to one decision: how far to set your calories from maintenance. To weight loss, aim for a deficit of about 500 calories below your TDEE. Anything more aggressive risks losing muscle (when cutting) or piling on fat (when bulking); anything too gentle and progress stalls. The sweet spot is a change you barely notice day to day but that adds up over weeks.
Macros do the fine-tuning. Protein stays high at around 2g per kilogram of body weight to protect or build muscle. Fat sits near 28% of calories to keep hormones healthy. Whatever calories are left go to carbohydrates, your main training fuel. In our worked example (a moderately active 30-year-old, 80 kg), that lands at 160g protein, 243g carbs and 70g fat on roughly 2,240 calories.
Get your own personal numbers by entering your details on the home page calculator, then track your weight trend and adjust every couple of weeks.
Why Weight Loss might be right for you
Weight loss is the #1 reason people land on a TDEE calculator. Knowing your maintenance number is step one — from there, a 300-500 calorie deficit is the sweet spot that's sustainable and won't tank your metabolism or your will to live. Get this number right and everything else follows.
Common mistakes people make
Going too aggressive right out of the gate. A 1000-calorie deficit sounds efficient on paper but usually leads to muscle loss, metabolic slowdown, and a rebound binge 3 to 4 weeks in. Also: slashing carbs to zero and wondering why your workouts feel like death and you can't fall asleep at night.
A real example
Ashley calculated her TDEE at 2100, set a target of 1600, and started losing about a pound a week. But she was hungry all day, exhausted, and her lifts stalled hard. We bumped her to 1800 — still a 300-calorie deficit — and the weight loss continued at 0.6 lbs a week, but she had energy again, slept through the night, and actually enjoyed her meals instead of dreading them.
Frequently asked questions
How many calories for weight loss?
Start from your TDEE, then aim for a deficit of about 500 calories below your TDEE. In our example, a TDEE of 2,740 calories becomes a target of about 2,240 calories a day. Calculate your own TDEE on the home page first.
What macros work best for weight loss?
For this goal we suggest about 2g of protein per kg of body weight, 28% of calories from fat, and the rest from carbs. In the example that's 160g protein, 243g carbs and 70g fat.
How fast will I see results with weight loss?
~0.5 kg / 1 lb a week. Progress is rarely linear — weigh in a few times a week, average it, and adjust calories every 2–4 weeks based on the trend rather than any single day.
How fast will I lose weight on weight loss?
With a 500-calorie daily deficit, expect to lose about 1.0 lb per week (roughly 0.45 kg). A pound of body fat is about 3,500 calories, so 500 x 7 = 3,500 weekly deficit. Real results take consistency — expect visible changes in 4–6 weeks, not days. Track with weekly averages, not daily weigh-ins.
What if weight loss isn't working for me?
First, audit your tracking — most people underestimate what they eat by 20–30% without realizing it. Weigh and log everything for one week to calibrate. Second, confirm you are using your real TDEE, not a generic number. If the scale has not moved in 3+ weeks despite honest tracking, adjust by 200–300 calories in the right direction and give it 2 more weeks before changing course again. Sleep, stress, and daily non-exercise movement (NEAT) also have a bigger impact than most people think — fix those before slashing calories further.
Should I change my macros when doing weight loss?
Protein is the anchor — keep it at 2g per kg of body weight regardless of calorie adjustments. Fat should stay above about 28% of total calories to support hormone function. The main lever for adjusting your intake is carbohydrates: add or remove 50–100g of carbs to shift total calories without touching your protein and fat floors. For weight loss, that means about 243g carbs at 2,240 calories — adjust from there based on your results.
How to combine weight loss with exercise?
When eating in a deficit for weight loss, make resistance training your priority at 3–4 sessions a week to preserve muscle. Walking 8,000–12,000 steps daily adds meaningful calorie burn without the hunger spike that intense cardio can trigger. Keep high-intensity conditioning to 1–2 short sessions a week — too much while cutting risks burnout, poor recovery, and muscle loss.