HOW MANY CALORIES SHOULD I EAT?
The most-asked question in fitness has a real answer — it just isn't a single number somebody else can hand you. Here's how to find yours in two steps: a smart estimate, then your own data.
Step 1: Get a smart estimate
Your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) is everything you burn in a day: your resting metabolism (60–75% of the total), digestion (~10%), training, and all the walking, standing and fidgeting in between (the sneaky-big one). The best-validated formula for estimating it is Mifflin-St Jeor — plug in age, height, weight, sex, and an activity multiplier.
You can do it on paper, or in 20 seconds with our macro calculator, which also splits the result into protein, carbs and fat. As rough anchors: most women land somewhere around 1,800–2,400 kcal/day and most men around 2,200–3,000 — but the spread between two same-sized people can be hundreds of calories, which is why Step 2 exists.
Then point the estimate at your goal:
- Lose fat: TDEE − 20%. Steep enough to see movement (~0.5–1% of body weight per week), shallow enough to keep your training and your mood.
- Maintain: TDEE straight.
- Build muscle: TDEE + 10%. Muscle is built slowly; bigger surpluses mostly build a cut you'll have to do later.
Step 2: Let your own data correct it
Every formula carries a few hundred calories of error, because it can't see your genetics, your job, or your step count. The fix isn't a better formula — it's arithmetic on your own logs:
Example: eating 2,600/day while losing 0.35 lb/week → real burn ≈ 2,775
Log your food and weigh in a few times a week for two weeks, run that math, and you know your number better than any calculator on the internet. Inside EatSleepRep, the Coach runs exactly this calculation for you: after ~10 logged days and a few weigh-ins it computes your real burn from your trend, and offers an updated target every week. Estimate once, then let evidence drive.
Let the app find your real number — free →The mistakes that break the math
- Eating back exercise calories. Your activity multiplier already includes training. Counting it twice is the #1 reason "a deficit isn't working."
- Trusting the scale daily. Day-to-day weight is water and noise; only the 7-day trend means anything. (The app charts the trend for you.)
- Untracked weekends. Five clean days at −500 and two untracked days at +1,200 is maintenance with extra steps. Log the weekend — our free scanner makes it an eight-second job.
- Cutting too deep. Below ~20% deficits, training quality, sleep, and adherence all degrade. The slower cut you complete beats the crash you abandon.
- Ignoring sleep. Short sleep measurably shifts hunger hormones and food choices. It's one of our three daily jobs for a reason.
FAQ
How many calories should I eat to lose weight?
Roughly your TDEE minus 20%. Estimate TDEE with Mifflin-St Jeor (use the calculator), then verify with two weeks of your own logs — your data beats the formula.
Is 1,200 calories a day safe?
For most adults it's needlessly aggressive — hard to get adequate protein and micronutrients, hard on training, hard to sustain. A moderate deficit you can hold for months outperforms a crash you can hold for days. If you have a medical condition, that conversation belongs with your doctor, not an app.
Do I need to count calories forever?
No. Most people count seriously for a few months, calibrate their eye, and shift to logging only when the trend drifts. The skill is permanent even when the logging isn't.
Why did my weight loss stall?
Usually: intake creep, water masking fat loss after a diet break, or your TDEE dropping slightly as you get lighter. Re-run the two-week math — or let the Coach re-run it automatically.