Calorie Deficit Calculator

Our calorie deficit calculator is here to help you achieve your weight loss goals in a safe and sustainable way.

By taking into account factors such as age, gender, height, weight, and physical activity level, our calculator provides you with an estimated maintenance calorie intake and an estimated calorie deficit based on your weight loss goals.

Calculate Your Calorie Deficit

Enter your information to calculate your calorie deficit:







Your daily calorie deficit is: calories

What Is calorie deficit?

A calorie deficit is a term that explains the difference between your total energy expenditure and calorie intake.

Simply, a calorie deficit is when you take in fewer calories than you burn off through physical activity and daily life processes, such as digestion and circulation.

It is helpful to use a calorie deficit calculator to determine the exact number of calories we need to maintain our current weight and the number of calories we should subtract to create a deficit.

The idea behind a caloric deficit is that when you eat more than you need daily, your body stores the extra calories as fat to save them for later use.

If you consume fewer calories than needed each day and pair that with physical activity that requires more energy than usual, this should trigger a release of stored fats to provide additional power.

In other words, by creating a calorie deficit every day, your body will be forced to burn fat stores instead of consuming energy food.

Importance of calorie deficit in weight loss

  • For weight loss, it’s essential to have a calorie deficit because it helps to create an energy imbalance in the body. When we eat less than we burn, our bodies have to use stored energy, like fat, to make a difference. This can help you lose weight.
  • If we eat less than we burn, our health and well-being as a whole will improve. If we lose weight, we’re less likely to get long-term diseases like obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease.
  • It can help us look better and feel better about ourselves. If we lose weight, we might feel better about ourselves and more at ease in our skin.
  • A calorie deficit can help us feel more energetic and do better in physical activities. If we lose weight, we might have more energy to play sports or do other physical activities and do better at them.
  • We can have better mental health and well-being if we eat less than we burn. If we lose weight, we may feel better about ourselves and have more confidence, which can improve our mental health and well-being.
  • Also It can help make our lives better in general. If we lose weight, we can do more things and feel better in our everyday lives. This can make our quality of life better as a whole.
  • A calorie deficit is calculated by subtracting the number of calories we burn through daily activities and exercise from the number of calories we consume through food and drinks. For example, if a person burns 2,000 calories daily and consumes 1,500 calories daily, their calorie deficit would be 500 calories.
  • We can use online calculators or consult a healthcare professional to determine our daily calorie needs. These calculations consider factors such as age, weight, height, gender, and activity level.

How is calorie deficit calculated

A calorie deficit is calculated by determining the number of calories we need to maintain our current weight and then subtracting a certain number of calories from that amount.

This number can vary based on age, gender, height, weight, and physical activity level.

To calculate a calorie deficit, you can use the following formula:

Calorie deficit = Maintenance calories – A calorie deficit

Or, Calorie deficit = Total calorie in – Total calorie out

Maintenance calories are the number of calories we need to maintain our current weight. This can be calculated using various online calculators or consulting a healthcare professional or nutritionist.

It is the total number of calories we want to subtract from our maintenance calories to create a calorie deficit. This can vary based on how much weight we want to lose and how quickly we want to lose it.

For example, a 500-calorie deficit per day may lead to a weight loss of 1 pound per week.

It is important to note that calorie deficits should be created safely and healthily. It is always best to consult with a healthcare professional or nutritionist before making significant changes to your diet and exercise routine.

Factors that can affect calorie deficit (physical activity level, diet, BMR)

Several factors can affect calorie deficit, including:

  1. Physical activity level: The more physically active we are, the more calories we will burn. This can affect our calorie deficit because we may need to consume more calories to maintain our current weight, or we may be able to create a larger calorie deficit by increasing our physical activity.
  2. Diet: The type and amount of food we consume can also affect our calorie deficit. For example, consuming a diet high in calories and unhealthy foods may have a more challenging time creating a calorie deficit or losing weight. On the other hand, if we are consuming a diet rich in nutrient-dense foods, we can create a calorie deficit more easily and sustain it for a more extended period.
  3. Basal metabolic rate (BMR): BMR is the number of calories our body needs to maintain basic functions such as breathing, circulation, and cell production. BMR can be affected by factors such as age, gender, weight, and height. A higher BMR may require a larger calorie deficit to create weight loss, while a lower BMR may require a smaller calorie deficit.

Calorie Deficit Calculator

Our deficit calculator is a tool that helps you to determine the number of calories you need to maintain your current weight and the amount of calories you should subtract to create a calorie deficit for weight loss.

To use a calorie deficit calculator, you can follow these steps:

  1. Go to Allfitwell website that offers a calorie deficit calculator.
  2. Enter your information, including your age, gender, height, weight, and physical activity level.
  3. The calculator will then provide you with an estimated maintenance calorie intake, which is the number of calories you need to maintain your current weight.
  4. From there, you can input the amount of weight you want to lose and the number of weeks you want to lose it in. The calculator will then provide you with an estimated calorie deficit based on this information.

Using our calorie deficit calculator can be convenient and accurate, as it takes into account multiple factors that can affect calorie deficit such as age, gender, height, weight, and physical activity level.

This can help us to create a personalized and sustainable weight loss plan that is tailored to our specific needs and goals.

Additionally, using a calorie deficit calculator can save your time and effort, as you do not have to manually calculate your calorie needs and deficit.

Calorie Deficit Calculator

The dangers of extreme calorie restriction and the importance of sustainable weight loss

Extreme calorie restriction, or drastically cutting calorie intake to extremely low levels, can be dangerous and is not a healthy or sustainable way to lose weight. Some of the dangers of extreme calorie restriction include:

  1. Nutrient deficiencies: Extreme calorie restriction can lead to a lack of essential nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, and protein, negatively impacting our overall health and well-being.
  2. Slowed metabolism: Extreme restriction can slow down our metabolism, making it harder to maintain weight loss in the long term.
  3. Poor mental health: It can also lead to feelings of deprivation and restriction, negatively impacting our mental health and leading to disordered eating behaviors.
  4. Physical exhaustion: It can lead to physical exhaustion and fatigue, as our bodies do not have enough energy to function properly.

Focusing on sustainable weight loss rather than extreme calorie restriction is important.

This involves making lifestyle changes that are sustainable in the long term and focusing on a balanced diet and regular physical activity. This can lead to healthy and sustainable weight loss that improves our overall health and well-being.

Wrap Up

Calorie deficit is important for weight loss because it causes an energy imbalance in the body, which causes it to burn stored energy sources like fat.

A calorie deficit can help to improve overall health and wellness, physical appearance, energy levels, mental health, and quality of life.

But it’s important to create a calorie deficit in a safe and healthy way, since cutting calories too much can be dangerous and have bad effects.

By using a calorie deficit calculator and making lifestyle changes that are sustainable in the long term, we can work towards a healthy and balanced weight loss journey.

John Harvey
John Harvey

John Harvey M.D., M.P.H. is the Director of VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System and a Professor at T.H Chan School of Public Health . As an Internal Medicine physician at Boston Healthcare System, I aim to improve healthcare quality and costs through policy-focused research. I earned my M.D. and M.P.H. from Harvard, and completed fellowships at University of California, San Francisco.

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