Weight loss guide

How many calories to lose a pound

Updated October 11, 2026 · MyPlate

People ask this because they want a date. The arithmetic is simple, and the body is not a closed spreadsheet. Fat tissue holds stored energy. Dietetics has long used roughly 3,500 kcal per pound (7,700 kcal per kilogram) to turn a weekly goal into a daily deficit. That estimate ignores the fact that a lighter body usually burns a bit less, and that the scale also moves with water. It is still the right starting sketch if you label it as an estimate.

From a weekly pace to a daily deficit

Divide the energy in the weight you want to lose by the number of days. Using 7,700 kcal per kilogram:

The NHS page on losing weight says to aim to lose 1 to 2 lb, or 0.5 to 1 kg, a week. That sits on the 0.5 kg and 1 kg rows. Faster is not a target this page recommends. The NIDDK Body Weight Planner is the tool NIH points to when a straight 500 kcal rule is too blunt, because it accounts for the way energy needs change as weight changes.

Weeks for a few goals

These weeks are weight divided by pace. They are not a medical prediction. If your calculated intake would fall under the usual low-calorie range, choose the slower column. MedlinePlus describes usual low-calorie diets as about 1,200 to 1,500 kcal a day for women and 1,500 to 1,800 kcal a day for men (MedlinePlus patient instructions).

Worked example

A 35-year-old man, 178 cm, 90 kg, activity factor 1.375. Mifflin-St Jeor BMR is about 1,843 kcal. Times 1.375, TDEE is about 2,534 kcal. A 0.5 kg per week pace is a deficit of about 550 kcal, so the target is about 1,980 kcal. Five kilograms at that pace is about 10 weeks. The same example is on the calorie deficit calculator. If he wanted 1 kg a week, the deficit would be about 1,100 kcal and the target about 1,430 kcal, which is under the MedlinePlus range for men. That is a reason to stay at the slower pace, not a reason to ignore the floor.

Common mistakes

• Treating 3,500 kcal as a law that the scale must obey every week.
• Subtracting 500 from BMR instead of from TDEE. BMR is only the resting piece. Read BMR vs RMR vs TDEE.
• Cutting below the usual low-calorie range to force the date.
• Not logging the foods that make the deficit smaller than you think. See not losing weight in a deficit.

Sources

• Traditional planning estimate: about 3,500 kcal per pound and about 7,700 kcal per kilogram. Used here as an estimate, not as a measured constant.
• NHS weight-loss tips.
• MedlinePlus: diet for weight loss.
• NIDDK Body Weight Planner.
• Mifflin et al., 1990, for the resting equation in the example.

Run your own numbers on the weight loss calculator (goal weight and pace, with a goal date) or the deficit calculator.