About the calories calculation
Calorie targets come from one number — your maintenance level — with a deficit or surplus applied on top. The size of that gap sets how fast you change, and the honest trade-off is that faster loss costs more muscle and is much harder to sustain.
Formula
Target = TDEE ± deficit/surplus
1 kg of body fat ≈ 7,700 kcal
0.5 kg/week ≈ 3,850 kcal/week ≈ 550 kcal/dayWorked example
Maintenance of 2,595 kcal, aiming to lose half a kilo a week: 2,595 − 550 = 2,045 kcal/day.
Frequently asked questions
How large a deficit is safe?
Most guidance caps sustainable loss at 0.5-1% of body weight per week, and the target should never fall below your BMR. Larger deficits increase muscle loss and rarely survive contact with real life.
Do I need to eat back exercise calories?
If you selected an activity level that already includes your training, no — it is counted. Adding exercise calories on top double-counts and is the most common reason a deficit stalls.
Why has my weight loss stopped?
A smaller body burns fewer calories, so the deficit that worked at the start shrinks as you lose. Recalculate every 4-5 kg. Day-to-day water shifts also mask fat loss for weeks at a time — judge by a rolling weekly average, not single weigh-ins.
Sources
- Mifflin-St Jeor equation with standard activity multipliers