calorie deficit calculator
Pick a deficit and see the intake target and the honest weekly rate. If the target dips below your estimated BMR, this page says so instead of printing it as a plan.
x 1.55: three to five training sessions a week.
Steady: the classic default, a meaningful weekly rate most people can live with.
- estimated tdee
- 2,740 kcal
- estimated bmr
- 1,768 kcalthe floor this plan stays above
- expected rate
- about 0.45 kg / weekat ~7,700 kcal per kg of fat, an approximation
The 7,700 figure is a useful approximation, not a law: early weeks move faster on water and glycogen, and the estimate drifts as you get lighter. Re-run the numbers every few kilograms, and let the trend, not the calculator, grade the plan.
a deficit has a floor, and this page respects it.
Most calorie calculators will cheerfully print any number you ask for. This one holds the line at your estimated BMR: the energy your body spends just existing. Below that floor a deficit stops being a plan and starts being a collapse in waiting, so the calculator warns and declines rather than printing it.
the deficit sets the rate. protein and training set what is spent.
Energy balance decides how much mass leaves; protein and progressive training decide whether it leaves as fat or takes muscle with it. A deficit run without them is plain weight loss, and the scale will happily hide the difference.
Set the protein side with the protein calculator, split the intake target into a full day with the macro calculator, and see how the platform watches fat and lean move separately on the recomposition page.
the honest answers.
Why does the calculator refuse targets below my BMR?
Because BMR is what your body spends at complete rest, and an intake below it is a crash plan wearing a calculator's clothes. Adherence collapses, training quality drops, and a larger share of the loss comes from lean mass. A tool that prints that number as a plan is lying to you; this one warns instead.
Is a kilogram of fat really 7700 kilocalories?
Approximately, and the approximation gets the honest tilde it deserves. Early weeks run faster on water and glycogen, adaptation slows things later, and the figure itself is a textbook average. Use it to set expectations for a month, not to grade a single week.
How big a deficit should I pick?
The largest one you can hold without noticing it everywhere. A 500 kcal deficit you keep for four months beats a 750 you abandon in three weeks. If lean mass matters to you, pair whatever you pick with the top of the protein range and keep training.
more free tools
- one-rep max calculatorYour estimated 1RM from any set, with the three formulas the platform uses.
- tdee calculatorMaintenance calories from Mifflin-St Jeor and an honest activity multiplier.
- macro calculatorA calorie target split into protein, fat, and carbs, priced at 4/4/9.
- protein calculatorA daily protein range by goal, never a false-precision decimal.
- body fat calculatorThe US Navy tape-measure estimate, marked as the rough proxy it is.
a calculator estimates once. the platform watches what actually happens.
Every number this page gives you is a starting point. Trainbase is where a coach and a client watch the real ones move: every set logged against a program, every reading on one honest scale, every estimate marked as an estimate. When the trend disagrees with the calculator, the trend wins.