Calorie Intake to Lose Weight: What Does It Mean?

Do you know how much calorie intake is necessary to lose weight? Well, the amount of calorie intake to lose weight varies from person to person.

Everyone has their own metabolism and physical activity level. As a result, maintenance calories for everyone are different.

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What does calorie intake to lose weight mean?

Calories (Photo via Unsplash/ NajlaCam)

The phrase “calorie intake to lose weight” suggests that you should consume calories to lose weight. While that’s true, it's not the whole picture.

Calorie intake to lose weight refers to the number of calories you should consume daily to lose weight. Therefore, it means a calorie deficit diet.

In a calorie deficit, you consume fewer calories than your maintenance level. To make up for the deficit, the body dips into the stored calories. As the body starts to use the stored calories, weight loss gets triggered.

There are various ways to learn the amount of calorie intake to lose weight. However, to make it simpler, you can use one of the online calorie calculators available to figure out your daily calorie intake.

From your daily calorie intake, subtract 500 calories. That will give you your calorie intake to lose weight. You shouldn’t go for an aggressive deficit such as 1000. That can become unhealthy, and you will end up starving yourself due to the extremely low number of calories you’re consuming.

It’s best to start with 500, and move to 700, if required, but not more than that.

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What determines the calories needed to lose weight?

Weight loss (Photo via Unsplash/Diana Polekhina)

When you think of the calories required to cut fat, you may wonder about the factors that determine the same.

There are several factors that affect the number of calories you need to lose weight. Some of them are age, weight, height, and physical activity. However, it’s generally assumed that the calorie intake for women is approximately 1200 to 1500 for weight loss, while calorie intake for men is approximately 1500 to 1800 per day for weight loss.

Nevertheless, this is a general assumption, and it’s possible that the real number of calorie intake for weight loss for you could be very different from the general number.

Of course, the calories needed to maintain weight can be very different from the general numbers. That depends on various factors such as muscle mass, body fat percentage, and physical activity.

So, you should not blindly depend on someone else’s calorie intake for weight loss and expect it to work for you. Those numbers can be much different than what you need.

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Tips to remember when building a calorie deficit diet

Calorie deficit (Photo via Unsplash/Mike Von)

Here are some tips you should remember when building a calorie deficit diet:

• Do not create a deficit that will end up starving you
• Always remember to add nutrient-dense food to your diet
• Understand your goals before fixing your daily calories
• Ensure that you’re not over exhausting yourself
• Give yourself cheat meals
• Be patient, and understand that you will fall off the wagon at times

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Weight loss isn’t something that's achieved overnight. The more you go through the journey, the more you will realize that it’s a never-ending journey.

Even after achieving your desired physique, you will have to keep exercising and follow a moderate diet to maintain that physique. Additionally, your goals may change along the way, and you will have to work towards a new goal.