Calorie Weight Loss Calculator

Losing calories can be difficult, and that’s why you probably need to use special tools to tell you how many calories you can eat in a day. 

A calorie weight loss calculator is an effective tool that helps you count how many calories you can ingest in order to lose weight at a desired pace and before a given date.

However, it isn’t always enough to only sort out your calorie intake, and you will need to include a weekly exercise routine to support your weight loss journey. 

Keep reading below to learn everything you need about the calorie weight loss calculator, how to use it, and more.

Quick Summary

• Calorie weight loss calculator is an online software that helps you estimate how many calories you need to eat in order to lose weight.
• The only way to lose weight is to eat fewer calories than your total daily energy expenditure.
• Total daily energy expenditure is the number of calories you need to consume daily for all the activities combined in that given day.

What Is a Calories Weight Loss Calculator?

A calories weight loss calculator is an online tool that helps you estimate the number of calories you must eat on a daily basis in order to lose weight. It's essential to use such tools to avoid common weight loss mistakes.

The calorie weight loss calculator is the easiest way to count the number of calories you need daily and requires the least amount of effort.

This is because it requires you to know information such as your weight, height, gender, and similar.

In addition, the output will inform you what your total daily energy expenditure is, which basically represents how many calories you need to sustain yourself throughout the day. 

Eating below the TDEE threshold will place you in a calorie deficit, which will ensure you start losing weight. 

How to Use the Weight Loss Calculator?

To use the weight loss calculator, you need to choose the unit of measurement, select your gender, weight, etc.

Some other information will be required to ensure the most accurate calculation of your total body energy expenditure.

The weight loss calculator is very easy to use and only requires basic information about your body.

Here is a step-by-step guide on how to properly use the calorie weight loss calculator:

1. The first step is to choose the desired unit of measurement, which can be in feet, lbs, and inches, or kg, meter, and cm.
2. The second step requires you to select your gender.
3. The third step consists of entering your current body weight.
4. The fourth step is to enter the desired amount of weight you want to lose.
5. The fifth step requires you to input your height.
6. The sixth step consists of entering your age.
7. The last step is to click on the drop-down menu and select your current level of physical activity.

After entering all the necessary information, you should submit for calculation and weight until the calculator shows the final output, which will be the number of calories you need to eat on a daily basis in order to lose the desired amount of weight you entered.

Should You Aim to Lose Only 1 or 2 Pounds per Week?

You should not aim to lose only 1 or 2 pounds per week.

However, this will primarily depend on your level of discipline, the desired amount of weight you want to lose, and the level of activity you indulge in on a daily basis.

After all the calculations are done, the calculator will estimate the number of calories you need to lose the entered amount of weight.

However, it is generally not recommended to intake less than 1000 calories daily for numerous health reasons.

This is why you must be careful if your weight loss goals are too ambitious and your level of physical activity and diet aren't included. 

In addition, it has been suggested many times in the past that losing more than 1 or 2 pounds per week isn't sustainable and can even be detrimental to your health.

This isn't accurate and applicable for all possible situations, individuals, and lifestyles, but it is a good way to think about the progress you experience in your weight loss journey. 

Whenever you try to force a quick change in a single area of your body without allowing other mechanisms and components to catch up and adapt, it can throw some things off.

This is the main reason why extreme dieting is not advised. Everything from your metabolism, hormones, appetite, organs, skin, and mental health will be affected if you lose too much weight rapidly.

Our body has lots of protective mechanisms, and it will do what it has to do to protect itself from danger, in this case, rapid weight loss. 

This is the primary reason why many times when someone loses weight rapidly, they regain it much quicker because it is hard to maintain the same habits that cause the initial weight loss.

However, this can also be because of your food choices and lack of physical activity, but other factors come into consideration too. 

Furthermore, rapid weight loss may be warranted if you are morbidly obese and your health is severely affected.

Just keep in mind that if you are overweight or someone who only seeks to drop a few pounds, then slow and steady weight loss is the way to go.

Difference Between Weight Loss and Fat Loss

Although it may initially seem that weight loss and fat loss are the same, there are some slight differences.

For instance, weight loss can also mean losing weight in any form of body weight, such as water, fat, glycogen, and muscle tissue. On the contrary, losing fat or fat loss is the process where our bodies only lose weight because of the fat we burn/lose. 

The differences become important when the sole purpose of your weight/fat loss journey isn't simply to lose kilograms.

This is because losing weight and fat require different approaches.

For example, if your main goal is to lose weight, a general exercise regime, being in a caloric deficit, and eating a healthy diet will be enough. 

However, if your main goal is to lose fat, you will need to be on special diets and exercise regimes, which will help you only to lose fat while maintaining your muscle mass.

In addition, the fat loss approach is mainly used by people concerned about their looks since their sole goal is to be as aesthetic as possible. 

On the other hand, the weight loss approach is mainly used by overweight and obese people.

How Many Calories Do You Need?

How many calories you need to lose weight will mainly depend on your total daily energy expenditure, among other things.

After calculating your total daily energy expenditure, you need to consume fewer calories than that number in order to lose weight.

There are many people who just seek to lose weight, and most of the time, the easiest way to lose weight is to be in a calorie deficit simply.

 However, some people might wonder how many calories my body needs in order to stay healthy. 

This will largely depend on the amount of your physical activity you participate in on a daily basis. 

In addition, this is different for all people, and some other factors will also result in different amounts of calories you need to consume daily to lose weight.

Some factors that influence the number of calories a single person needs to remain healthy are height, weight, level of physical activity, and sex. 

For instance, a 25-year-old that is extremely physically active and is 6 feet will require considerably more calories on a daily basis than a 5-foot tall, sedentary 72-year-old man.

Even though it will differ depending on activity level and age, adult males need 2-3k calories per day to maintain their current body weight. In contrast, according to the U.S. Department of Health, adult females need around 1600 and 2400.

However, suppose you consume too few calories. In that case, it can be detrimental to the normal functioning of your body since it will only use calories for essential functions of survival and ignore all the necessary ones for well-being and general health.

It is suggested that women get at least 1200 calories a day, while 1500 calories for men. 

Calories: Different Kinds and Their Effects

The primary source of calories in a typical diet is almost always coming from proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. In addition, some studies indicate that calories displayed on nutrition labels and calories consumed vary significantly.

This is one of the primary reasons why there are so many conflicting points of view on the best way to count calories to lose weight.

For instance, it has been clearly shown that the way a person chews food impacts the degree of weight loss. 

This is because more chewing increases the number of calories your body burns during digestion.

Furthermore, people that chew more almost always eat less since the longer chewing times allows the person to reach the state of satiety faster.

This is important to know since the foods that take more effort to chew, like vegetables, fruits, lean meats, and whole grains, require your body to burn significantly more calories since digestion requires them. It is also the case that you will quickly get the feeling of satiety. 

In addition, certain foods such as tea, coffee, chiles, and cinnamon have been shown to increase the rate of calories burned due to the specific ingredients they contain. One of the most important things you must consider is the quality of calories you ingest.

The food has different classifications in terms of calories, and those include low-calorie foods, high-calorie foods, and empty calories. 

High-calorie foods are all calorically dense foods, which means they have a high number of calories relative to serving size. The low-calorie foods have fewer calories relative to their serving size.

Some examples of high-calorie foods include oils, fat, fried foods, and sugary foods.

There is a big misconception that high-calorie foods are inherently bad for your health. All foods are healthy in moderation. 

Some examples of low-calorie foods include certain foods and vegetables. The term empty calories simply mean that the food contains few to no nutrients. 

Calorie Counting as a Means for Weight Loss

The whole calorie counting process with the intention of weight loss can be broken down into different levels, which are shown below:

1. The first level consists of determining your basal metabolic rate. If you know your body fat percentage, the Katch-McArdle Formula may be more useful for counting BRM. Keep in mind that all values derived from these equations are approximations. Using a calorie deficit calculator can help you determine how much you need to reduce your intake to achieve weight loss. 
2. The second level consists of determining your weight loss goal. You should know that 1 pound approximately equates to 2500 calories. This means that, at least in principle, reducing your daily calorie intake relative to BMR by 500 calories per day will result in a loss of 1 pound weekly. However, losing more than 2 pounds of body weight per week is generally not advisable since it can have negative health effects. You shouldn't reduce your daily calorie needs by more than 1000 calories to lose weight faster. Always consult your doctor if you plan to lose more than 2 pounds weekly.
3. The third level consists of setting up a proper method to track your calories and progress toward your goal. There are many straightforward applications to use if you have a smartphone available. Many of these will track your calories, progress, and exercises, which is great and will make the whole process much easier. 
4. The fourth level consists of tracking your progress over time and adapting to achieve your goals faster without any health risks.

All of the steps above represent the most basic form of calorie counting.

It would be best to remember that calorie counting isn't the exact science, and you can make it as complex as you want it to be. 

FAQs

Why Is Calorie Weight Loss Calculator So Important?

A calorie weight loss calculator is so important because it is one of the most effective ways to help you estimate how many calories you need to consume in order to lose weight.

By only entering some basic information, such as your height and weight, you can get a close estimation of what your total daily energy expenditure is. 

However, for the most accurate calculations, you should provide more information, such as your sex, age, level of physical activity, and more.

Lastly, the only way to lose weight is to be in a calorie deficit, meaning ingesting more calories than is suggested according to your total daily energy expenditure.