Welcome to The Middle Management™ Simple Calorie Calculator!
Q: How many calories should I eat per day to burn 1 pound of fat per week?
A: The answer depends on how many calories you burn daily.
This calculator has two integral parts to help you quickly and easily approximate the number of calories you need to burn 1 pound of fat per week using two calorie calculators:
The daily calories burned calculator is a calorie calculator that takes into account your current weight, body fat percentage (if you know it), and daily activity estimate to approximate your daily calories burned.
The second part of the Middle Management™ Simple Calorie Calculator is the calorie intake calculator. The calorie intake calculator estimates how many calories you should eat per day to lose 1 pound of fat per week, 1.5 pounds of fat per week, and 2 pounds of fat per week.
To do this, the calorie intake calculator uses the fact that it takes a calorie deficit of 3,500 calories to burn 1 pound of fat. So, to determine how many calories you need to eat per day to burn 1 pound of fat per week, divide 3,500 calories by 7 days. The result is a 500 calorie deficit per day to lose 1 pound of fat per week.
Using the same logic, to lose 2 pounds of fat per week, you should eat up to 1,000 calories less per day than you burn.
The calorie intake calculator uses the result from the daily calories burned calculator to estimate how many calories you need per day to burn fat.
Calorie Calculator: Instructions
The Middle Management™ Simple Calorie Calculator is an easy to use tool to give you an estimate of how many calories you need to lose weight primarily from fat. The calorie calculator provides estimates for losing between 1 and 2 pounds per week.
To use the calorie calculator:
Select your activity level estimate form the drop down box.
The number in the “Baseline” box is the result from the daily calories burned calculator. This approximates how many calories you burn daily based on your lean body mass and daily activity level estimates.
The “Calories to Lose Approximately” Table displays the results of the calorie intake calculator. This section of the calorie calculator estimates the recommended daily calorie intake to lose 1 pound of fat, to lose 1.5 pounds of fat, or to lose 2 pounds of fat per week.
The Middle Management™ Simple Calorie Calculator
How Many Calories Should I Eat to Burn Fat or Build Muscle?
Calculating Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE)
Amount of Exercise
Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE)
Little or No Exercise, Desk Job
TDEE = 1.2 x BMR
Light Exercise, Sports 1 to 3 Times Per Week
TDEE = 1.375 x BMR
Moderate Exercise, Sports 3 to 5 Times Per Week
TDEE = 1.55 x BMR
Heavy Exercise, Sports 6 to 7 Times Per Week
TDEE = 1.725 x BMR
Very heavy exercise, Physical Job, Training 2 Times Per Day
Note: These number in the calorie calculator (both the daily calories burned calculator and the calorie intake calculator) are only estimates. If you find that you are not losing a pound or two per week, then you should reduce your calorie intake slightly until you are losing the desired amount of weight.
Also, if you find you are losing more than 1 to 2 pounds per week, you should add calories to you daily plan until you are back in the safe range.
Not only is losing 1 to 2 pounds per week considered safe and healthy by most experts, it also ensures that most of the weight you lose is primarily from fat. We do not recommend attempting to lose more than 1 to 2 pounds per week for safe and effective weight loss. Please see our disclaimer for more details.