Using your TDEE to track weight loss over time

Your TDEE estimate is the starting point, not the destination. Weight loss happens when you sustain a deficit, and the calculator gives you the first number to try. What happens next is feedback, not prediction.

Step 1: get your starting number

Use the TDEE calculator to estimate your maintenance calories. Then use the calorie deficit calculator to turn a target rate of loss into a daily shortfall. A 0.5 kg per week target works out to roughly 550 kcal below maintenance, using the rule of thumb that 1 kg of body fat holds about 7,700 kcal.

The deficit calculator will not return a target below 1,200 kcal, but that is a guardrail for the tool, not a recommendation for you. If a lower target is appropriate, it needs a clinician, not a calculator.

Step 2: weigh yourself, and average

Daily weight fluctuates — by a kilogram or more — just from water, food in your digestive system, and salt. A single reading tells you nothing. Average your weight over seven days, and compare each week's average to the one before.

A healthy rate of fat loss for most people is around 0.5 kg per week. If your weekly average is dropping faster than that, you are losing water or lean mass, not just fat — and the protein target from the protein calculator matters more.

Step 3: adjust when it stalls

Plateaus are normal. Your metabolism adapts, and as you get lighter, your TDEE falls because you carry less mass. When your weight has not moved in two weeks, recalcuate your TDEE at the new weight. You will usually find you need to drop another 100–200 kcal to keep losing, not double the cut.

Step 4: track body composition too

The scale does not distinguish fat from muscle. Use the body fat calculator — or simply a tape measure — every few weeks to check whether you are losing fat while holding lean mass. If the scale is moving but body fat is not dropping, you are losing muscle, and the cut is too aggressive.

Why the calculator is not the final word

Your real maintenance number is not the one on the screen — it is the intake at which your weight stays flat over several weeks of tracking. The calculator gives you a place to start, and your body tells you the rest.

Formulas are estimates, not medical advice.

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