In the past, research found about 3, calories of energy equaled about 1 pound 0. So researchers thought burning or cutting calories a day led to losing 1 pound a week.

But this isn't true for everyone. In general, if you cut about calories a day from your usual diet, you may lose about ½ to 1 pound a week.

But this can vary depending on your body, how much weight you want to lose, your gender and activity level. It sounds simple. But it's more difficult because when you lose weight, you usually lose a mix of fat, lean tissue and water. Also, because of changes that occur in the body as a cause of weight loss, you may need to decrease calories more to keep losing weight.

Cutting calories needs to include change, but it doesn't have to be hard. These changes can have a big impact on the number of calories you take in:. Skipping one or two high-calorie items is a good place to start when cutting calories.

For example, you could skip your morning latte, soda at lunch or that evening bowl of ice cream. Think about what you eat and drink each day and find items you could cut out. If you think that skipping your treat will leave you with a craving, swap it with a low-calorie choice.

Simple swaps can make a big difference when it comes to cutting calories. For example, you can save 60 calories a glass by drinking fat-free milk instead of whole milk. Instead of having a second slice of pizza, reach for some fresh fruit. Or snack on air-popped popcorn instead of chips.

Eat more fruits and vegetables, which have many nutrients and are high in fiber. And they'll fill you up more than high-fat choices. The sizes of your portions affect how many calories you're getting.

Twice the amount of food can sometimes mean twice the number of calories. But some foods with fewer calories, such as many fruits and vegetables, can be eaten in larger portions.

It's common to guess that you eat less than you actually do, such as if you're dining out. Paying attention to your portions is a good way to control calories.

Replacing high-calorie foods with lower calorie choices and cutting your portion sizes can help you cut calories and improve weight control.

For a successful — and lasting — weight management plan, you also need to increase your physical activity. Combining regular activity and healthy eating will best help you get to and maintain a healthy weight. There is a problem with information submitted for this request.

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Español Other Languages. Finding a Balance of Food and Activity. Español Spanish. Minus Related Pages. Food and Nutrition Counting calories all the time is not necessary, but it may help to see how many calories you need.

On This Page. Food and Nutrition Physical Activity Other Factors Want to Learn More? Here are simple tools to assist you: Food and Beverage Diary [PDFKB] Physical Activity Diary [PDFKB]. Physical Activity How much physical activity you need depends mostly on your age. Preschool-aged children ages 3 through 5 years should be physically active throughout the day for growth and development.

Children and adolescents ages 6 through 17 years need 60 minutes or more of moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity each day.

Children and adolescents need aerobic, muscle-strengthening, and bone-strengthening activities. Other Factors Getting enough sleep can help you manage your body weight. Want to Learn More? Connect with Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity.

Last Reviewed: June 28, Source: Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity , National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Syndicate.

home Healthy Weight, Nutrition, and Physical Activity. To receive email updates about this topic, enter your email address. Email Address. Studies show that increasing your intake of protein may help keep you full and curb your appetite 10 , Protein may also help fight cravings.

According to some research, high protein snacks help enhance feelings of fullness while decreasing hunger and appetite In addition to promoting weight loss, some research suggests that maintaining a high protein diet may prevent or reduce weight regain and help maintain muscle mass 13 , Therefore, if you want to achieve long lasting, sustainable weight loss, consider increasing your protein intake by eating more eggs, meat, poultry, tofu, nuts, seeds, or legumes.

Another change you can make is to limit your intake of sugar-sweetened beverages, including sodas, fruit juices , chocolate milk, and other drinks with added sugar. Additionally, studies associate drinking sugary beverages with an increased risk of obesity 16 , The harmful effects of sugar also go far beyond weight gain.

In fact, added sugar may contribute to other health issues, including heart disease, liver problems, and type 2 diabetes One thing you can do for your health is to drink more water.

Adequate hydration is associated with improved brain health and weight management, as well as a reduced kidney stone risk When combined with a healthy diet, drinking more water — especially before meals — appears helpful if you need to lose weight.

Resistance-training activities like weightlifting have been shown to limit muscle loss, which may help minimize metabolic changes during long-term calorie restriction Cardio exercises, such as walking, swimming, or jogging, are also important — both for increasing weight loss and supporting overall health Additionally, exercise has a variety of other benefits that go beyond weight loss, such as increased longevity, enhanced energy levels, improved mental health, and a decreased risk of chronic disease 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , It also includes sugar and other sweeteners.

Refined grains typically lack fiber, which supports weight loss by decreasing your appetite and increasing feelings of fullness Eating fewer refined carbs may promote weight loss by altering levels of specific hormones that regulate your appetite, such as peptide YY Eating more protein, exercising, staying hydrated, and limiting your intake of refined carbs and sugary beverages are a few simple ways to decrease your daily calorie intake.

In addition to cutting calories, there are several steps you can take to lose weight in a sustainable, long lasting manner:.

In addition to decreasing your daily calorie intake, the tips outlined above may support long-term weight loss. If you do decide to cut calories, be careful not to decrease your intake too much, as doing so may cause several serious side effects 4.

Research shows that young adults who use calorie-tracking apps to monitor how many calories they consume may be more at risk for developing disordered eating patterns that could develop into eating disorders That said, for people who are not at risk for developing disordered eating habits, restricting how much you eat can be a successful weight loss strategy, at least in the short term However, eating too few calories may also slow your metabolism, making it harder to maintain weight loss in the long term 5.

Cutting calories too much may harm your health and make it harder to maintain weight loss. Although it may help you lose weight, eating calories or less a day does not provide enough energy or nutrients for most healthy adults.

The number of calories you should eat for breakfast depends on many factors, including your daily needs, personal preferences, health goals, and overall diet.

While some people may enjoy eating a large lunch and smaller dinner, others may decide to distribute their calorie intake more evenly. To gain muscle , you may have to increase your calorie needs by a few hundred calories per day. A sports dietitian can help you develop an appropriate plan The number of calories that you should eat at each meal or to reach a specific weight goal can differ.

How many calories you need per day depends on whether you want to maintain , lose, or gain weight, as well as various other factors, such as your sex, age, height, current weight, activity level, and metabolic health.

Many websites and apps can help you track your calorie intake. That said, working with a registered dietitian RD can also help you gain, maintain, or lose weight while ensuring that your nutrient needs are being met.

Carbohydrates, fats and proteins are the types of nutrients that have calories and are the main energy sources for your body. No matter where they come from, the calories you eat are either converted to physical energy or stored within your body as fat.

These stored calories will stay in your body as fat unless you use them up. You can do this by cutting how many calories you take in so that your body must draw on reserves for energy. Or you can add more physical activity so that you burn more calories.

Your weight is a balancing act, but the equation is simple. If you eat more calories than you burn, you gain weight. And if you eat fewer calories and burn more calories through physical activity, you lose weight.

In the past, research found about 3, calories of energy equaled about 1 pound 0. So researchers thought burning or cutting calories a day led to losing 1 pound a week. But this isn't true for everyone. In general, if you cut about calories a day from your usual diet, you may lose about ½ to 1 pound a week.

But this can vary depending on your body, how much weight you want to lose, your gender and activity level. It sounds simple. But it's more difficult because when you lose weight, you usually lose a mix of fat, lean tissue and water. Also, because of changes that occur in the body as a cause of weight loss, you may need to decrease calories more to keep losing weight.

Cutting calories needs to include change, but it doesn't have to be hard. These changes can have a big impact on the number of calories you take in:. Skipping one or two high-calorie items is a good place to start when cutting calories.

For example, you could skip your morning latte, soda at lunch or that evening bowl of ice cream. Think about what you eat and drink each day and find items you could cut out.

If you think that skipping your treat will leave you with a craving, swap it with a low-calorie choice. Simple swaps can make a big difference when it comes to cutting calories. For example, you can save 60 calories a glass by drinking fat-free milk instead of whole milk.

Instead of having a second slice of pizza, reach for some fresh fruit. Or snack on air-popped popcorn instead of chips. Eat more fruits and vegetables, which have many nutrients and are high in fiber. And they'll fill you up more than high-fat choices. The sizes of your portions affect how many calories you're getting.

Twice the amount of food can sometimes mean twice the number of calories. But some foods with fewer calories, such as many fruits and vegetables, can be eaten in larger portions. It's common to guess that you eat less than you actually do, such as if you're dining out.

Paying attention to your portions is a good way to control calories. Replacing high-calorie foods with lower calorie choices and cutting your portion sizes can help you cut calories and improve weight control. For a successful — and lasting — weight management plan, you also need to increase your physical activity.

Combining regular activity and healthy eating will best help you get to and maintain a healthy weight. There is a problem with information submitted for this request. Sign up for free and stay up to date on research advancements, health tips, current health topics, and expertise on managing health.

Click here for an email preview. Error Email field is required. Error Include a valid email address. To provide you with the most relevant and helpful information, and understand which information is beneficial, we may combine your email and website usage information with other information we have about you.

If you are a Mayo Clinic patient, this could include protected health information. If we combine this information with your protected health information, we will treat all of that information as protected health information and will only use or disclose that information as set forth in our notice of privacy practices.

You may opt-out of email communications at any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link in the e-mail. You'll soon start receiving the latest Mayo Clinic health information you requested in your inbox.

Foods rich in nutritious dietary fat include butter, eggs, fatty fish, avocado, oil, nuts and seeds. Although energy can be obtained from protein , the body prefers to use this macronutrient to repair tissues, synthesize immune-protective antibodies, create enzymes, produce hormones, balance pH, and transport nutrients in and out of your cells.

This means that protein is rarely used as an energy source. In order to reserve protein for its primary functions, carbohydrates and fats are used as fuel first. Therefore, consuming adequate amounts of carbohydrates and fats is crucial to spare protein from being converted into energy, per the UC Davis Library.

However, if the body is not receiving a sufficient supply of calories from carbohydrates and fats, protein can be broken down to provide 4 kcal per gram consumed. Protein-rich foods include meat, eggs, dairy, legumes, nuts and seeds. According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans , the total number of calories an adult aged 19 to 59 requires daily ranges from 1, to 3, kcal.

More specifically, adult females require about 1, to 2, kcal per day, while adult males need around 2, to 3, kcal per day. To determine your individualized caloric needs, it is important to consider the following factors. Your body requires a minimum number of calories to carry out the essential metabolic functions that sustain life.

These basic functions include respiration, circulation, cell production, protein synthesis, nutrient processing and ion transport. The minimum number of calories needed to fuel these activities is referred to as your basal metabolic rate. Multiple factors influence BMR, such as age, height, weight, body size, body composition, body temperature, climate, sex and hormone status.

Therefore, caloric needs are unique for every individual. Another important component of energy expenditure is exercise.

Caloric needs vary depending on the type, duration, frequency and intensity of physical activity. For people who make exercise a regular part of their routine, energy requirements must be sufficient to fuel and maintain muscle mass.

Individuals with higher amounts of muscle mass tend to burn calories more quickly. On the other hand, those who are physically inactive and have less muscle mass burn calories slower.

Therefore, strength training exercises can help to increase the rate at which calories are burned. The ever-changing stages of life also influence your caloric needs. During pregnancy, more energy is required to support the growth and development of an unborn baby.

According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists , the second and third trimesters of pregnancy require an extra to daily calories. However, the opposite may be true as we age.

During the latter years of life, caloric needs may decrease due to less physical activity and reduced muscle mass. Therefore, maintaining adequate muscle mass is important as you get older.

Specific medical conditions can also increase or decrease caloric requirements. Your gut microbiome may also influence the number of calories you extract from food.

Working with your primary health care provider or a registered dietitian is the best way to identify your caloric needs in every life stage.

Certain foods may have the same number of calories, but not all sources of calories are created equal. When considering the number of calories in a particular food, it is also important to assess its total nutrient content. A food or beverage considered calorie-dense contains a high number of calories per serving; some of these foods also have few nutrients.

According to the American Heart Association , these foods are often high in saturated fat, added sugars and sodium. Several examples of calorically dense, nutrient-poor foods include pastries, cakes, candy, sugary drinks, fried foods and highly processed meats.

Conversely, nutrient-dense foods contain high levels of nutrients, such as vitamins, minerals, fiber and phytochemicals, and sometimes with fewer calories. Nutrient-rich foods include fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, dairy products, fish and unprocessed lean meat.

These foods provide essential nutritional components for good health. The key to creating a well-balanced diet is choosing nutrient-dense foods and limiting calorie-dense foods that are also low in nutrients, within your caloric needs. Although there are several factors to consider for weight management, caloric intake plays a significant role.

To maintain a stable body weight, the amount of calories you take in must be the same as those you expend through basic metabolic functions and exercise. However, if you wish to lose or gain weight, here is what you should keep in mind.

To support weight loss, consuming fewer calories than you burn—referred to as a calorie deficit—is important. A calorie deficit can be achieved by either reducing your intake of calories or by burning more calories through physical activity—or a combination of the two.

By eating fewer calories, your body taps into its fat reserves for energy. As a result, fat is the primary fuel source burned and weight loss occurs. However, losing weight is not always this simple.

According to a article published in Obesity , when calories are restricted too much, your metabolism slows down, and hormones shift to preserve energy and prevent excess weight loss. Therefore, a calorie deficit is only one factor in weight management.

When your caloric intake is consistently higher than the number of calories you burn, you enter into a calorie surplus and experience weight gain. Cardio exercises, such as walking, swimming, or jogging, are also important — both for increasing weight loss and supporting overall health Additionally, exercise has a variety of other benefits that go beyond weight loss, such as increased longevity, enhanced energy levels, improved mental health, and a decreased risk of chronic disease 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , It also includes sugar and other sweeteners.

Refined grains typically lack fiber, which supports weight loss by decreasing your appetite and increasing feelings of fullness Eating fewer refined carbs may promote weight loss by altering levels of specific hormones that regulate your appetite, such as peptide YY Eating more protein, exercising, staying hydrated, and limiting your intake of refined carbs and sugary beverages are a few simple ways to decrease your daily calorie intake.

In addition to cutting calories, there are several steps you can take to lose weight in a sustainable, long lasting manner:. In addition to decreasing your daily calorie intake, the tips outlined above may support long-term weight loss.

If you do decide to cut calories, be careful not to decrease your intake too much, as doing so may cause several serious side effects 4. Research shows that young adults who use calorie-tracking apps to monitor how many calories they consume may be more at risk for developing disordered eating patterns that could develop into eating disorders That said, for people who are not at risk for developing disordered eating habits, restricting how much you eat can be a successful weight loss strategy, at least in the short term However, eating too few calories may also slow your metabolism, making it harder to maintain weight loss in the long term 5.

Cutting calories too much may harm your health and make it harder to maintain weight loss. Although it may help you lose weight, eating calories or less a day does not provide enough energy or nutrients for most healthy adults.

The number of calories you should eat for breakfast depends on many factors, including your daily needs, personal preferences, health goals, and overall diet. While some people may enjoy eating a large lunch and smaller dinner, others may decide to distribute their calorie intake more evenly.

To gain muscle , you may have to increase your calorie needs by a few hundred calories per day. A sports dietitian can help you develop an appropriate plan The number of calories that you should eat at each meal or to reach a specific weight goal can differ.

How many calories you need per day depends on whether you want to maintain , lose, or gain weight, as well as various other factors, such as your sex, age, height, current weight, activity level, and metabolic health. Many websites and apps can help you track your calorie intake.

That said, working with a registered dietitian RD can also help you gain, maintain, or lose weight while ensuring that your nutrient needs are being met. Our experts continually monitor the health and wellness space, and we update our articles when new information becomes available.

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