Ahhh. The age old question, how many calories should I eat for weight loss, rears its ugly head again. So many of us try to eat healthy and exercise regularly only to experience moderate, then stalled weight loss.

[A meal like this easily exceeds 1,000 calories, not ideal for fat loss unless this is your ONLY meal!]

That’s why we here at TFLA have decided to give you this information again. It never hurts to keep up to date with your weight loss facts, because let’s face it, weight loss science is constantly changing. So, keep reading to find out how many calories you should eat a day to lose weight.

Weight Loss Goal

Before you start worrying about counting calories for weight loss, let’s start with your weight loss goal. Your weight loss goal should first and foremost be realistic, but it should also include a goal weight range as well as a time guideline to achieve this goal.

Once you’re set on your weight loss goals, you can then start thinking about how many calories you need to eat a day to lose weight!

Calories Burned

Next we need to talk about how many calories you generally burn each day because this will determine how many calories you should eat a day. This number will depend heavily on how much physical activity you get each day. If your only exercise is walking to and from your car, then your daily calorie count will be much lower, than say someone who runs an hour a few times each week.

Just to get an idea how many calories are burned during regular exercise, take a look below;

• Moderate pace running burns 745 calories per hour.
• High impact aerobics burns 651 calories per hour
• 1 hour of housework burns 233 calories.

Calorie Deficit

Creating a calorie deficit—burning more calories than you consume—will help you determine how many calories you need to eat and burn a day to lose weight.

To lose one pound of fat a week, which is what is considered healthy weight loss you will have to burn about 3,500 calories a week. This 3,500 calorie deficit is what will help you answer the question, how many calories should I eat a day to lose weight?

{Although the best calorie burner, running is just one way to help you achieve a calorie deficit.}

Only you can know how many calories you actually consume on a daily basis, so honesty is important when determining how much you eat and burn for fat loss.

Daily Calorie Intake

To determine how many calories you need to eat a day for fat loss, women should eat no less than 1,200 calories a day while men should consume no less than 1,500 calories, unless of course a physician has you on a supervised low calorie diet.

If you currently eat between 2,000 and 2,500 calories per day and get very little physical activity, changing your diet will help you immediately create a calorie deficit for weight loss. Eat more whole grains, lean proteins, low fat dairy and fruits & vegetables since a well-balanced diet will help you reduce calories without feeling hungry all of the time.

The key to eating for weight loss is to find a way to satisfy your hunger without overeating so you can stay within your daily calorie count for fat loss. So if you were to consume 1,500 calories a day and ran for 45 minutes 4 days a week, you would burn off 1 pound of fat and not feel the urge to splurge on junk.

The truth is when people ask me how many calories should I eat a day for weight loss, I ask them how many calories do they burn in a day. The latter question is just as important as the former, because many bodybuilders and professional runners eat what we might consider a lot of calories, but for them it doesn’t lead to weight gain because they burn hundreds if not thousands of calories each day.

If figuring out how many calories you should eat a day for weight loss is giving you a headache, read our Eat Stop Eat review for tips on breaking that junk food addiction! Sometimes you just need stop craving junk to stop eating it.