Most people need to eat 500 calories below their maintenance level to cut effectively, which translates to roughly 0.5 to 1 pound of fat loss per week. But “500 below maintenance” only means something once you know what your maintenance number actually is. That starting point varies widely based on your size, age, sex, and how active you are.
Finding Your Maintenance Calories
Your maintenance calories, often called total daily energy expenditure (TDEE), represent the number of calories your body burns in a full day including all activity. The most common way to estimate this is with a formula that calculates your basal energy expenditure (the calories you burn at rest) and then multiplies it by an activity factor.
The Harris-Benedict equation, widely used in clinical settings, works like this:
- Men: 66.5 + (13.75 × weight in kg) + (5.003 × height in cm) − (6.775 × age)
- Women: 655.1 + (9.563 × weight in kg) + (1.850 × height in cm) − (4.676 × age)
That gives you your resting calorie burn. You then multiply by an activity factor, typically ranging from 1.2 for sedentary individuals up to 1.9 or higher for very active people. A 30-year-old man who weighs 185 pounds (84 kg), stands 5’10” (178 cm), and lifts weights four days a week might land around 2,700 to 2,800 calories at maintenance. A 28-year-old woman at 140 pounds (64 kg), 5’5″ (165 cm), with moderate activity might sit around 2,000 to 2,100.
These formulas are estimates. The most reliable way to confirm your maintenance is to track your calorie intake and body weight for two to three weeks. If your weight stays stable, that intake is your maintenance. From there, you subtract.
How Big Your Deficit Should Be
A 500-calorie daily deficit is the standard recommendation for steady fat loss. The Mayo Clinic puts the expected result at about half a pound to one pound per week. The CDC notes that people who lose at this pace (1 to 2 pounds weekly) are more likely to keep the weight off long-term than those who cut faster.
In practice, this means most people on a cut eat somewhere between 1,500 and 2,500 calories per day, depending on their size and activity level. A larger, more active person might cut at 2,400 calories. A smaller, less active person might cut at 1,600. The number itself matters less than the size of the gap between what you burn and what you eat.
Going much beyond a 500-calorie deficit, say 750 or 1,000 calories below maintenance, speeds up weight loss but introduces real tradeoffs. Aggressive deficits push your body to sacrifice muscle as fuel. As one Cleveland Clinic researcher put it: “When you go through aggressive weight loss interventions, your body tries to protect fat because fat is an energy reserve. Muscle becomes a sacrifice.” That’s the opposite of what most people want from a cut.
Why Protein Intake Matters More Than You Think
The single most important dietary factor during a cut, aside from the deficit itself, is protein. Research comparing different protein intakes during calorie restriction found that people eating about 1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day preserved significantly more muscle than those eating half that amount. In one study, the low-protein group lost about 3.5 pounds of muscle while the high-protein group lost only 0.66 pounds.
Interestingly, doubling protein to 2.4 grams per kilogram didn’t provide additional benefit over 1.6 grams. So the sweet spot for most people on a cut is around 0.73 grams of protein per pound of body weight daily. For a 180-pound person, that’s about 130 grams of protein per day. For a 150-pound person, roughly 110 grams.
After hitting your protein target, the remaining calories can come from a mix of carbohydrates and fats based on your preference and training demands. Carbs fuel intense workouts, so people who lift heavy generally benefit from keeping carbs moderate rather than slashing them.
Metabolic Adaptation and Why Cuts Stall
Your body doesn’t passively accept a calorie deficit. Within weeks of sustained restriction, your metabolism slows by more than what the loss of body weight alone would predict. Research published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that some individuals experienced a metabolic drop of about 175 calories per day beyond what was expected from their body composition changes. That’s a meaningful gap that can stall progress entirely if you don’t account for it.
This metabolic adaptation is your body’s defense mechanism. It reduces the energy you burn at rest, increases hunger signals, and makes your muscles more efficient (meaning they burn fewer calories doing the same work). The people who lost the least weight in the study were the ones with the greatest metabolic adaptation.
This is why a cut that starts strong often slows around weeks four to six. Your initial 500-calorie deficit may effectively shrink to 300 or fewer calories without you changing anything about your diet.
Refeeds and Diet Breaks
Two strategies help counteract metabolic slowdown: refeeds and diet breaks. A refeed is a short period of one to three days where you eat at or slightly above maintenance calories, primarily by increasing carbohydrates. A diet break is a longer pause of one to two weeks at full maintenance, allowing a more complete reversal of metabolic adaptation.
How often you need these depends on how lean you already are. People with lower body fat (under roughly 10% for men or 16% for women) may benefit from a refeed every three to four days because their bodies resist fat loss more aggressively. People with moderate body fat typically do well with a refeed every 10 to 14 days and a diet break every six to eight weeks. If you’re carrying more body fat, you can generally sustain a continuous deficit for 12 to 16 weeks before needing a structured break.
Refeeds aren’t cheat days. The goal is to temporarily restore the hormonal signals that regulate metabolism by bringing calories back to maintenance, not above it.
Signs Your Cut Is Too Aggressive
Losing weight but feeling progressively worse is the clearest signal that your deficit is too large. Muscle loss during a cut triggers a cascade: your resting metabolism drops further, systemic inflammation increases, fatigue sets in, and exercise performance declines. Cleveland Clinic researchers describe it as a cycle of “less muscle, less energy, less activity, slower metabolism, and more weight regain.”
Watch for these specific warning signs:
- Strength declining in the gym week over week, not just one bad session but a consistent downward trend
- Persistent fatigue and brain fog that doesn’t improve with sleep
- Losing more than 1% of your body weight per week after the first two weeks (early water weight loss can be faster)
- Losing weight but maintaining the same body fat percentage, which indicates you’re burning muscle, not fat
- Mood changes, irritability, or obsessive thoughts about food
If several of these apply, the fix is usually straightforward: reduce the deficit by 200 to 300 calories, increase protein if it’s below the 0.73 grams per pound threshold, or take a one- to two-week diet break at maintenance before resuming at a more moderate pace.