How Many Calories to Lose 1.5 Pounds a Week

Each pound of fat is about 3,500 calories, so a pound and a half is roughly 5,250. To lose that in a week you need a weekly deficit of 5,250, which comes to about 750 a day. The calories you eat are your maintenance minus 750: maintain at 2,300 and you aim for 1,550, maintain at 2,600 and you aim for 1,850. The embedded calculator runs in metric, so its faster preset is 0.75 kg a week — about 1.65 lb — and it shows a slightly larger deficit near 825 calories a day, because three-quarters of a kilo is a little more than a pound and a half. To see the deficit broken into food terms, use the Calorie Deficit Calculator.

One and a half pounds a week is the gear between the steady one-pound default and the aggressive two-pound top of the range. It suits people who have a decent amount to lose and want to move a little quicker than a pound a week without pushing all the way to the fast end. It asks more of you than the default — 750 calories is a firmer cut than 500 — so protein and planning matter more. If you have a target weight and a date in mind, the Goal Weight Calculator shows how a 1.5-lb pace maps onto your timeline.

A 750-calorie deficit is bigger than the default, so it is worth a quick arithmetic check. Take your maintenance and subtract 750: if the result lands below about 1,200 calories a day for women or 1,500 for men, you have dropped under the intake generally considered safe without medical supervision. That happens more easily for smaller or lighter people, whose maintenance is lower to begin with. The calculator does this check automatically and eases you toward a gentler pace when the number would fall too low — it is arithmetic keeping the plan honest, not a diagnosis.

The 750-calorie rule is the general shape; your eating target depends on your body. Enter your weight, height, age, gender and activity level and the Weight Loss Calculator — preset here to the faster, roughly 1.5-lb-a-week pace — estimates your maintenance and subtracts the deficit to give your daily calorie target, with a safety check. These figures are general estimates for healthy adults, not medical advice.