Tools

Calorie Deficit Calculator

Your maintenance calories, a deficit band that stays inside the published ceiling, and the protein number that decides what the weight you lose is actually made of.

The equation uses a different constant for each.

Pick the line you could defend to someone who watched your last fortnight. Most people pick one line too high.

Takes about a minute

How this is worked out

Every formula below is published, and so is where it comes from. If you disagree with one, you can check it rather than take our word for it.

Resting requirement (Mifflin-St Jeor)
men: (10 × kg) + (6.25 × cm) − (5 × age) + 5 · women: (10 × kg) + (6.25 × cm) − (5 × age) − 161 Mifflin and St Jeor, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1990. Still the equation with the smallest average error against measured resting metabolic rate in adults.
Maintenance
resting requirement × activity multiplier (1.2 to 1.9) Standard activity multipliers. They are the least accurate part of this and the reason the page tells you to verify maintenance over a fortnight.
Protein
1.6 to 2.2 g per kg of bodyweight Morton and colleagues, British Journal of Sports Medicine, 2018. A meta-analysis of 49 studies, in which gains in lean mass plateaued at about 1.6 g per kg.
  • The deficit is capped so it stays inside the ceiling UK advertising rules set for any advertised rate of weight loss, and the intake is floored at your resting requirement.
  • Check with your doctor before starting an intensive exercise or dieting programme, particularly if you have a health condition, take medication, or are pregnant.
  • This is general information about training and nutrition, not medical or dietetic advice, and it does not assess or diagnose any condition.

More

  • Composition Check Waist-to-height and estimated body fat from two measurements, with the gap in kilograms rather than a score out of nothing.
  • Strength Standards Turn a set of five into an estimated one-rep max, then see which of your three lifts is a tier behind the others.
  • Race Readiness Projects your running from a 5k, then shows what the target you picked leaves you for the eight stations. Usually less than people expect.
  • Programme Builder How many sessions your goal takes, how many need a coach, and whether the weeks you have are enough. It will tell you when they are not.
All tools

Get Started

Ready to begin?
Book today.

Soho Personal Training • UNTIL, 111 Charing Cross Road, London WC2H 0DT

Enquire

Appointments typically available within 1–2 weeks