How Many Calories Should You Eat When Doing a Cut? The Ultimate Guide

October 18, 2025 •

4 min read

A 500-calorie daily deficit can lead to approximately one pound of weekly weight loss. This guide explains how many calories you should eat when doing a cut to maximize fat loss while preserving muscle mass through strategic planning and nutrition.

Quick Summary

To optimize fat loss, calculate your maintenance calories and subtract an appropriate deficit. Consistency, high protein intake, and strategic macro planning are key to a successful cutting phase.

Key Points

Calculate Your Maintenance Calories: Use a BMR formula and activity multiplier to determine your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure), which is the number of calories you need to maintain your current weight.
Set a Moderate Deficit: For sustainable fat loss that preserves muscle, aim for a 300-500 calorie daily deficit below your TDEE.
Prioritize Protein Intake: Consume 1 gram of protein per pound of target body weight to promote satiety and protect muscle mass during calorie restriction.
Incorporate Resistance Training: Continue lifting weights during your cut to send a signal to your body to retain muscle, forcing it to burn fat for energy.
Track Progress with Multiple Metrics: Don't rely solely on the scale. Use body measurements, progress photos, and monitor strength in the gym to get a complete picture of fat loss.
Focus on High-Satiety Foods: Fill your diet with lean proteins, high-fiber vegetables, and complex carbohydrates to feel full and energized on fewer calories.
Get Adequate Sleep and Stay Hydrated: These lifestyle factors are critical for managing hunger hormones, reducing stress, and supporting metabolic function during a cut.

Understanding the Calorie Deficit for a Successful Cut

Achieving a successful body fat cut requires one fundamental principle: consuming fewer calories than your body burns. This state is known as a caloric deficit. But how large should this deficit be? The answer depends on several factors, including your starting body composition, metabolism, and activity level. The goal is to lose fat, not just weight, which includes preserving valuable muscle tissue. Aggressive, unsustainable cuts can lead to muscle loss and a slower metabolism, sabotaging your long-term progress. The best approach is a balanced, strategic plan that focuses on a moderate, consistent deficit combined with proper nutrition and exercise.

How to Determine Your Target Caloric Intake

Before you can subtract calories, you must first know your baseline. Your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) is the estimated number of calories your body burns in a day, including your basal metabolic rate (BMR) and physical activity.

Step 1: Calculate Your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR): Use a reliable formula like the Mifflin-St Jeor equation to estimate the calories your body needs at complete rest.
- Men: $(10 imes ext{weight in kg}) + (6.25 imes ext{height in cm}) - (5 imes ext{age in years}) + 5$
- Women: $(10 imes ext{weight in kg}) + (6.25 imes ext{height in cm}) - (5 imes imes ext{age in years}) - 161$
Step 2: Apply Your Activity Level to find TDEE: Multiply your BMR by an activity factor based on your weekly exercise.
- Sedentary (little/no exercise): BMR x 1.2
- Lightly Active (1-3 days/week): BMR x 1.375
- Moderately Active (3-5 days/week): BMR x 1.55
- Very Active (6-7 days/week): BMR x 1.725
- Extremely Active (daily/physical job): BMR x 1.9
Step 3: Set Your Caloric Deficit: For a sustainable and effective cut, a moderate deficit of 300-500 calories below your TDEE is recommended. This typically results in a safe fat loss rate of 0.5 to 1 pound per week. While more aggressive deficits are possible, they carry a higher risk of muscle loss and adherence issues.

Moderate vs. Aggressive Cutting Strategies

The choice between a moderate and an aggressive cut depends on your goals, experience, and timeline. The following table provides a clear comparison to help you decide.


Feature	Moderate Cut	Aggressive Cut
Pace of Fat Loss	Slower (0.5-1 lb/week) and more consistent.	Faster (1.5-2+ lbs/week), often with larger initial weight drops due to water loss.
Muscle Retention	High chance of retaining muscle, especially with resistance training.	High risk of muscle loss, especially with insufficient protein intake or over-exercising.
Energy Levels	Generally stable and consistent, allowing for effective workouts.	May experience significant drops in energy, leading to reduced training performance and fatigue.
Hunger & Cravings	More manageable, higher adherence potential.	Intense hunger and cravings are common, increasing the risk of binge eating.
Sustainability	Easily maintainable long-term, promoting better habits.	Difficult to maintain for extended periods; often reserved for short mini-cuts.
Metabolic Impact	Minimal metabolic adaptation, avoiding a significant slowdown.	Risk of significant metabolic slowdown as the body adapts to low intake.

Optimizing Your Nutrition and Lifestyle

Calories are not the only factor for a successful cut. The composition of those calories and your lifestyle habits play a crucial role in preserving muscle and supporting overall health.

Prioritizing Your Macronutrients

Your macro ratio is essential for success. Protein is the most critical macronutrient during a cut because it promotes satiety and helps maintain muscle mass in a deficit. Aim for a higher protein intake, around 1 gram per pound of target body weight. Carbohydrates should be timed around your workouts to fuel performance, while healthy fats support hormonal health. A balanced approach often works best.

Recommended Foods During a Cut:

Lean Protein Sources: Chicken breast, lean beef, fish (like salmon for healthy fats), eggs, cottage cheese, and lentils.
High-Volume, Fiber-Rich Vegetables: Broccoli, spinach, peppers, and cauliflower are low in calories but high in fiber, helping you feel full.
Complex Carbohydrates: Sweet potatoes, oats, quinoa, and brown rice provide sustained energy for workouts and daily activities.
Healthy Fats: Avocado, nuts, seeds, and olive oil provide essential fatty acids.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Many people sabotage their cuts by making easily preventable mistakes.

Crash Dieting: Drastically cutting calories in an attempt to lose weight too fast. This is unsustainable and often results in losing muscle and rebounding weight gain.
Neglecting Protein: Insufficient protein intake is the fastest way to lose muscle mass instead of just fat during a cut.
Ignoring Sleep: Poor sleep quality increases cortisol, a stress hormone that promotes fat storage and muscle breakdown, while also disrupting hunger hormones. Aim for 7-9 hours per night.
Inconsistent Tracking: Guesstimating portion sizes can lead to under- or over-eating your target calories. Use a food scale and tracking app for accuracy.
Giving up Resistance Training: Combining resistance training with a calorie deficit is the most effective way to preserve muscle mass. Don't switch exclusively to cardio.

The Importance of Hydration and Stress Management

Staying well-hydrated is crucial. Water helps regulate your appetite (thirst can be mistaken for hunger) and is vital for metabolic functions. Stress management is equally important, as high stress levels and cortisol can hinder fat loss and increase cravings. Incorporate stress-reducing activities like meditation or walking into your routine.

For more detailed information on energy expenditure and metabolic processes, consult reliable sources like the National Institutes of Health. [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK218769/]

Conclusion

Determining how many calories you should eat when doing a cut starts with calculating your TDEE to find your maintenance calories. From there, subtract a moderate, consistent deficit of 300-500 calories for sustainable fat loss that prioritizes muscle retention. Adhere to a high-protein diet, use resistance training, and track your progress with patience and consistency. Avoiding common pitfalls like crash dieting and prioritizing sleep and hydration will help ensure your cutting phase is effective and sets you up for long-term success.

Frequently Asked Questions

A 'cut' is a dieting phase, typically for bodybuilders or fitness enthusiasts, focused specifically on losing body fat while retaining as much muscle mass as possible. General weight loss can involve losing water, fat, and muscle, whereas a cut is a more strategic and precise process.

A healthy and sustainable approach for cutting is to aim for a daily calorie deficit of 300 to 500 calories below your maintenance level (TDEE). This generally results in a fat loss of 0.5 to 1 pound per week.

Yes, a larger deficit will lead to faster weight loss, but it comes with significant risks. Aggressive cutting can result in muscle loss, severe hunger, decreased energy, and a slowed metabolism, making long-term success difficult.

Protein is extremely important during a cut. A high protein intake helps preserve muscle mass in a caloric deficit and increases satiety, helping to manage hunger and cravings. A good target is 1 gram per pound of target body weight.

While there is no single best ratio, a common and effective approach involves prioritizing protein (e.g., 35% of calories) while managing carbohydrates and healthy fats. Carbs can be higher on training days and fats should not be cut too low as they are vital for hormone function.

Cardio is a useful tool for increasing your calorie expenditure, which helps with the deficit. However, it should be used in conjunction with resistance training to preserve muscle mass. High-intensity interval training (HIIT) or moderate-intensity cardio can both be effective.

Avoid crash diets, neglecting protein, underestimating calorie intake, skipping meals, and ignoring sleep. Consistency, hydration, and a balanced diet with regular exercise are the keys to avoiding plateaus and negative side effects.