How many calories to lose 10 pounds in a month?
For a 200 lb man, 5'10", age 30, moderately active
- Maintenance calories (TDEE)
- about 2,900 a day
- Aggressive target (1,000 deficit)
- about 1,900 a day
- Honest monthly loss at that pace
- about 8 to 9 pounds
- What a true 10 in 30 days needs
- a pace most people cannot hold
Opens the Calorie Deficit. Free, no account needed.
Let me be straight with you, because this is a query where the internet usually lies. Ten pounds of fat in a month is aggressive, and for most people the honest number lands a little under it.
Ten real pounds in 30 days works out to about two and a half pounds a week, which needs a daily deficit north of 1,000 calories. Even at a full 1,000 deficit, the trend-weight math comes out closer to eight or nine pounds a month, not a clean ten. The scale might read minus ten on day 30, but a chunk of that early drop is water, not fat.
So the calorie answer is: take your maintenance number and cut about 1,000 from it. In the example above that puts a 200 pound man near 1,900 a day. That is doable for a stretch, but it is hungry, it is strict, and it is not where I would keep you long term.
If a specific date is driving this, aim for the pace, accept that eight to nine is the likely honest result, and protect your muscle by keeping protein high and lifting. If the date is flexible, a smaller deficit is easier and holds up better.
Run your own maintenance number in the calculator to see what a 1,000 deficit looks like for you.
Not sure where to start?
The home page calculator gives you your real numbers in one place: the calories to aim at, a macro split, and a few things to do this week. Free, no account needed to see it.
Find where to startIf you would rather someone build this around your life instead of guessing, my 1:1 coaching is there. The free tools get you most of the way.