This is where 90% of people get lost.
They start dieting with vibes, not math. They'll say stuff like "I'm eating healthy," but don't actually know how much they're eating.
That's why most guys either spin in circles or crash and rebound.
The truth is simple. Every physique goal is controlled by energy balance — how much energy comes in versus how much goes out. If you understand this, you can control your body fat forever.
The Core Law
Calories in versus calories out. That's it.
Everything — keto, fasting, clean eating, carnivore, whatever — only works because it manipulates this law indirectly.
If you eat more calories than you burn, you gain weight. If you eat fewer calories than you burn, you lose weight. If you eat the same as you burn, you maintain.
Every diet is just a different way of doing that math.
Calculating Your Maintenance Calories
This is the number of calories you can eat per day and stay the same weight. Once you know this, everything else becomes easy.
Use the multiplier method. Take your body weight in pounds and multiply by the factor below that matches your lifestyle.
Sedentary with no workouts gets 13. Lightly active training three times per week gets 14. Moderate training four to five times per week gets 15. Active training five to six times per week gets 16. Very active with daily training and walking gets 17.
Example: 170 pounds times 15 equals 2550 calories per day maintenance. That's your starting baseline.
Track your weight for two weeks. If it doesn't move, that's your real number.
The Deficit
To lose body fat, you create a controlled deficit. You eat less than you burn, but not so low that you crash.
Ideal range is 15–25% below maintenance. If you're at 2550 maintenance, start around 1900–2100 calories. That'll net you about 1 to 1.5 pounds of fat loss per week — steady, sustainable, and muscle-preserving.
Never go below 1500 calories unless supervised. Never go below 0.8g protein per pound of body weight. You need protein to protect lean mass.
The 3 Levers You Can Pull
There are only three variables in fat loss: calories from food, activity output, and muscle mass which controls metabolic rate.
If you stall, adjust one lever. Not all three.
Example: you're losing 1 pound per week. Perfect. Then it stalls. Drop calories by 150 per day, or add 15–20 minutes of cardio, or tighten sleep and hydration which often fixes it without touching food.
Small tweaks. Never panic.
Macros Matter, But Don't Overthink It
The macros are just how your calories are divided between protein, carbs, and fat.
Simple breakdown for cutting: protein at 1g per pound of body weight, fats at 20–30% of total calories, carbs fill the rest.
Example for a 170-pound male eating 1900 calories: 170g protein equals 680 calories, 55g fat equals 495 calories, 180g carbs equals 720 calories. That's roughly 1900 total.
Balanced, sustainable, and lean-friendly.
Tracking Without Going Crazy
You don't need to weigh every crumb forever. Just long enough to understand portion sizes.
Track for 2–3 weeks using an app like MyFitnessPal or MacroFactor. Weigh major stuff like protein, carbs, and oils. After that, you'll have built instinct.
Once you can eyeball meals, you stop tracking daily. You just keep the same rhythm and adjust based on feedback from the scale, photos, and mirror.
Feedback Loops: What to Track
Your scale weight should be down 0.5 to 1.5 pounds per week. Too slow? Drop 150 calories. Too fast? Add 150 calories.
Mirror check should show your waist shrinking and face getting leaner. If the same trend continues, stay steady.
Gym strength should maintain at least 90% of your lifts. If it's dropping fast, eat more protein and carbs.
Energy levels should be stable. If you're crashing daily, eat more carbs.
You're not reacting emotionally. You're running a feedback loop.
What Actually Burns Fat
People love overcomplicating metabolism. Here's what actually moves the needle.
Your BMR, the calories you burn at rest, is 60–70% of total burn. Your activity and NEAT, which is non-exercise movement, is 15–25%. Workouts are only 10–15%. Digestion, called TEF, is 5–10%.
Translation: your workouts aren't what burn most calories. It's your total daily movement and how much lean tissue you have.
Walk more. Lift consistently. Stay active outside the gym.
Myths to Ignore
"You have to eat clean." No, you just have to hit your calories.
"Carbs make you fat." Only excess calories do.
"Fasting melts fat." Only if your total calories are lower.
"Starving burns faster." It just burns muscle too.
"Cheat days reset metabolism." They mostly erase your deficit.
You can eat clean or flexible, whatever helps you stick to the deficit.
You can't out-train a bad diet. Everything runs on energy balance.
Know your maintenance, then subtract. Don't change multiple things at once. Consistency beats perfect macros.
You now understand how fat loss actually works — in numbers, not vibes.
Action Items
**This Week:**
1. Calculate your maintenance calories. Use the multiplier method from this chapter. Bodyweight times your activity factor. Write that number down. This is your anchor for everything that comes next.
2. Track your food for 3 days. Use MyFitnessPal or MacroFactor. Log everything you eat. Don't change your diet yet, just track what you're currently doing. Compare your average daily intake to your calculated maintenance. Now you know if you're eating above, below, or at maintenance.
3. Set your deficit. If your goal is fat loss, subtract 15–20% from your maintenance number. That's your new daily calorie target. If you're at 2500 maintenance, aim for 2000–2100 calories per day starting next week.
**Quick Win (Do This Today):**
Download MyFitnessPal or MacroFactor right now. Set up your profile. Log today's meals even if they're already eaten. Just get the data. You can't manage what you don't measure, and this is the simplest way to see what's actually going into your body.
Next Chapter Preview:
We'll cover nutrition basics — how to build meals that hit these targets automatically without needing to live in a food-tracking app. The practical day-to-day stuff that makes this sustainable.