You probably heard lots of people say consuming 1500 calories a day is effective. But as a beginner in a calorie deficit, you keep asking yourself “How much weight will I lose if I only eat 1500 calories a day?”
Well, asking those questions is important because the answer will help you lose sustainable weight. So in this guide, I will be answering all your burning questions because I battled a lot to get the right information during the early days of my weight loss journey.
What is the 1,500-calorie diet?
The 1,500-calorie diet is a structured nutritional approach that precisely limits daily energy intake to 1,500 kilocalories (kcal).
The 1,500-calorie diet is based on the first law of thermodynamics as applied to human metabolism. By creating a controlled energy deficit, where caloric intake is less than total energy expenditure, the body is forced to utilize stored energy (primarily in the form of adipose tissue) to meet its metabolic demands. This process, known as catabolism, leads to a reduction in body mass over time.
Note that 1500 calories a day is not a threshold for everybody. The effectiveness of this diet is based on creating a controlled energy deficit, where caloric intake is less than total energy expenditure. This forces the body to utilize stored energy (primarily fat) to meet its metabolic demands, leading to weight loss over time.
I will encourage you to learn how to calculate your calorie deficit.
How much weight will I lose if I only eat 1500 calories a day?
The truth is there is no definite answer to how much weight you can lose if you eat 1500 calories a day. Factors like height, age, weight, gender, activity level, and metabolic rate, also affect the weight you will lose.
When you’re consuming a fixed 1500 calories per day, your weight loss will depend on how this number compares to your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE). Let’s break this down:
- If your TDEE is higher than 1500 calories, you’ll be in a calorie deficit and will lose weight.
- The size of your deficit (TDEE minus 1500) determines how quickly you’ll lose weight.
To estimate how much weight you might lose if you only eat 1500 calories a day:
- Calculate your TDEE (use an online calculator or read how to calculate your calorie deficit)
- Subtract 1500 from your TDEE to find your daily calorie deficit
- Multiply this by 7 to get your weekly calorie deficit
- Divide by 3500 (approximate calories in a pound of fat) to estimate weekly weight loss
For example:
| If your TDEE is 2000 calories: Daily deficit: 2000 – 1500 = 500 calories Weekly deficit: 500 x 7 = 3500 calories Estimated weight loss: 3500 / 3500 = 1 pound per week If your TDEE is 2500 calories: Daily deficit: 2500 – 1500 = 1000 calories Weekly deficit: 1000 x 7 = 7000 calories Estimated weight loss: 7000 / 3500 = 2 pounds per week |
This is a general threshold to know how much weight you can lose on 1500 calories a day :
- If your TDEE is 2,000 calories, eating 1,500 calories creates a 500-calorie daily deficit, which could lead to about 1 pound (0.45 kg) of weight loss per week.
- If your TDEE is 2,500 calories, the same 1,500-calorie diet creates a 1,000-calorie daily deficit, potentially resulting in about 2 pounds (0.9 kg) of weight loss per week.
How long will it take to lose 20 pounds eating 1500 calories a day?
If you are taking 1500 calories a day and a deficit of 500 calories a day, you will lose 1 pound (0.45 kg) per week. Hence, it will take you 20 weeks (5 months) to lose 20 pounds while eating 1500 calories.
On the other hand, if you’re on a larger deficit, i.e. you are taking 1500 calories a day and have a deficit of 1000, you will lose 2 pounds (0.9 kg) per week. Meaning it will take you 10 weeks (2.5 months) to lose 20 pounds by eating 1500 calories a day.
So you see that the calorie you cut out is the most important unit to measure regardless you’re taking 1500 calories a day.
It is important to note that after a while (usually 3 months) your body will still plateaued and get used to the 1500 calories a day. So it’s important to increase and decrease your calorie intake in a month. This will make sure your body is not gaining weight on a calorie deficit.
So after 3 months of taking 1500 per day, start doing some variations. Some months you take 1200 calories per day, the following month you take 1700 per day. This variations will help keep your body on the alert and prevent it from adapting to 1500 calories a day.
Can you Lose Weight by Eating 1,500 calories a Day Without Exercise?
Short answer: Yes, you can lose weight by eating 1,500 calories a day without exercise!
Long answer:
I always tell members of my paid community that exercise is only 10% of the weight loss journey. If you want to see 85% weight loss, then focus on being on calorie deficit!
I know this is the opposite you will hear from people, and social media is helping to spread the wrong narrative.
I have coached women that all they need to do is to reduce their calorie intake.
Let’s face it, work schedule and family time is eating up time to gym time. So you can focus on eating 1500 calories a day without exercise and still lose weight.
But I want to encourage you to be taking a 30 minutes walk 4x a week or buy a sizeable treadmill in your house. If you have the time and resource to commit to a going to the gym 4x a week, please don’t take the opportunity for granted.
It wasn’t easy for me to quiz out time from my busy schedule and money from my tight budget. But looking back, I’m grateful I did.
This is why you need the 10% weight loss effect exercise will help you;
- Shape your body: Without exercise, you might experience the “skinny fat” phenomenon, where you lose weight but still lack muscle tone. Hence you will deal with excess skin. Exercise, especially resistance training, can help fill out this skin by building muscle underneath, improving overall body appearance.
- Boost Metabolism: Muscle tissue is more metabolically active than fat tissue. By building muscle through exercise, you increase your resting metabolic rate, which means you burn more calories even when you’re not exercising.
- Long-term Weight Management: Exercise becomes particularly crucial when you start varying your calorie intake. The muscle you’ve built through exercise acts as a “buffer,” helping to burn extra calories when you occasionally eat more than your usual 1,500 calories.
How to split up 1500 calories a day?
Apply this old saying if you are trying to figure out how to split up 1500 calories a day
“eat like a king in the morning, in the afternoon eat like a queen and in the evening eat like a prince”
In the morning you can consume 700 calories, in the afternoon consume 500 and in the evening 300 calories.
Please avoid snaking on something because taking snacks or fruit can add quickly. Also endeavour to calculate very calorie in food that you consume.
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