How Many Calories Do You Need to Lose Weight? With Desi Portions
A deficit is the one thing fat loss cannot happen without. Here is how to find your number, and what desi food really costs in calories.
By Taha Raza
Published
Every diet that has ever worked, from keto to intermittent fasting to eating nothing but daal, worked for one reason: it put you in a calorie deficit. Nothing else causes fat loss. Once you know your own number, you stop needing anyone else's rules about which foods are allowed.
Step one: estimate your maintenance calories
Maintenance is what you can eat without gaining or losing. A simple estimate that works well enough in practice:
| Your activity level | Calories per kg | Example at 80 kg |
|---|---|---|
| Desk job, little movement | 26–28 | 2,080–2,240 |
| Some walking, training 2–3 times a week | 29–31 | 2,320–2,480 |
| Training 4–5 times a week, on your feet | 32–35 | 2,560–2,800 |
| Physical job plus training | 36–40 | 2,880–3,200 |
This is an estimate, not a measurement. Treat it as a starting point and adjust based on what the scale actually does over two to three weeks.
Step two: subtract for fat loss
| Deficit per day | Weekly loss | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| 250 calories | ~0.25 kg | Already lean, want to keep all your muscle |
| 500 calories | ~0.5 kg | Most people, most of the time |
| 750–1,000 calories | ~0.75–1 kg | A lot to lose, short term only |
What desi food actually costs
This is the part almost nobody writes down honestly. These are approximate, and cooking oil varies enormously between kitchens.
| Food | Typical serving | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| Roti or chapati | 1 medium | ~120 |
| Naan | 1 | ~300 |
| Paratha | 1 | ~250–320 |
| Rice, cooked | 1 katori | ~200 |
| Chicken biryani | 1 plate | ~550–700 |
| Chicken karahi | 150 g | ~300 |
| Nihari | 1 bowl | ~400–500 |
| Daal | 1 katori | ~150 |
| Sabzi cooked with oil | 1 katori | ~150 |
| Samosa | 1 | ~150 |
| Pakoray | 100 g | ~300 |
| Tea with sugar and milk | 1 cup | ~120 |
| Soft drink | 1 can | ~140 |
| Cooking oil or ghee | 1 tablespoon | ~120 |
Where the calories actually hide
- Cooking oil. A family salan made with half a cup of oil carries around 950 calories before any meat goes in. Cutting to two tablespoons saves more than skipping a meal.
- Tea. Four cups a day with sugar is roughly 480 calories, which for many people is the entire deficit.
- The second and third roti. Each is another 120 calories, eaten almost without noticing.
- Weekend eating. Five disciplined days undone by two large weekend meals is the most common reason the scale does not move.
Step three: check your progress properly
Weigh yourself a few mornings a week, before eating, and compare the weekly average against the week before. Daily weight swings by a kilo or more from water, salt and how much roti you ate last night. The average is signal; a single reading is noise.
- 1Hold your calorie target for two full weeks without changing it.
- 2Compare the average weight of week two against week one.
- 3If you lost roughly what you planned, change nothing and continue.
- 4If nothing moved, reduce by another 200 to 250 calories a day, or add daily walking, and hold for another two weeks.
Do you have to count forever?
No. Most people count for four to six weeks, learn what their normal portions actually cost, then run on that knowledge with an occasional check. The point of counting is education, not permanent bookkeeping.
This article is general information, not medical advice. If you are pregnant, diabetic, or have any condition affecting your weight or nutrition, speak to your doctor before starting a calorie deficit.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many calories should I eat a day to lose weight?
Estimate maintenance at roughly 30 calories per kilogram of bodyweight if you are moderately active, then subtract about 500. For an 80 kg person that means eating around 2,000 calories a day, which produces roughly half a kilogram of fat loss per week.
How many calories are in one roti?
One medium roti is roughly 120 calories. A paratha is far higher at around 250 to 320 depending on how much ghee is used, and a naan is about 300.
Can I eat biryani and still lose weight?
Yes, provided it fits your daily calorie target. A plate of chicken biryani is roughly 550 to 700 calories, so it can be built into a day rather than banned. Fat loss depends on your weekly total, not on any single dish.
Why is my weight not going down even though I am eating less?
The usual reasons are underestimating cooking oil, drinking calories through tea and soft drinks, larger weekend meals undoing weekday consistency, and judging progress from single daily weigh-ins rather than weekly averages. Track honestly for a week and the answer usually appears.
Is it better to eat fewer calories or exercise more?
Diet controls the deficit more reliably, because it is far easier to eat 500 fewer calories than to burn 500 through exercise. Training matters for keeping muscle, health and shape while you lose fat, so the answer is both, with the deficit coming mainly from food.
More guides
- Does Intermittent Fasting Work? What the Trials Actually Found16:8 is the most popular diet in the world right now. The trials say it works — but not for the reason people think, and not for everyone.
- How to Lose 10 kg in 3 Months: A Realistic Week-by-Week PlanTen kilos in twelve weeks is a real target for the right person. Here is who it works for, who should aim lower, and what weeks 1 to 12 actually look like.
- Why Am I Not Losing Weight? The Study That Explains Almost Every CaseYou are eating carefully and the scale will not move. Researchers studied exactly this, and what they found was not a broken metabolism.