It seems like social media these days is awash with 'influencers' claiming to eat a really high number of calories while staying extremely lean. Some of them are even selling courses on how to do the same!!
I get why it's appealing. When you see someone eating 3,000 calories a day and looking the way they do, it's easy to start questioning your own intake. Maybe your deficit is too aggressive. Maybe you should be eating more. Maybe the reason you're not seeing results is because you're not eating enough.
It's a compelling story, and it creates a lot of unnecessary second-guessing around what is probably a perfectly reasonable approach.
Before you start doubting yourself or emptying your wallet on a course, here's what I'd actually have you consider: as someone who does eat over 3,000 calories a day, I can tell you it is a lot of food.
For most people, that's not a realistic baseline, and more importantly, it shouldn't be the goal. The real question worth asking isn't "why am I not eating 3,000 calories" - it's "how low is actually too low?"
A Deficit Is Like A Bulk - It Doesn't Need To Be Extreme The widely accepted starting point is a 300 to 500 calorie deficit per day, which puts most people on track to lose about a pound a week. But here's something that often gets skipped over: maintenance calories are a range, not a fixed number.
Most people are already eating somewhere on the lower end of their maintenance range without realising it. So if your maintenance sits around 1,900 calories, dropping to 1,400 isn't necessary - a smaller reduction will likely still put you in a deficit without the downsides of cutting so aggressively.
Your deficit should feel manageable, not punishing. Cutting calories too aggressively increases the risk of muscle loss, poor sleep, tanked energy, and a metabolism that starts adapting to survive on less, which works against you over time.
It's Not Forever... At Least It Shouldn't Be
Most people experience the negative side effects of undereating because they've been in a deficit for too long, not because a deficit itself is harmful. Research suggests 8 to 12 weeks is a reasonable fat loss phase before your body starts pushing back through increased hunger hormones and reduced energy output. So if you're a few weeks into a cut and starting to feel rough, the deficit isn't broken. It might just be time to reassess the timeline.
Diet Breaks Are Your Friend
What if you haven't hit your goal by week 12? First, it's worth asking whether the goal was realistic to begin with. But if it was, the answer isn't to white-knuckle through another stretch. Take a diet break. Spend 4 to 6 weeks gradually returning to maintenance calories, let your hormones stabilise, and then run another cut. Think of it like a deload week in training: giving your body a break from the stressor is the smart long-term play, not a sign that you failed.
Stop Comparing Your Intake To Someone Else's It's easy to look at someone online eating a ton of food and staying lean and think "if I ate that much I'd gain weight immediately." Maybe. But you also don't know what their actual intake looks like day to day, how much they're moving, or whether what they're showing you is accurate. Calories in versus calories out is still the governing principle - how many calories you actually need just varies a lot from person to person based on your weight, how much muscle you carry, your activity level, your age, and your dieting history.
So What Actually Is Too Low? There's no single number that applies to everyone, but there are some general floors worth knowing. For most women, eating below 1,200 calories a day means your body can't cover its basic biological functions. For most men, that floor sits around 1,500 calories. Below 800 calories is considered a very low calorie diet and requires medical supervision. However, every body is different and there are always exceptions to the rules. But more useful than any specific number are the signs your body sends when you've gone too far: constant fatigue even after sleeping well, brain fog and trouble concentrating, feeling cold all the time, persistent food cravings, hair thinning, mood swings or irritability that feel out of proportion, disrupted sleep despite being exhausted, and for women, irregular or missed periods. If several of these are showing up at once while you're in a deficit, that's your body telling you the cut is too aggressive, not a sign to push harder. Next we can delve into all things BMR - what it actually is and what genuinely moves it. If you've ever felt like a slow burner, that one's for you.