Caloric Deficit

Consuming fewer calories than your body burns, which is required for fat loss. A caloric deficit occurs when you eat fewer calories than your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE). This forces your body to use stored energy (primarily body fat) to make up the difference.

Understanding caloric deficit is fundamental to achieving any body composition goal, whether that's fat loss, muscle gain, or maintenance. Without this knowledge, you're essentially guessing with your diet.

You can track caloric deficit using Fitnit's AI nutrition scanning feature. Simply take a photo of your meal, and the app will analyze the nutritional content including calories and macro breakdown. For manual tracking, start by calculating your daily targets based on your goals and body stats.

Caloric Deficit is closely connected to TDEE, BMR, Macros, Caloric Surplus. Understanding these related concepts together gives you a more complete picture of nutrition science and helps you make better decisions about your diet.