How Many Calories Should I Be Eating Daily on a GLP-1 Medicine?

Calorie needs are calculated from your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) — the energy your body uses across a full day including activity. A modest deficit below your TDEE is the general principle behind gradual weight loss; large deficits are rarely sustainable and can lead to muscle loss, fatigue, and nutrient shortfalls.

Common reference ranges (educational, not personalised)

General guidance from health authorities often cites around 1,500–1,800 kcal per day for adults pursuing weight loss, though the right figure for any individual varies considerably. Rather than chasing a single number, many people find it more useful to think about how many calories should be consumed in a day as a starting point, then adjust based on how they feel and what their progress data shows.

Why this matters on a GLP-1 medicine

Medicines like Mounjaro (tirzepatide) and Wegovy (semaglutide) commonly reduce appetite and food noise, which means some people eat far less than they realise — sometimes too little to meet protein or micronutrient needs. Tracking your actual intake, even roughly, helps you stay on the right side of that balance. For a closer look at daily intake from a slightly different angle, see daily calorie guidance for GLP-1 users and our breakdown of how many calories breakfast should contain when appetite is low in the morning.

Calories to lose weight: the core principle

A sustainable calorie deficit is generally considered to be in the range of 300–600 kcal below maintenance — enough to support gradual loss without triggering extreme hunger or metabolic adaptation. Your prescriber or doctor is the right person to help you identify a personalised target, particularly if you have other health conditions or are adjusting medication.

Working out how many calories you are eating each day does not have to involve manual maths. GLP Trackr's AI food scan lets you point your camera at a meal and get an instant breakdown of calories, protein, and macros — useful when appetite is low and you are eating smaller, less structured portions than usual.

Once you have a rough daily target in mind (discussed with your prescriber or set against your own goals), you can enter it as your calorie target inside the app. From there, every meal you log — by photo scan, barcode, or search — counts toward that target automatically, so you can see at a glance whether you are on track or falling short.

The app also lets you set a separate protein target, which many people on GLP-1 medicines find just as important as calories — eating enough protein supports muscle retention during weight loss and helps meals feel satisfying even in smaller volumes. Your weight log and daily check-in feed into the app's insights, so over time you can explore what intake patterns correlate with your own progress.

For a broader overview of calorie and macro tracking on a GLP-1 journey, visit our calorie calculator hub.

A note on targets: general calorie figures are educational starting points. Your prescriber or doctor knows your full health picture and is the right person to guide your personal intake goals — GLP Trackr helps you track what you are actually eating so those conversations are grounded in real data, not guesswork.

Ready to see exactly what you are eating each day? Download GLP Trackr on the App Store or Google Play — your first 7 days are completely free.