Then, it’s time to calculate your calorie deficit. Just simply subtract 500 calories from your maintenance calories to create a deficit. 
Example: If your body needs 2,000 calories to maintain weight, aim for 1,500–1,700 daily. 

And finally, track what you’re eating – even for just a week. This will allow you to understand your eating habits, which meals are too low in calories and which ones are too dense. It's best to divide your total daily calories (in a deficit) into 3 meals (of e.g. 500 kcal) to make it manageable. 

Plus, you might be surprised where the sneaky extras are coming from – it’s usually drinks, snacks, and sauces). 

Pro tip: Don’t go under 1,200 calories. It’s not safe, and it’s not sustainable. You’ll get deprived of nutrients, lose energy, mess with your hormones, and end up stuck in a cycle of ‘on and off’ weight. 

7 easy tricks to help you stay in a calorie deficit

Some say that starting is the hardest. But those who have tried various diets know that sticking with it shows the real strength. 

But the smallest changes in your daily routine often have the biggest impact. 
That's why we prepared 7 simple tricks to help you stick to your new calorie deficit: 

• Eat breakfast: Make your first meal of the day the most important one. Pack it with complex carbohydrates such as wholegrain bread, protein (eggs, skyr, or Greek yoghurt) and fibre (fruit or veggies). Skip sugary foods, such as chocolate spreads, cereal, or croissants – they don’t fill you up and make you even hungrier later in the day. 
• Stop drinking your calories: Oat lattes with caramel syrup, fruit juices, smoothies, and fizzy and energy drinks easily sum up to a lunch-worth of calories without noticing. Drink water, tea, or black coffee instead. 
• Eat home-cooked meals: Restaurant and delivery food is usually so tasty because it’s packed with butter and oils – which also makes it highly caloric. Not to mention that the portions are really big. Cook your meals yourself, pack them with fibre and protein, and enjoy feeling full for much longer. 
• Use a plate: Eat all your food from a plate or a bowl, including snacks. When you eat crisps right out of the bag, it’s too easy to eat more than you intend to. A large bag of crisps can sum up to more than 1,000 kcal. So, place one portion into a bowl and put the rest away. 
• Skip seconds: Indulging in a second portion of lunch is basically eating two lunches instead of one. This doesn’t mean you’re still hungry, you just love food so much. Instead of refilling your plate, fill it once and keep extras in the kitchen. But if you still feel you need more, add a second portion of vegetables to avoid caloric surplus.  
• Just say ‘no’ to fried foods: Fried foods are a favourite indulgence of many, especially with extra cheese on top during PMS. The big downside is that this type of food adds many calories to a simple dish. Instead of fried chicken, fish, or potato, choose grilled, broiled, or poached! It can save you up to 500 kcal per meal!  
• Switch to low-calorie substitutes: Swap your usual double cream (100 ml has a whopping 467 kcal!) for 0% fat Greek yoghurt, which has only 54 kcal per 100 g. And be careful with oils – one tablespoon of olive oil has 120 kcal, but usually we just drizzle it all over our salads, which later results in 3 spoons of olive oil and 360 kcal. 

Stick to your calorie deficit easily with GLP-1 Shape & Burn

Even when you know what to do, eating less isn’t always easy. Your cravings don’t magically disappear just because you want to lose weight. And fat doesn’t burn by itself. 

That’s why GLP-1 Shape & Burn is your best ally. This orange-flavoured daily drink helps you naturally eat less and burn more fat – all by working with your body’s hunger and satiety hormones, while burning stubborn belly fat deposits.