Diet Guide
Calories In, Calories Out. Eat less than you burn and you lose weight. Simple as that.
CICO stands for Calories In, Calories Out. Your body burns a certain number of calories every day just to stay alive and move around. That number is your TDEE.
Eat less than your TDEE and your body uses stored fat to make up the difference. That is how weight loss happens.
No foods are banned. No meals are skipped on a schedule. You simply track what you eat and make sure the total stays below your target.
Think of your body like a bank account. Calories are money. Every day you have a spending limit based on your TDEE. Go over that limit and your body saves the extra as fat. Stay under it and your body spends its savings instead. The savings are stored body fat. Spend enough of it and you lose weight. The math always works.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| No food is off limits | Requires consistent daily tracking |
| Backed by the strongest scientific evidence | Calorie counts on packaging can be inaccurate |
| Works for any eating style or culture | Can feel tedious over weeks and months |
| Builds real awareness of portion sizes | Easy to underestimate calories when eating out |
Energy balance is the most consistent predictor of weight change in all of nutrition science. A 2017 study confirmed that weight loss comes down to total calorie intake regardless of whether those calories come from carbs, fat, or protein. Tracking calories consistently for several weeks builds awareness of food portions that tends to persist even after people stop tracking actively.
Read the researchThousands of people doing this diet share their experience on Reddit. Visit r/CICO
Calorie counting is the engine behind every result on this site. See it in action in the only diet that actually works, my go-to 1kg meal, and how I went from 128kg to 86kg.
Look up the calories in any Malaysian dish in the food calorie database.