What Is The CICO Diet? The Simplest Approach To Weight Loss Explained

Calories In, Calories Out—aka, “CICO”—is a buzzword anywhere people talk about their weight loss journeys these days. 

But unlike some other trendy diets, CICO is nothing new.  It’s a traditional approach to weight management that comes down to this: If you eat fewer calories than you burn, you’ll lose weight (1).

Calories are the unit of energy your body uses for fuel. The CICO method hinges, in part, on the idea that having a 3,500 calorie deficit is the equivalent to losing a pound. Theoretically, if you create a caloric deficit, you’ll lose weight (1). 

CICO is easy to practice (especially with a calorie tracking tool like MyFitnessPal!) so it has gained momentum recently through online communities and social media. Let’s do a deep dive into how the CICO diet works and how to make it work for you.

What is CICO? (Calories In, Calories Out) 

The CICO diet is short for calories in, calories out, and it’s a simple concept based on the principle of energy balance.

The idea is that if you consume fewer calories (calories in) than your body burns (calories out), you’ll lose weight.

On the flip side, if you eat more calories than you burn, you’ll gain weight. And if you match the calories you take in with the calories you burn, you’ll maintain your current weight (1).

How It Works

CICO doesn’t restrict specific foods or macronutrients like other diets, such as keto or paleo. Instead, it emphasizes calorie tracking (1). 

We’ll go through how to determine your caloric needs and get the best results with this weight management method.

Understanding caloric intake and expenditure

At the heart of CICO is the balance between caloric intake—AKA the calories you consume from everything you eat and drink—and caloric expenditure, or calories out.  These are the calories your body uses to fuel everything from breathing to running a marathon (1).

Every day, your body burns calories just to stay alive. Your basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the number of calories your body uses to perform these daily functions (1). (You’ll learn how to calculate this below.) 

The amount of muscle you have plays a role in your metabolism because muscle tissue is metabolically active—it burns calories at rest (6). 

Another factor in your metabolism is your body size. Larger bodies require more calories to maintain their size, which means they also burn more calories (6). As you lose weight, your body’s caloric needs change, so you’ll require fewer calories. During a weight loss journey, you’ll need to recalculate your BMR every so often if you want to maintain a calorie deficit (7).

Outside of your BMR, additional calories are burned through physical activity, including exercise, walking, and even chores like cleaning and cooking. This is the part of your caloric expenditure that you have the most control over (6). 

Calculating basal metabolic rate (BMR)

A key step in using CICO is calculating your basal metabolic rate (BMR), which tells you how many calories your body needs to stay alive (6). Knowing your BMR helps you determine your daily caloric needs and gives you a baseline for tracking your intake and setting goals (8).

You can use MyFitnessPal BMR Calculator to easily calculate your BMR. This calculator is based on the Mifflin – St. Jeor equations and it takes your age, height, weight, and gender to provide an estimate of how many calories your body burns at rest. 

Once you know your BMR, you can add the calories you typically burn in your daily activities to find your total daily energy expenditure. That’s  a more accurate reflection of your caloric needs than your BMR. 

The importance of tracking calories

Calorie tracking is the backbone of the CICO method, and research suggests it’s also a critical part of weight loss success (9). 

For instance, a 2017 study encouraged a small group of participants to keep food and exercise diaries while also guiding them to make healthy food choices. Participants were also told to weigh themselves at least weekly (9).

What the researchers found is that people who tracked more religiously were more successful at sustaining weight loss compared to rare and inconsistent trackers whose weight tended to fluctuate more. The less consistent trackers lost weight over the summer but gained it over the holidays (9). 

This study suggests that using tools like MyFitnessPal for calorie tracking, keeping a weight log, and assessing your diet quality can be very helpful.

By logging what you eat and drink, you gain awareness of your eating patterns and can better control portion sizes and food choices. Plus, this level of accountability helps maintain consistency, which is key for long-term success.

Why CICO Matters for Weight Management

Understanding CICO is crucial for weight management, no matter what diet you choose (10). Whether you’re following a vegan diet, a paleo diet, or a Mediterranean diet, you need to produce a calorie deficit in order to lose weight.  

The same holds true if you’re trying to gain weight.  In order to do this, you’ll need to calculate your current calorie needs and then decide how much to add to create the calorie surplus needed for weight gain (10). 

Choosing the right calorie level for your goal is key to making CICO work for you. If you’re trying to lose weight, you may be tempted to set a very low-calorie goal, but this isn’t advised. Going too low can put your body in starvation mode, which will stall weight loss (11). Of course, weight management is more complicated than the CICO method implies, but it’s a helpful tool nonetheless (7).

Expert Opinions

Experts at MyFitnessPal have some suggestions to help you make the most out of the CICO method so that you can reach your goals. Stephanie Nelson, RD, MyFitnessPal’s Lead Scientist, has a cautionary tale that is worth repeating: Don’t set your calorie goals too low.

 “The more you limit your calorie intake, the harder your journey becomes and the more likely you are to quit before your goal.  MyFitnessPal data shows that users with the minimum daily calorie goal quit their weight loss journeys sooner than those with more generous daily calorie targets,” she explains.

Nelson says it’s more sustainable to take a slower approach to weight loss because you end up making changes that you can keep up for the long term. 

“Rather than focusing solely on numbers, focus on smaller behavior changes you can make,” she adds. Some examples of small changes could involve adding more veggies to your dinner or eating more protein at breakfast.

Meanwhile, Melissa Jaeger, RD, LD, MyFitnessPal Head of Nutrition, offers this reminder: “While the CICO method is simple in concept, it isn’t the whole picture of how safe and sustainable weight loss occurs.”

For healthy weight loss, it’s also important to consider the quality of your diet as some foods are more filling while others, such as heavily processed foods, are easier to overeat. Jaeger says that one downside of focusing solely on calories in vs. calories out is that it doesn’t teach us the importance of the nutrients in those calories. 

This is where MyFitnessPal can help because you can see both the calories—and the nutrient breakdown of those calories. That information can help empower you to make more nourishing decisions over time.

CICO Health Benefits

A major benefit of the CICO diet is how simple and flexible it is. There’s no list of forbidden foods or an extensive number of rules to follow. You’re less likely to feel overwhelmed by a complete diet overhaul. 

Instead, the CICO method allows you to make gradual changes to your diet while prompting you to stay within your calorie needs, whether that’s for weight loss, gain, or maintenance (10). 

If the CICO diet helps you reach a healthier weight, you can expect the health perks that come along with that. 

Here are some of those research-backed benefits (12):

• Losing a small amount of weight—just 5%—has been associated with better glucose control and triglyceride levels.
• For every 2.2 pounds of weight loss among people who had glucose intolerance—putting them at risk of diabetes—there was a 16% lower risk of progressing to type 2 diabetes. 
• Modest weight loss can lead to improvements in blood pressure and HDL cholesterol levels. These improvements translate to a lower risk of heart disease.
• Improvements in knee function and pain among those with osteoarthritis
• A reduction of fat in the liver
• Better ovulatory function and likelihood of pregnancy among women with PCOS. 

Potential Risks & Drawbacks

One drawback to the CICO method is the temptation to drastically cut your calories to promote faster weight loss (11). This can actually backfire because your body will think it’s starving, so your metabolism may slow down, stalling weight loss. It can also lead to other unhealthy consequences, like a reduction in heart muscle size, weakened bones, and impaired immune function (11). 

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Also, since calorie counting is the essence of the CICO method, you may ignore the quality of the foods you eat. And if your diet is high in unhealthy foods and low in nutrient-dense foods, you may be at risk of missing the nutrients you need and health problems stemming from an unhealthy diet (13).

Of course, there’s also the fact that weight management is more complicated than calories in, calories out. Your body is very complex, and the CICO method ignores other factors, like age, genetics, and hormones, that come into play (7). 

Calorie tracking can also be risky for certain people. Pregnant and breastfeeding women are among those that should avoid the CICO diet for weight loss unless advised by a healthcare professional (15, 16, 17). 

How to Do the CICO Diet

If you want to follow the CICO diet, you’ll need to learn how to track calories. Here are some tips. 

Using food journals and apps

MyFitnessPal is an easy way to track calories and nutrition. You can also track your water intake and sync your sleep data with MyFitnessPal, allowing you to learn how food impacts your sleep quality and how your sleep impacts your appetite and food choices. 

The app makes it easy to input foods you eat on repeat (learn about the newest Voice Log feature!). Of course, you can use a simple notepad or spreadsheet to log your food and track calories and weight, but this is much more cumbersome than an app.

Calculate caloric needs 

To get started with calorie tracking, you’ll first need to calculate your caloric needs (18). You can use a Basal Metabolic Rate Calculator to estimate your BMR and then factor in your activity level from there. 

Once you determine your caloric needs and goals, you can use MyFitnessPal to track your calorie intake. You can set nutrition and fitness goals and track your progress, and you can also take a look at your calorie intake by day and by week. 

Tracking is an essential step in meeting your goals, and how frequently you use the app may be related to your success. A 2019 study found that once participants got the hang of it, tracking took just 15 minutes a day, and that those who recorded their intake at least twice a day had greater weight loss success than those who weren’t as consistent (2).

How to Create a Caloric Deficit for Weight Loss

Here are the basics of using CICO for weight loss:

• Focus on small, manageable changes, like swapping soda for water.
• When deciding the amount of calorie deficit you’re aiming for, take your activity level into account (8, 20).
• Choose nutritious and satisfying foods like non-starchy vegetables and lean protein (3, 18).
• Measure portion sizes, especially high-calorie foods like nuts and cheese (19).
• Track what you eat and the calories you consume (you can use an app like MyFitnessPal to help with your tracking)

Don’t Automatically Eat All Your Exercises Calories

One of the biggest mistakes I see among people on a weight loss journey is eating back exercise calories. 

While helpful, regular exercise doesn’t burn quite as many calories as you—or your wearables—may think. Plus, exercise can make you hungrier, so you may naturally be eating a little more on days you work out without realizing it (21). 

Then, if you also decide to use exercise as a reason to splurge or choose to try to eat back all the calories you burned, you may wind up eating more than your calorie needs for weight loss and stall your progress. 

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Maintaining Energy Balance for Weight Maintenance

If your goal is to maintain your weight, you’ll need to match your calorie intake to the calories you burn each day (10). 

Finding Your Maintenance Level

Whether you’ve just lost weight or are trying to maintain your weight as you go through life, you can use the CICO diet and a calorie tracking app like MyFitnessPal to help. Weight maintenance boils down to eating the same amount of calories as you spend, but since this is a simplistic formula, it can take a little trial and error (10). 

One great feature of MyFitnessPal is the ability to track your weight along with your diet and calorie intake. That will give you a sense of your weight trends, so you can determine the right level of calories needed for weight maintenance.

In maintenance, use your hunger and fullness cues to eat food in amounts that match your appetite. Continue to track your calories and do your best to stay within your needs, but don’t override your body’s signals. 

It helps to choose fiber- and protein-rich foods, which do a better job of controlling hunger while managing calorie intake (3).

The importance of continued counting calories during maintenance 

Studies suggest that up to 80% of people who lose weight go on to regain it within a five year period (22). That makes counting calories during weight maintenance a critical part of keeping weight off. 

If you’ve lost weight, you’ll need fewer calories to maintain your smaller body size than you did to maintain a larger body weight. Keeping track of what and how much you’re eating can help you maintain the energy balance needed for weight maintenance.

Frequent food tracking and weighing yourself have been tied to weight maintenance success (22).

CICO for Different Diets and Lifestyles

The CICO model can be helpful no matter what type of diet you’re following. Here are some ways the CICO diet can help you on various diets (11).

CICO and Low-Carb Diets

The reality is that a calorie deficit is the backbone of weight loss, so calorie tracking can help you determine whether you’re achieving that deficit whatever diet you follow, including low-carb or keto diet (11).

Plus, you can use the macro calculator to set your macro goals for low-carb diet, and then track your intake to make sure your calorie and carb intake fits your goals.

CICO for Vegetarians and Vegans

Some plant-based foods like vegetables and fruits are lower in calories but higher in volume and fiber, so you can eat satisfying portions without overdoing calorie levels (19). However, others, such as nuts, seeds, avocados, and heart-healthy oils, are calorie-dense. 

It’s important to pay attention to your portion sizes in order to maintain your energy balance (19). This is where the CICO diet can come in handy, helping you manage your calorie intake on a plant-based eating pattern (11).

CICO for Athletes

Athletes tend to have higher calorie needs than the average person due to their high levels of physical activity and increased muscle mass. If you’re an athlete, following the CICO diet can help ensure that you’re meeting your calorie needs. Under fueling and over fueling can both hurt your performance (23).

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Example Meal Plan

Here’s what a sample day could look like on a 1,600 calorie balanced diet.

• Breakfast: Two whole grain toaster waffles topped with ½ cup plain Greek yogurt, ½ cup frozen berries (heated) , 2 tablespoons chopped nuts, and 1 teaspoon maple syrup.
• Lunch: Cobb salad made with 2 cups baby spinach, ¼ cup chopped cherry tomatoes, ¼ avocado, diced, 1 sliced hard boiled egg, 3 ounces rotisserie chicken, shredded or cubed, and 2 tablespoons feta cheese. Toss with a dressing made from 1 ½ teaspoons of both extra virgin olive oil and Dijon mustard, and lemon juice, salt, and pepper to taste.
• Snack: Smoothie made from a blend of 1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk, ¼ avocado, ½ frozen banana, and 1 cup baby spinach.
• Dinner: 6 ounces of broiled or grilled salmon, 1 cup of roasted broccoli, and ½ cup brown rice.
• Snack: 1 ounce of dark chocolate

Success Stories & Testimonials 

As a young adult, Kaylin Gealy had just graduated college and started a desk job, going from fairly active to mostly sedentary. When she was younger, she described being able to eat whatever she wanted, but she soon found her weight fluctuating between 218 and 224 pounds. 

To get back on track, Gealy started walking and using MyFitnessPal to practice better eating habits. 

“I saw the calorie-in/calorie-out weight-loss solution, and it was so helpful,” says Gealy. “It asked me how active I was and helped me set goals. I could scan bar codes, track my exercise and weight loss, and adjust my macros to figure out what worked best. It was everything I needed in one spot.”

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Common Challenges and How to Overcome Them

One common challenge with the CICO diet is only considering calories in vs. calories out rather than considering other factors involved in weight management, like hunger and fullness, meal timing, sleep patterns, and stress levels (1).

While the energy balance equation is the backbone of the CICO diet, weight management is more complicated, so it’s helpful to take these other possible pitfalls (1).  

• Eating the wrong foods. Fill your plate with lean proteins, vegetables and fruits, healthy starches, and heart-healthy fats. These foods are healthier and more filling than ultra-processed foods (19).
• Eating just because you have calories left over, whether you’re hungry or not. Instead, stop eating when you’re no longer hungry (24).
• Eating as few calories as possible. Instead, build healthy habits that you can sustain, which usually happens when you take things slowly (11).

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

How to Use MyFitnessPal for CICO

It’s easy to use MyFitnessPal to follow the CICO diet. Simply log your food intake after each meal and snack, and you can see your calorie and nutrition intake for the day and week. You can also save the meals you regularly eat, saving you time each time you add them to your log. 

Other helpful features include exercise tracking and weight tracking. These tools make it simple to use MyFitnessPal for the CICO diet.

The Bottom Line

CICO is a flexible diet approach to weight management  based on the principle of energy balance: consuming fewer calories than you burn leads to weight loss, while consuming more leads to weight gain (1). To follow the CICO diet, tracking your caloric intake is critical, and tools like MyFitnessPal can help make tracking easier and more accurate (2).

But remember, sustainable weight management isn’t just about the calories in vs. calories out—nourishing your body with whole, nutrient-rich foods and staying consistent with both diet and exercise will support your long-term health and wellness (5).

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