Take the number of calories you should be eating to maintain your weight using a
calculator such as that provided by the site Free Dieting. Next, determine your weight-loss goal. A pound of fat requires a weekly caloric deficit of approximately 3500 calories. Using a traditional diet plan, this means eating about 500 fewer calories per day. Using calorie cycling, you will stagger the deficit across seven days, with some days having a higher caloric deficit than others.