Is 2000 per day too little for my cut?

Hello everybody,

I’ve been cutting calories for the last 2 months now, and I’m just curious if 2000 calories per day is too aggressive, or if I should up my calories? I’m a 195 lb, 21 year old, 6’ 2” male and I lift about 4 times per week. I work at a lumber yard so a lot of my job involves lifting and I’m definitely burning a lot of calories at work.

I started my cut 45 days ago and I’m down to 196, starting at 215. My plan is to essentially get to roughly 185 and then start to focus on maintaining my weight. I have a decent build, as I swam in high school and have been lifting since I was about 17. Since my maintenance is somewhere around 3000 calories, am I doing damage by cutting so aggressively? I have no issues with my diet currently, as I’m never getting bad cravings and I’m always hitting my macros. The reason for my concern is that I’m always seeing that if you’re not eating enough calories, your body starts to burn muscle mass for energy. I know that in an ideal world I would be cutting slower, but is it really a big deal?

Posted Jun 19, 2026, 4:14 AM UTC

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