Calorie Calculator
Find your daily calorie needs for maintaining, losing or gaining weight.
About Calorie Calculator
Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) is your BMR multiplied by an activity factor. Eating at TDEE maintains weight; a ~500 calorie daily deficit or surplus changes weight by roughly one pound per week.
Formulas
BMR (Mifflin-St Jeor)
BMR = 10 × weight (kg) + 6.25 × height (cm) − 5 × age + s (s = +5 male, −161 female)
- BMR
- Basal Metabolic Rate (kcal/day)
- w
- Weight in kilograms
- h
- Height in centimetres
- a
- Age in years
- s
- Sex constant (+5 male, −161 female)
TDEE
TDEE = BMR × activity factor
- TDEE
- Total Daily Energy Expenditure (kcal/day)
- BMR
- Basal Metabolic Rate
- A
- Activity factor (1.2 sedentary … 1.9 very active)
Worked example
With the default values below, Calorie Calculator returns Maintenance Calories (TDEE) of 2,556. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.
Inputs used
- Unitsone of Metric (kg, cm), Imperial (lb, in)
- Metric (kg, cm)
- Sexone of Male, Female
- Male
- Weightaccepts 1–700 kg / lb
- 70 kg / lb
- Heightaccepts 30–260 cm / in
- 175 cm / in
- Ageaccepts 1–120 years
- 30 years
- Activity Levelone of Sedentary (little/no exercise), Light (1–3 days/week), Moderate (3–5 days/week), Active (6–7 days/week), Very Active (hard daily/physical job)
- Moderate (3–5 days/week)
Results
- Maintenance Calories (TDEE)
- 2,556
- To Lose ~1 lb/week
- 2,056
- To Gain ~1 lb/week
- 3,056
- BMR (at rest)
- 1,649
Step by step
- 1Calculate BMR (Mifflin-St Jeor)= 1,649 kcal/day
- 2Multiply BMR by activity factor for TDEE= 2,556 kcal/day
- 3To lose ~1 lb/week: TDEE − 500= 2,056 kcal/day
- 4To gain ~1 lb/week: TDEE + 500= 3,056 kcal/day
Assumptions and limits
- The result is derived only from the 6 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
- In particular, this calculator does not take inflation, tax, fees or charges or compounding frequency into account.
- Figures are rounded for display to whole numbers, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.
- This is an estimate and not medical or nutritional advice. Individual calorie needs vary with body composition, health status, and goals. Consult a registered dietitian for personalised guidance.
- This is an estimate for general information and not professional medical advice. See the full disclaimer for the limits that apply to this kind of calculator.
How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.
Calorie Calculator — full guide
What the number is for
Three situations bring people to a calorie target: you want to stop drifting upwards without logging every meal, you have a goal weight and a timeframe, or you have eaten the same way for years and your weight has quietly moved. All three start with one figure — the energy you burn in a day.
Two steps
The first step is your Basal Metabolic Rate from the Mifflin-St Jeor equation:
BMR = 10 × weight (kg) + 6.25 × height (cm) − 5 × age + s
Here s is the sex constant, +5 for men and −161 for women. The second step multiplies BMR by an activity factor to give Total Daily Energy Expenditure:
| Activity level | Factor |
|---|---|
| Sedentary (little/no exercise) | 1.2 |
| Light (1–3 days/week) | 1.375 |
| Moderate (3–5 days/week) | 1.55 |
| Active (6–7 days/week) | 1.725 |
| Very Active (hard daily/physical job) | 1.9 |
Worked example
Using the defaults on this page — male, 70 kg, 175 cm, 30 years, moderate activity:
10 × 70 = 7006.25 × 175 = 1,093.755 × 30 = 150- BMR =
700 + 1,093.75 − 150 + 5= 1,648.75 kcal/day - TDEE =
1,648.75 × 1.55= 2,555.56, displayed as 2,556 kcal/day
Keep the same body and change only the activity factor: sedentary gives 1,979 kcal, very active gives 3,133. A swing of over 1,100 calories sits in that one dropdown, so it is the input worth being strict about.
Reading the three targets
Maintenance is the TDEE figure itself. The loss and gain rows are simply TDEE − 500 and TDEE + 500, which here means 2,056 and 3,056 kcal/day. The 500 comes from a pound of body fat storing roughly 3,500 calories, so a 500 kcal daily gap works out near a pound a week.
Where it drifts
- These are population averages. Two people with identical inputs can genuinely differ by a couple of hundred calories a day.
- The target falls as you lose weight. Dropping 5 kg takes 50 kcal off BMR and about 78 off TDEE at the 1.55 factor, so recompute every few kilos.
- Do not add logged workouts on top of the activity factor — the factor already covers your usual training.
- These are estimates, not medical or nutritional advice; a registered dietitian can account for medication, pregnancy or metabolic conditions.
Check the resting figure on its own with the BMR calculator, turn the target into grams with the macro calculator, or see where your weight sits using BMI.
This is an estimate and not medical or nutritional advice. Individual calorie needs vary with body composition, health status, and goals. Consult a registered dietitian for personalised guidance.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why 500 calories for a pound?
A pound of body fat stores roughly 3,500 calories, so a 500 kcal daily deficit adds up to about one pound per week.
Should I go below my BMR?
Generally no. Eating well below your BMR for long periods can be unhealthy. Aim for moderate, sustainable deficits and consult a professional.
I have a desk job but train four times a week — which activity level fits?
Moderate (1.55) is the usual fit, because the factors describe your whole week rather than your job alone. For the default 70 kg, 175 cm, 30-year-old male that gives 2,556 kcal instead of the 1,979 kcal the sedentary factor produces. If your training is short or low-intensity, Light (1.375) is the safer pick.
My maintenance calories dropped after I lost weight — is that right?
Yes. Weight appears in the formula as 10 × kg, so losing 5 kg removes 50 kcal from BMR and roughly 78 kcal from TDEE at the moderate 1.55 factor. A deficit that worked at your starting weight slowly becomes maintenance, which is why plateaus arrive. Re-enter your new weight every few kilos.
Can I double the deficit to lose two pounds a week?
The arithmetic works — 1,000 kcal below TDEE is about two pounds a week — but for the 2,556 kcal example that leaves 1,556 kcal, below the 1,649 kcal BMR. Large deficits are harder to sustain and harder to hit protein targets on. Most people do better extending the timeline than deepening the cut.
Does the result change if I log my gym sessions in a food app as well?
It double-counts. The activity factor already bundles your training into the daily figure, so adding 400 kcal of 'exercise calories' on top inflates your allowance. Either use this TDEE as a flat daily target, or set the factor to sedentary (1.2) and add each workout manually — not both.