Calorie Calculator
Calculate your daily calorie needs based on age, gender, height, weight, and activity level. Get your BMR, TDEE, and targets for weight loss, maintenance, or muscle gain.
Your Details
Your Results
BMR
1,674
kcal/day at rest
TDEE
2,594
kcal/day to maintain
Calorie Targets by Goal
Lose Weight
500 kcal deficit/day
2,094 kcal
Maintain Weight
Maintain current weight
2,594 kcal
Gain Muscle
500 kcal surplus/day
3,094 kcal
How to work out your daily calories
Four measurements and an honest activity level give you a maintenance number and two goal targets.
- 01
Enter age, sex, height and weight
Switch between metric and imperial at the top. Imperial height goes in as feet plus inches, so 5 ft 9 in is converted to about 175 cm before the formula runs.
- 02
Pick the activity level you actually live, not the one you plan
There are five, from Sedentary (×1.2) to Extra Active (×1.9). Count the exercise you did last month. Picking one level too high adds roughly 300 kcal a day for an average adult.
- 03
Read the three goal targets side by side
The results show BMR, TDEE and three daily targets: 500 kcal below TDEE to lose weight, TDEE to maintain, and 500 kcal above it to gain. All three update as you type.
How BMR becomes your daily calorie number
The calculator uses the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, published in 1990. For men it's 10 × weight in kg + 6.25 × height in cm − 5 × age + 5. For women the last term is −161 instead of +5. That gives your basal metabolic rate (BMR), the energy your body uses lying still for a day.
Your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) is BMR multiplied by an activity factor. That multiplier is the biggest lever on the result, as the table shows for a 25-year-old man who is 175 cm tall and weighs 70 kg (BMR 1,674 kcal).
| Level | Multiplier | Typical week | TDEE for the example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sedentary | 1.2 | Desk job, little or no exercise | 2,008 |
| Lightly Active | 1.375 | Light exercise 1–3 days a week | 2,301 |
| Moderately Active | 1.55 | Moderate exercise 3–5 days a week | 2,594 |
| Very Active | 1.725 | Hard exercise 6–7 days a week | 2,887 |
| Extra Active | 1.9 | Very hard training plus a physical job | 3,180 |
The gap between Sedentary and Extra Active is 1,172 kcal a day, which is more than a full meal or two. If you're unsure between two levels, take the lower one and adjust later from real weigh-ins.
Worked example: a 500 kcal deficit
Say you're a 40-year-old woman, 163 cm tall, weighing 62 kg, and you walk or do yoga two or three times a week. The BMR works out as 620 + 1,018.75 − 200 − 161 = 1,277.75, shown as 1,278 kcal. At Lightly Active (×1.375) the TDEE is 1,757 kcal, so the Lose Weight target is 1,257 kcal and the Gain Muscle target is 2,257 kcal.
A 500 kcal daily deficit adds up to 3,500 kcal a week. Using the common estimate of about 7,700 kcal per kg of body fat, that's roughly 0.45 kg (1 lb) a week. Real loss is uneven: water shifts can hide or exaggerate it for a week or two, so judge the trend over three or four weeks.
Age matters less than people think. The same woman at 60 has a BMR of 1,178 kcal, only 100 kcal lower, because the formula subtracts 5 kcal per year of age.
Where the daily number helps
Setting a starting target for a diet
Use the Lose Weight number for the first month, weigh yourself a few mornings a week, and move it up or down by 100–200 kcal based on what the scale actually does.
Fuelling a training block
If you're adding gym sessions or running mileage, recheck at the new activity level. Staying at your old intake while training more is a deficit you didn't plan.
A base for macro targets
Pick the daily number, then split it in a tracking app. The calculator itself doesn't give a protein, carb and fat breakdown.
Checking an app's estimate
Fitness apps and watches each guess calories differently. A second figure from a known formula shows whether yours is in the right range.
What the formula can't see
- It doesn't know your body composition. Two people at 90 kg get the same BMR whether they carry a lot of muscle or a lot of fat. If you know your body fat percentage, the Katch-McArdle formula, which uses lean mass, will usually suit muscular people better.
- The deficit and surplus are fixed at 500 kcal. For a gentler cut or a lean bulk, subtract or add 250 kcal to the TDEE yourself.
- There's no safety floor. A small, older, sedentary person can get a Lose Weight target near 700 kcal, which is too low to follow without medical supervision. Most guidance puts unsupervised intake no lower than about 1,200 kcal for women and 1,500 for men.
- It's an average. Individual metabolic rates vary by around 10% either side of the Mifflin-St Jeor estimate, so your real maintenance number might be 200 kcal away in either direction.
- Pregnancy, breastfeeding, thyroid conditions and some medicines change energy needs, and the formula doesn't account for them. Ask a doctor or dietitian in those cases.