Calorie Calculator (TDEE)
Estimate your daily calories for losing, maintaining, or gaining weight.
Sex
Units
Daily calories to maintain your weight
2,267
kcal / day
Resting rate (BMR)
1,649
Protein target
112 g
Water
2.3 L
Estimates use the Mifflin-St Jeor equation and are a starting point, not a prescription. Individual needs vary with body composition, medication and health conditions. Talk to a doctor or dietitian before making significant changes, and treat sustained intakes below 1,500 kcal (men) or 1,200 kcal (women) as needing medical supervision.
This calculator estimates your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) — the number of calories you burn in a day at your current activity level — using the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, one of the more accurate formulas for estimating basal metabolic rate.
From your TDEE it suggests calorie targets for losing, maintaining, or gaining weight, based on standard calorie deficits and surpluses used in nutrition planning.
What the numbers are built from
BMR — basal metabolic rate — is what your body burns at complete rest simply keeping you alive. For most people it accounts for 60–70% of total daily burn, which is why 'boosting your metabolism' through activity alone is harder than it sounds.
TDEE is BMR multiplied by an activity factor. The Mifflin-St Jeor equation used here is: (10 × weight in kg) + (6.25 × height in cm) − (5 × age) + 5 for men, or − 161 for women.
| Activity level | Multiplier | Roughly means |
|---|---|---|
| Sedentary | 1.2 | Desk job, little deliberate exercise |
| Lightly active | 1.375 | Light exercise 1–3 days a week |
| Moderately active | 1.55 | Moderate exercise 3–5 days a week |
| Very active | 1.725 | Hard exercise 6–7 days a week |
| Extra active | 1.9 | Physical job plus daily training |
Most people overestimate here. If you're between two levels, choose the lower one and adjust after a few weeks of real results.
Setting a deficit that you can actually sustain
- A deficit of 500 calories a day is the common starting point, historically associated with roughly 0.45 kg (1 lb) of loss per week.
- Aggressive deficits beyond about 25% of TDEE tend to cost muscle mass alongside fat, and are much harder to stick to.
- Weight loss is not linear. Water retention, glycogen stores, salt and the menstrual cycle can mask several weeks of genuine fat loss on the scale.
- Adaptive thermogenesis is real: as you lose weight your TDEE falls, both because there's less of you to maintain and because the body becomes somewhat more efficient. Recalculate every 5 kg or so.
- Protein intake protects muscle in a deficit. Roughly 1.6–2.2 g per kg of body weight is a widely cited range for people training while losing weight.
Why calorie tracking drifts from reality
Food labels are permitted a margin of error of up to 20% in many jurisdictions. Portion estimates by eye are routinely off by a third. Cooking oil, dressings and drinks are the most commonly under-counted items, and they are calorie-dense.
None of this makes tracking useless — it makes consistency more important than precision. If you weigh food the same way every week, the trend is reliable even if the absolute number isn't. Use the scale trend over 2–3 weeks, not any single day, to judge whether your target needs adjusting.
Frequently asked questions
- How accurate is a TDEE estimate?
- It's a solid starting estimate based on population averages, but individual metabolism varies. Treat the number as a starting point to adjust from based on real results over a few weeks.
- How many calories should I cut to lose weight?
- A commonly used guideline is a 500 calorie/day deficit for roughly 1 lb (0.45 kg) of weight loss per week, though this tool lets you choose a more conservative or aggressive target.
- What activity level should I select?
- Pick the option that best matches your typical week including exercise, not just an ideal or occasional week — overestimating activity level is the most common reason TDEE estimates run high.
- Why has my weight loss stalled even though I'm still in a deficit?
- Usually one of three things: your TDEE has fallen as you've lost weight, portion sizes have quietly crept up, or water retention is masking real fat loss. Recalculate your TDEE at your new weight and judge by a multi-week trend.
- Is the Mifflin-St Jeor equation better than Harris-Benedict?
- For most modern populations, yes — Mifflin-St Jeor has been found more accurate on average. Neither accounts for body composition, so both overestimate for people carrying a lot of fat and underestimate for very muscular people.
- Can I use this while pregnant or breastfeeding?
- No. Energy requirements during pregnancy and lactation are substantially different and should be set with a healthcare professional rather than a general-purpose calculator.
Read more on this
- BMI explained: what the number means and when to ignore itHow BMI is calculated, where the WHO weight categories come from, a worked example, and the specific situations — muscle mass, ethnicity, age — where the number stops being useful.
- How to calculate TDEE and set a safe calorie deficitThe four components of daily energy expenditure, calculating BMR with the Mifflin-St Jeor formula, and why aggressive calorie cutting stalls progress.