Calorie Calculator
Enter your age, sex, height, weight, and activity level to find your daily calorie target for weight loss, maintenance, or gain. Includes BMR, TDEE, and goal-specific targets with realistic timelines.
years
kg
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Enter your values above to see the results.
Tips & Notes
- ✓Choose your activity level conservatively — most people overestimate it. If you have a desk job but exercise 4 times per week, "moderate" (×1.55) is correct, not "very active."
- ✓Recalculate your calorie target every 4–6 weeks or every 5 kg of weight change. As you lose weight, your TDEE decreases — the target that worked at 90 kg will produce maintenance at 80 kg.
- ✓The minimum safe calorie intake is approximately 1,200 kcal/day for women and 1,500 kcal/day for men. Below these thresholds, nutrient deficiencies and muscle loss become significant risks.
- ✓Track calories for at least 2 full weeks before deciding the target is wrong. Normal daily weight fluctuations of 1–2 kg from water, food volume, and hormones can mask actual trends.
- ✓Weigh food with a kitchen scale rather than using volume measurements — a "cup" of oats can vary by 40% in calorie content depending on how loosely or tightly it is packed.
Common Mistakes
- ✗Selecting "very active" or "extremely active" when exercise is the only activity — these levels apply to people with physically demanding jobs plus regular training, not gym-goers with sedentary jobs.
- ✗Expecting linear weight loss — actual loss is stepped and irregular due to water retention, glycogen shifts, and hormonal fluctuations, even when calories are consistently controlled.
- ✗Eating back all exercise calories estimated by a fitness tracker — trackers overestimate burn by 30–50% for most activities, which eliminates most of the intended deficit.
- ✗Cutting calories too aggressively below BMR, which accelerates muscle loss, drops resting metabolic rate, and makes long-term weight maintenance significantly harder.
- ✗Not adjusting the calorie target downward as weight decreases — a TDEE calculated at 90 kg overestimates needs at 80 kg by roughly 150–200 kcal/day.
Calorie Calculator Overview
Calorie balance drives every weight outcome. Before you can manage it, you need to know your number — and understand what that number actually means for your specific goal.
Mifflin-St Jeor BMR formula (most accurate general formula):
Mifflin-St Jeor BMR (most accurate general formula): Male: BMR = (10 × weight kg) + (6.25 × height cm) − (5 × age) + 5 Female: BMR = (10 × weight kg) + (6.25 × height cm) − (5 × age) − 161 TDEE = BMR × Activity Factor
EX: Female, age 31, 67 kg, 165 cm, moderately active (3–5 workouts/week) BMR = (10 × 67) + (6.25 × 165) − (5 × 31) − 161 = 670 + 1,031.25 − 155 − 161 = 1,385 kcal TDEE = 1,385 × 1.55 = 2,147 kcal/day (maintenance) Fat loss target (−500 kcal): 1,647 kcal/day → ~0.5 kg lost per week
Activity multipliers — Harris-Benedict scale:
Activity multipliers (Harris-Benedict scale): Sedentary (desk job, minimal movement): × 1.20 Light activity (1–3 workouts/week): × 1.375 Moderate activity (3–5 workouts/week): × 1.55 Very active (6–7 hard workouts/week): × 1.725 Extremely active (physical job + training): × 1.90
EX: Male, age 40, 90 kg, 180 cm — same person, two activity levels: BMR = (10 × 90) + (6.25 × 180) − (5 × 40) + 5 = 1,830 kcal Sedentary TDEE: 1,830 × 1.20 = 2,196 kcal Moderately active TDEE: 1,830 × 1.55 = 2,837 kcal Difference: 641 kcal/day — equivalent to a large meal. Choosing the wrong activity level is the #1 reason people eat at an apparent deficit but see no weight change.
Daily calorie targets by goal:
| Goal | Daily target | Weekly change | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aggressive loss | TDEE − 750 | ~0.75 kg lost | High starting weight, short timeline |
| Moderate loss | TDEE − 500 | ~0.5 kg lost | Most people — sustainable, preserves muscle |
| Mild loss | TDEE − 250 | ~0.25 kg lost | Near goal, or combined with heavy training |
| Maintenance | TDEE | 0 kg | Recomposition, diet break, performance |
| Lean bulk | TDEE + 250 | ~0.25 kg gained | Minimizing fat gain while building muscle |
| Aggressive bulk | TDEE + 500 | ~0.5 kg gained | Maximum muscle gain, accepting some fat |
Macronutrient calorie density and thermic effect:
| Calorie source | kcal per gram | Thermic effect (% burned digesting) | Satiety per kcal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Protein | 4 kcal/g | 25–30% | Very high |
| Carbohydrates | 4 kcal/g | 6–8% | Moderate |
| Fat | 9 kcal/g | 2–3% | High (slow digestion) |
| Alcohol | 7 kcal/g | ~20% | Low (suppresses fat oxidation) |
| Fiber | ~2 kcal/g | — | Very high |
One kilogram of body fat stores approximately 7,700 kcal. A sustained daily deficit of 500 kcal produces about 0.5 kg of loss per week in theory — but metabolism adapts. After 4–8 weeks at a deficit, resting metabolic rate decreases by 100–300 kcal beyond what body mass change alone would predict. This is why weight loss slows even with a consistent deficit, and why recalculating TDEE every 4–6 weeks as your body weight changes is essential for continued progress.
Frequently Asked Questions
Several explanations are common. First, calorie tracking errors accumulate quickly — liquid calories, cooking oils, condiments, and portion sizes are routinely underestimated, and research shows people underreport intake by 20–50% on average. Second, activity level may be overestimated — selecting a multiplier that is one step too high adds 200–400 kcal to your TDEE estimate. Third, metabolic adaptation — after 6–8 weeks at a deficit, resting metabolic rate drops by 100–300 kcal beyond what weight loss alone explains. Fourth, weight loss is non-linear and water retention from high-sodium foods, increased training, or hormonal cycles can mask fat loss for 1–2 weeks at a time.
BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) is the calories your body burns at complete rest — just to maintain organ function, breathing, and circulation. This is your absolute floor; eating below it without medical supervision is dangerous. TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) adds all physical activity on top of BMR — it is the total calories you actually burn on a typical day. Your daily calorie target is TDEE adjusted for your goal: subtract calories to lose weight, eat at TDEE to maintain, or add calories to gain. Think of BMR as the engine idling, TDEE as the engine in actual use, and your target as where you set the fuel gauge.
One kilogram of fat stores approximately 7,700 kcal, so losing 1 kg per week theoretically requires a daily deficit of 1,100 kcal. In practice, this rate is too aggressive for most people — a deficit this large inevitably includes muscle loss, causes significant fatigue, and is very difficult to sustain. Most nutrition researchers and dietitians recommend targeting 0.5 kg per week (a 500 kcal/day deficit), which preserves muscle better and has much higher compliance rates over time. Above 1 kg per week, lean mass loss becomes significant enough to meaningfully slow your metabolism and make future loss harder.
Partially — but not fully. The activity multiplier in your TDEE calculation already accounts for your typical exercise level. If you selected "moderately active" (which includes regular workouts), those exercise calories are already built in. Only eat back calories from sessions significantly beyond your usual training volume. Also, fitness trackers and gym machines overestimate calorie burn by 30–50% for most activities — a treadmill reporting 400 kcal burned likely reflects closer to 250–300 real kcal above resting. Eating back the full displayed amount eliminates most of your deficit without you realizing it.
Calorie needs decline with age primarily because muscle mass decreases — a process called sarcopenia that begins in the 30s and accelerates after 60. Muscle tissue burns roughly three times more calories at rest than fat tissue. By age 60, someone who has not done resistance training may have 10–15 kg less lean mass than at age 30, reducing BMR by 150–250 kcal/day. Hormonal changes — declining estrogen and testosterone — also reduce resting metabolic rate. The most effective way to slow this decline is consistent resistance training combined with adequate protein intake of at least 1.6 g per kg body weight per day.
Eating at BMR — with no activity calories added — is not recommended for sustained periods. BMR represents calories needed at complete rest; as soon as you move, digest food, or do anything, you are burning above BMR. Eating at BMR while living normally creates a large deficit that consistently risks lean mass loss, micronutrient deficiencies, fatigue, and hormonal disruption, particularly in women. The safe floor for most adults is approximately 1,200 kcal per day for women and 1,500 kcal per day for men, with medical supervision required for anything lower. Very low calorie diets below 800 kcal require full clinical oversight.