Calorie Calculator
Estimate your daily calorie needs for maintaining, losing or gaining weight using the Mifflin-St Jeor equation.
Maintenance calories
2,556 kcal
per day at your activity level
BMR (at rest)1,649 kcal
Mild weight loss (−0.25 kg/wk)2,306 kcal
Weight loss (−0.5 kg/wk)2,056 kcal
Weight gain (+0.5 kg/wk)3,056 kcal
Estimated with the Mifflin-St Jeor equation. Individual metabolism varies by roughly 10%, so adjust based on how your weight actually responds over a few weeks.
About the Calorie Calculator
Your body burns energy even at complete rest — that is your basal metabolic rate. Multiplying it by an activity factor gives total daily energy expenditure, the number of calories needed to maintain your current weight.
Formula
Mifflin-St Jeor: BMR = 10·weight(kg) + 6.25·height(cm) − 5·age + 5 for men, or − 161 for women. TDEE = BMR × activity factor.
Frequently Asked Questions
BMR is what your body burns at complete rest, purely keeping you alive. TDEE adds everything else — movement, exercise, and digestion. TDEE is the number that matters for managing weight.
A deficit of roughly 500 calories per day corresponds to about half a kilogram of fat loss per week. Larger deficits work faster but are harder to sustain and risk muscle loss.
It has been shown to predict resting energy expenditure more accurately than the older Harris-Benedict equation for most modern adults, which is why it is now the common clinical default.
It is an estimate with a typical error of around 10%. Individual metabolism, body composition and activity vary. Use the number as a starting point, then adjust based on how your weight actually responds over a few weeks.
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