Calorie Calculator

How It Works

Your body burns energy even at rest — breathing, circulation, keeping warm. That resting burn is your basal metabolic rate (BMR); add everything you do in a day and you get total daily energy expenditure (TDEE), the calories that keep your weight steady. This calculator estimates BMR with the Mifflin-St Jeor equation: for men, 10 × weight (kg) + 6.25 × height (cm) − 5 × age + 5; for women, the same sum minus 161.

TDEE is BMR multiplied by an activity factor: 1.2 sedentary, 1.375 lightly active, 1.55 moderately active, 1.725 very active, 1.9 extra active. The goal targets then shift TDEE by about 500 calories a day — down to lose weight, up to gain it — the standard general guidance for a steady change of roughly half a kilogram a week.

Worked Example

A 35-year-old woman weighing 68 kg at 165 cm has a BMR of 10 × 68 + 6.25 × 165 − 5 × 35 − 161 = 1,375 calories a day. Moderately active, her TDEE is 1,375 × 1.55 = 2,132 calories a day. Her targets: about 1,632 calories to lose weight steadily, 2,132 to maintain, and 2,632 to gain.

How to Use This Calculator

Enter your sex, age, height and weight, then pick the activity level that matches a typical week and your goal. The headline result is your daily target; the breakdown shows your BMR, maintenance calories and all three goal targets.

Tips and Practical Advice

Be honest about activity: a desk job with three gym sessions a week is lightly or moderately active, not very active. Recalculate after a few kilograms of weight change, since a lighter body burns less, and adjust by 100–200 calories if your weight is not moving as you want after two or three weeks.

Source: Mifflin-St Jeor equation (Mifflin et al., American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1990). Reviewed Nov 13, 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions