Calorie Calculator

Your daily calorie need is the energy you burn at rest plus the energy you use moving about. For a moderately active 30-year-old man who weighs 70 kg and stands 175 cm tall, that is about 2,556 calories a day. This calculator estimates your number with the Mifflin-St Jeor equation.

It works in two steps. First it estimates your BMR (basal metabolic rate), the calories your body burns at complete rest. For men, BMR = 10 x weight in kg + 6.25 x height in cm - 5 x age + 5. For women, the last step is -161 instead of +5. Then it multiplies BMR by an activity factor, from 1.2 for sedentary to 1.9 for very intense daily exercise. The result is your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure), or maintenance calories.

Along with maintenance, the tool shows targets 500 and 1,000 calories below it for weight loss, and 500 above it for weight gain. The loss targets never go below 1,200 calories a day. Very low intakes should only be followed with medical supervision. The result is an estimate. Two people with the same stats can burn different amounts, because of muscle mass, genetics, hormones and daily movement. Many people also overestimate their activity level. A practical approach is to eat at the estimate for two to four weeks, track your weight, and adjust.

If you are pregnant, breastfeeding, under 18 or managing a health condition, ask a doctor or registered dietitian for your target. To split your calories into protein, carbs and fat, use the Macro Calculator.