Calorie Calculator

The Calorie Calculator estimates how many calories you burn per day and how many you should eat to lose, maintain, or gain weight, based on your body size, age, and activity level.

How daily calorie needs are calculated

This calculator first finds your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) — the calories your body burns at complete rest — using the Mifflin-St Jeor equation:

Men: BMR = 10W + 6.25H − 5A + 5 Women: BMR = 10W + 6.25H − 5A − 161

Where W is weight in kg, H is height in cm, and A is age in years. BMR is then multiplied by an activity factor to estimate Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE), your maintenance calorie level.

Example: A 30-year-old man, 5'9", 160 lb, lightly active, has a BMR of about 1,676 calories and a maintenance TDEE of roughly 2,305 calories/day. Eating around 1,805 calories/day would target about a 1 lb/week weight loss.

Using this for weight goals

A deficit of about 500 calories/day typically produces roughly 1 lb (0.45 kg) of weight loss per week, since 3,500 calories is roughly equivalent to a pound of body fat. See our BMR Calculator for the resting-metabolism number alone, or the BMI Calculator to check your current weight category.

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