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- Calorie Calculator: Your Maintenance Calories (TDEE)
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Calorie Calculator: Your Maintenance Calories (TDEE)
This calorie calculator gives you your maintenance calories (TDEE), your resting energy (BMR), and daily targets for losing about 0.25 or 0.5 kg a week or gaining lean muscle. Enter your sex, age, height, weight and activity level; it takes under a minute.
Journals that use this number
Every number calculated by code from published formulas.
- High-protein fat-loss meal planfrom €19Enter your body, activity and food preferences and get a printable journal with your calorie, protein and fibre targets, 14 days of portion-sized menus, weekly shopping lists and a 4-week habit tracker.
- Walking plan for weight lossfrom €15Enter your current steps, height, weight, age, goal and how long you can walk. Your journal sets a weekly step ramp, picks interval or incline sessions to suit your knees and kit, and estimates the distance and energy behind every target.
- 12-week gym plan for womenfrom €19Answer a few questions about your experience, schedule and gym, and get a printable 12-week journal with every exercise, set, rep and effort level chosen for you, plus logs that tell you exactly when to add weight.
How it's calculated
Your resting energy (BMR) is estimated with the Mifflin–St Jeor equation: 10 × weight in kg + 6.25 × height in cm − 5 × age, then +5 for men or −161 for women. Among the common predictive equations it is one of the most accurate for healthy adults, but it is still an estimate: two people with the same inputs can differ by a couple of hundred calories, mostly because of differences in muscle mass.
Your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) is your BMR multiplied by an activity factor: 1.2 for sedentary, 1.375 for light activity (1–3 workouts a week), 1.55 for moderate (3–5), 1.725 for very active (6–7) and 1.9 for extra active (a physical job plus training). Most people overestimate their activity, so if you are between two levels, start with the lower one. Your daily steps outside the gym matter as much as your workouts.
The fat-loss targets subtract roughly 550 kcal a day (about 0.5 kg a week) or 275 kcal a day (about 0.25 kg a week) from your TDEE. The faster target never goes below 1,200 kcal for women or 1,500 kcal for men, because eating less than that makes it hard to cover protein and micronutrients without supervision. The muscle-gain target adds 250 kcal a day, a modest surplus that limits fat gain. Results are rounded to the nearest 10 kcal.
Treat the number as a starting point, not a verdict. Eat at your chosen target for two to three weeks, weigh yourself several mornings a week, and compare weekly averages. If your weight is not moving the way you expected, adjust by 100–200 kcal and reassess. Real intake tracking will always beat any formula.
Calories decide the direction of your weight; protein and training decide how much of the change is fat versus muscle. Once you have a target, split it with the macro calculator and set a protein floor with the protein calculator. If you would rather follow a structured plan, the walking plan for weight loss pairs well with a moderate deficit.
This calculator is not designed for pregnancy, breastfeeding, under-15s, or anyone with a medical condition or history of disordered eating. In those cases, set targets with a doctor or registered dietitian.
| Activity level | What it looks like | Multiplier |
|---|---|---|
| Sedentary | Desk job, little or no exercise | 1.2 |
| Light | 1–3 workouts a week | 1.375 |
| Moderate | 3–5 workouts a week | 1.55 |
| Very active | 6–7 workouts a week | 1.725 |
| Extra active | Physical job plus training | 1.9 |
Frequently asked questions
What are maintenance calories?
Maintenance calories are the number of calories you need each day to keep your weight stable. They equal your TDEE: your resting energy plus everything you burn through movement, exercise and digesting food. Eat below maintenance and you lose weight over time; eat above it and you gain. The figure is an estimate, so confirm it by tracking your weight for a few weeks.
What is the difference between BMR and TDEE?
BMR is the energy your body uses at complete rest just to stay alive: breathing, circulation, organ function. TDEE adds everything else, including daily movement, workouts and the energy cost of digestion. For most people TDEE is 20–90% higher than BMR, depending on how active they are. You should base your eating targets on TDEE, not BMR.
How accurate is a TDEE calculator?
A TDEE calculator is a reasonable starting estimate, usually within a few hundred calories for healthy adults. Mifflin–St Jeor performs well in studies, but it cannot see your muscle mass, genetics or how much you move outside workouts. The activity multiplier adds the most uncertainty. Use the result for two to three weeks, track your weight trend, and adjust from there.
How many calories should I eat to lose weight?
Most people lose weight steadily by eating about 300–550 calories below their maintenance calories, which works out to roughly 0.25–0.5 kg a week. Smaller deficits are easier to sustain and better for keeping muscle. Avoid going below about 1,200 kcal (women) or 1,500 kcal (men) without medical supervision, and keep protein high while you diet.
Why am I not losing weight on my calorie target?
Usually because your real intake is higher or your real burn is lower than estimated. Portion creep, untracked drinks and weekend eating are common causes, and so is choosing too high an activity level. Daily weight also swings with water and salt. Compare two-week averages, and if the trend is flat, lower your target by 100–200 kcal.
Should I eat back the calories I burn exercising?
Not if you chose an activity level that already includes your workouts, because the multiplier counts them. Adding exercise calories on top would double-count them. Fitness trackers also tend to overestimate calories burned. If you picked sedentary and train occasionally, eating back part of a hard session is reasonable, but let your weight trend guide you.
How often should I recalculate my calories?
Recalculate after every 4–5 kg of weight change, or whenever your activity changes meaningfully, such as a new job or a new training block. As you lose weight, your maintenance calories fall, so a target that worked at the start will gradually slow your progress. Your weekly weight trend is the best signal that it is time to update.
Other calculators
- Macro Calculator: Protein, Carbs and Fat for Your Goal
- Heart Rate Zone Calculator: Find Your Zone 2 and All Five Zones
- Body Fat Calculator: US Navy Tape-Measure Method
- Water Intake Calculator: How Much Water Should You Drink?
- Protein Calculator: How Much Protein Do You Need?
- BMI Calculator with Waist-to-Height Ratio
General fitness information, not medical advice. Check with a doctor if you have a medical condition, are pregnant or have an injury.