Health · 18+

Calorie Calculator

BMR, TDEE, and Daily Calorie Targets

Enter your age, sex, height, weight, and activity level to find your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) and Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE). Choose a goal — from rapid fat loss to muscle gain — to get a personalised daily calorie target, an estimated weekly weight change, and macronutrient ranges based on your body weight. Calculations use the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, the formula most widely validated for the general adult population.

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About this tool

Use this when you need an evidence-based starting calorie target from height, weight, age, sex, and a self-reported activity tier. It is suitable for planning maintenance, fat loss, or controlled surplus phases in generally healthy adults. It is not for pregnancy, eating-disorder recovery, or inpatient metabolic care without a clinician.

BMR uses Mifflin–St Jeor: men 10W + 6.25H − 5A + 5; women 10W + 6.25H − 5A − 161 (W kg, H cm, A years). TDEE multiplies BMR by an activity factor from sedentary (1.2) through extreme (1.9). Goal calories add or subtract a fixed energy difference from TDEE; macro grams derive from protein-per-kg bands, fat as a percent of calories, and remainder as carbohydrate. Displayed kcal and grams round sensibly for UI; treat outputs as estimates (±~10% for many adults).

Last updated: 2026-05-08

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Your daily calories

Complete the form to see your daily calorie target.

The Mifflin-St Jeor Formula

BMR is the number of calories your body burns at complete rest. The Mifflin-St Jeor equation calculates it from weight, height, age, and sex:

Male: BMR = 10 × kg + 6.25 × cm − 5 × age + 5

Female: BMR = 10 × kg + 6.25 × cm − 5 × age − 161

Example: a 35-year-old male who weighs 80 kg and stands 178 cm has a BMR of (10 × 80) + (6.25 × 178) − (5 × 35) + 5 = 800 + 1112.5 − 175 + 5 = 1,743 kcal/day.

The formula was validated in a 1990 study by Mifflin et al. and has since been confirmed across multiple populations as more accurate than the older Harris-Benedict equation for most non-athletic adults.

Activity Multipliers and TDEE

TDEE multiplies BMR by a factor that reflects how much you move each day:

Level	Description	Multiplier
Sedentary	Desk job, little or no deliberate exercise	1.20
Light	Light exercise 1–3 days per week	1.375
Moderate	Moderate exercise 3–5 days per week	1.55
Active	Hard exercise 6–7 days per week	1.725
Extreme	Physical job plus daily training, or twice-daily training	1.90

Most people overestimate their activity level. If in doubt, choose the level below your instinct — it's easier to add calories than to correct an overestimate.

Setting a Calorie Goal

Once you know your TDEE, setting a goal is a matter of arithmetic. A pound of body fat stores roughly 3,500 kcal; one kilogram stores about 7,700 kcal.

Goal	Daily adjustment	Expected weekly change
Lose (fast)	−1,000 kcal	~−0.9 kg / −2 lb
Lose	−500 kcal	~−0.5 kg / −1 lb
Maintain	0 kcal	No change
Gain	+300 kcal	~+0.3 kg / +0.6 lb
Gain (fast)	+500 kcal	~+0.5 kg / +1 lb

These are estimates, not guarantees. Body weight fluctuates daily with water retention, glycogen stores, and digestion. Track over weeks, not days. The recommended minimum is 1,200 kcal/day for females and 1,500 kcal/day for males — below these thresholds, meeting micronutrient needs becomes very difficult.

Macronutrient Ranges

Once you have a calorie target, macros determine the composition of those calories:

Protein — 1.6–2.4 g per kg of body weight. Higher protein intake preserves muscle during a deficit and increases satiety. The upper end of this range (2.0–2.4 g/kg) is most relevant when losing weight or doing significant resistance training.

Fat — 25–35% of total calories. Fat is essential for hormone production and fat-soluble vitamin absorption. Going below 20% of calories from fat for extended periods is not advisable for most adults.

Carbohydrates — the remainder. After allocating protein and fat calories, the rest comes from carbohydrates. This is not a floor or ceiling — just what's left. If the remainder is very low (under 50–100 g/day), you are effectively in a low-carbohydrate pattern; this is viable for some goals but requires attention to fibre and electrolytes.

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