Calorie Calculator
Find out how many calories you need per day based on your goals.
| Goal | Daily Calories |
|---|---|
| Lose 2 lbs/week | -- |
| Lose 1 lb/week | -- |
| Lose 0.5 lb/week | -- |
| Maintain weight | -- |
| Gain 0.5 lb/week | -- |
| Gain 1 lb/week | -- |
This tool is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional financial, medical, legal, or engineering advice. See Terms of Service.
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Request a ToolHow to Use the Calorie Calculator
This calculator estimates how many calories you need each day based on your body, activity level, and goal. Here is how to get your result:
- Choose your unit system. Select Imperial for pounds and inches, or Metric for kilograms and centimeters.
- Enter your body stats. Fill in your weight, height, age, and biological sex. These values feed into the Mifflin-St Jeor BMR formula, which research has shown to be the most reliable equation for estimating calorie needs in healthy adults.
- Select your activity level. Be honest with this selection because the activity multiplier has the largest impact on your result. Sedentary means a desk job with little movement. Extra Active is for people with physically demanding jobs who also train hard.
- Pick your goal. Choose from weight loss, maintenance, or weight gain. The calculator will show you the daily calories for that specific goal, plus a table with all options so you can compare.
About the Calorie Calculator
This calculator uses the Mifflin-St Jeor equation to estimate your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), which is the number of calories your body burns at complete rest. Your BMR is then multiplied by an activity factor to determine your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE), also called your maintenance calories. This is the number of calories you would eat to keep your current weight stable.
To lose weight, you eat fewer calories than your TDEE. To gain weight or build muscle, you eat more. A 500-calorie daily deficit typically produces about 1 lb of fat loss per week, while a 1,000-calorie deficit targets 2 lbs per week. For weight gain, a 250-500 calorie surplus supports muscle growth when paired with resistance training. The Mifflin-St Jeor equation was published in 1990 and has been validated in multiple studies as more accurate than the older Harris-Benedict formula for most adults.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many calories should I eat per day?
The answer depends on your body size, age, sex, and activity level. General guidelines suggest about 2,000 calories per day for the average adult woman and 2,500 for the average adult man, but individual needs vary widely. Use this calculator to get a personalized estimate. For weight loss, most people target a 500-calorie daily deficit below their maintenance level, which produces roughly 1 lb of loss per week.
What is BMR?
BMR stands for Basal Metabolic Rate. It is the number of calories your body needs just to perform basic life-sustaining functions like breathing, circulation, and cell production while at complete rest. BMR typically accounts for 60-70% of your total daily calorie burn. Your BMR is determined by your weight, height, age, and sex. It does not include calories burned through physical activity or digestion.
How accurate is this calculator?
The Mifflin-St Jeor equation is accurate to within about 10% for most healthy adults. Factors like body composition (more muscle burns more calories), genetics, hormones, and non-exercise activity (fidgeting, walking around your home) can cause your actual needs to differ from the estimate. For the best results, use this calculator as a starting point, then track your intake and weight for 2-3 weeks and adjust based on what actually happens.
Should I eat back exercise calories?
It depends on how you set your activity level. If you selected an activity level that already accounts for your exercise routine, your TDEE already includes those burned calories, so eating them back would create a surplus. If you set your activity to Sedentary and then exercise on top of that, you may want to eat back a portion of those calories, typically about 50-75%, since calorie burn estimates from fitness trackers tend to be inflated. The safest approach is to pick an activity level that reflects your overall lifestyle including exercise.