Calorie / TDEE Calculator
Daily calories to maintain, lose or gain weight from Mifflin-St Jeor and your activity level
100% free. Runs entirely in your browser - your files and data never leave your device and nothing is uploaded to any server.
Units
Sex
Activity
Exercise 3 to 5 days a week
Goal
About 112 g protein/day at 1.6 g per kg is a common athletic starting point. 500 kcal/day is a planning figure for about 0.5 kg a week. Real change varies with sleep, sodium and training.
Estimates only. Not medical advice and not a diagnosis. Talk to a clinician about your own numbers. Mifflin-St Jeor. Floor of 1,200 kcal/day is a safety cap, not a prescription.
About this tool
TDEE is your total daily energy expenditure: the calories you burn at rest plus the cost of moving through a normal day. This page starts with Mifflin-St Jeor for BMR, multiplies by an activity factor, then applies a calorie gap for a slow loss or gain. A 500 kcal daily gap is a common planning figure for about 0.5 kg a week, using 7,700 kcal as a rough kilogram of body fat. Real weight change is noisier than that because of water, glycogen, sodium and the scale's own wobble. The 1,200 kcal floor is a safety cap on this website, not a diet to copy. Pair the daily target with the macro calculator if you want grams. Estimates only. Not medical advice and not a diagnosis.
How to use this tool
- Choose metric or imperialKilograms and centimetres, or pounds and feet and inches. The formula is the same either way.
- Enter sex, age, height and weightHeight accuracy matters because BMR uses centimetres directly.
- Pick how active you really areMost desk jobs with a few gym sessions are Light or Moderate, not Very active.
- Choose maintain, lose or gainThe target calories and an approximate weekly kg change update as you type.
How daily calorie needs are calculated
First the calculator estimates your BMR with the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, then multiplies it by an activity factor: 1.2 for sedentary, 1.375 for light exercise 1 to 3 days a week, 1.55 for moderate exercise 3 to 5 days, 1.725 for hard exercise 6 to 7 days and 1.9 for a physical job or twice-daily training. The result is your TDEE - roughly the calories that keep your weight steady.
Example: a BMR of 1,370 calories with moderate activity gives 1,370 x 1.55 = about 2,120 calories to maintain weight. Eating around 500 calories a day less is a common target for losing about 0.5 kg (1 lb) a week, which here would be about 1,620 calories.
Key features
- Daily target for maintain, lose or gain, not only a rest-calorie BMR.
- Mifflin-St Jeor plus standard activity multipliers used in most modern TDEE tools.
- A 1,200 kcal floor so the page will not recommend an extreme cut.
- A protein hint at 1.6 g per kg, which many active adults use as a starting point.
- Runs in your browser. Height, weight and age are never uploaded.
Common uses
- Setting a first calorie target before a fat-loss or surplus block.
- Checking whether an app's "2,000 calories" actually matches your size and activity.
- Handing a coach a TDEE number plus the activity level you chose.
- Pairing with macros once you know the daily kcal.
Tips for better results
- Be honest about activity. Overstating it is the usual reason a "deficit" does not move the scale.
- Re-run the calculator after a 3 to 5 kg change. BMR tracks body weight.
- Use a 250 kcal gap first if you train hard or have already been dieting.
- Sleep, steps and protein usually matter more than shaving another 100 kcal.
Mistakes to avoid
- Eating BMR as if it were a full day of calories. BMR is rest only; TDEE includes movement.
- Picking Very active because you walked twice this week.
- Treating 0.5 kg a week as a guarantee. Water and glycogen hide fat loss for days.
- Dropping under the floor, or copying a 1,200 kcal target when your TDEE is much higher.
- Changing medication, training or a medical diet from a website estimate.
Frequently asked questions
Total daily energy expenditure: calories you burn in a typical day, including rest, walking and exercise. Eating near TDEE tends to hold weight stable over weeks, not overnight.
BMR is calories at complete rest. This page starts there, then adds activity and a goal so you get a daily target. Keep BMR as the rest figure; use this page for "how many calories should I eat".
Many adults plan 250 to 500 kcal under TDEE. Larger cuts stall training and under-eat protein. Pregnancy, eating-disorder history and medical diets need a clinician, not this page.
Going far below that on a website calculator is a poor idea without supervision. The floor is a guardrail, not a recommended intake for every adult.
The page uses 7,700 kcal per kilogram as a planning figure. A 500 kcal daily gap is about 3,500 kcal a week, or roughly 0.5 kg. That is a sketch, not a promise.
1.6 g per kilogram is a common athletic starting point, not a medical prescription. Kidney disease, older age and vegetarian eating may need a different target from a dietitian.
No. The calculation runs in your browser. Nothing is transmitted or saved between visits.
Around 0.5 kg (1 lb) a week is a common sustainable pace. The first week often shows more because of water loss, and later weeks stall at times even when the deficit holds - judge progress over a month, not a day.
Most people overestimate it. If you sit at a desk and train two or three times a week, 'lightly active' is usually closer than 'moderately active'. Start lower, track your weight for two to three weeks and adjust.
A small surplus of about 250-500 kcal a day on top of maintenance, combined with strength training and enough protein, limits fat gain while muscle builds. Larger surpluses mostly add fat.