Calorie Calculator
Calculate your daily calorie needs based on BMR, activity level and weight goal.
- BMR (resting)1,676 kcal
- TDEE (maintenance)2,598 kcal
- Your Goal2,598 kcal
Your goal of 2,598 kcal/day is equal to your maintenance level (TDEE), which is itself 922 kcal above your resting burn (BMR).
- Calories to Maintain (TDEE)2,598 kcal/day
- BMR (resting)1,676 kcal/day
ƒShow your work
- 1BMR = 1,676 kcal/day
- 2TDEE = BMR × activity factor (1.55) = 2,598 kcal/day
- 3Goal adjustment: +0 kcal/day → 2,598 kcal/day
About the Calorie Calculator
This calculator turns your resting metabolism and activity level into an actual daily calorie number for losing, maintaining or gaining weight — the figure most diet apps ask you to type in on day one. It starts from BMR, scales it up by how active you are to get your maintenance level (TDEE), then adds or subtracts calories depending on the goal you pick.
The result is only ever an estimate, and it's worth being upfront about that: two people with identical stats can have real-world calorie needs that differ by a couple hundred calories a day due to genetics, gut microbiome, sleep, stress and how precisely they actually stick to a number. Treat the output as a sensible starting point to adjust from over a few weeks of real results, not a fixed target carved in stone.
It's built for anyone setting up a diet — someone starting a cut, someone trying to bulk cleanly, or someone who just wants to know their maintenance number before they decide to change anything. Your height, weight and goals are personal enough that it's worth knowing nothing you enter here is sent to a server or saved anywhere.
How it’s calculated
The math happens in two stages: first BMR × activity factor gives TDEE, your estimated maintenance calories. Then a goal adjustment is applied — roughly ±250 kcal/day for a slower ±0.5 lb/week pace, or ±500 kcal/day for a faster ±1 lb/week pace, based on the rough rule that one pound of body fat represents about 3,500 stored calories.
That 3,500-calorie figure is itself an approximation, not a precise constant — actual weight change also includes water shifts, glycogen stores and lean mass changes, which is why real-world results at a given calorie target can vary from what the arithmetic alone predicts.
Frequently asked questions
How many calories should I eat to lose weight?
A moderate deficit of about 250–500 calories per day below your maintenance (TDEE) level is the pace most guidelines recommend for sustainable fat loss — roughly 0.5 to 1 pound per week. Select a goal above to see the specific number for your stats.
Is a 500-calorie deficit really 1 pound a week?
It's a widely used approximation based on ~3,500 calories per pound of fat, but real results vary — water retention, muscle changes and metabolic adaptation over time mean the scale rarely moves in a perfectly straight line even at a consistent deficit.
Should I eat back the calories I burn exercising?
If your activity level selection above already reflects your typical exercise, no — it's already baked into the number. Only add back calories for workouts that are unusually intense or infrequent relative to what you selected.
Why am I not losing weight at my calculated calories?
The most common culprits are underestimating portion sizes, inconsistent logging, or an activity level selected here that's more optimistic than reality — most people overestimate how active they actually are. Give it 2–3 consistent weeks before adjusting the target.
How accurate are online calorie calculators in general?
They're a reasonable starting estimate, typically within a few hundred calories of an individual's true need — good enough to start a plan, not precise enough to treat as exact. Adjust based on your own weight trend over a few weeks.
Related calculators
Powered by GetCalculator.online