CalculatorMine

Calorie Calculator

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ft
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Your Results

To keep your weight while moderately active, you need about 2,650 calories a day. At complete rest your body burns about 1,710 (your BMR), and daily activity adds the rest. To lose 1 lb a week, eat about 2,150; to lose ½ lb, about 2,400. These are estimates; your own needs can differ by a few hundred calories.

2,650
Calories a day to keep your weight
1,710
Burned at Rest (BMR)
2,400
Lose ½ lb a week
2,150
Lose 1 lb a week
2,900
Gain ½ lb a week

Calories a day to keep your weight, at each activity level

  • Your activity level
  • Other levels
Calories by Goal
GoalA DayCalories a Day
Lose 2 lb a week−1,0001,650
Lose 1 lb a week−5002,150
Lose ½ lb a week−2502,400
Keep your weight–2,650
Gain ½ lb a week+2502,900
Gain 1 lb a week+5003,150

A pound of body weight is about 3,500 calories, so each pound a week is about 500 a day.

What Are Your Daily Calorie Needs?

A calorie is a unit of energy in food. Your daily calorie needs, sometimes called your maintenance calories or total daily energy expenditure (TDEE), are the calories that keep your weight the same. Eat more and you tend to gain weight; eat less and you tend to lose it.

  • BMR (basal metabolic rate): the calories your body burns at complete rest, just to keep breathing, pumping blood and staying warm. For most people it's well over half of the day's total.
  • Activity: everything else, from walking around the house to a workout. The more active you are, the more you burn.

This calculator gives estimates for healthy adults. If you're pregnant or breastfeeding, a competitive athlete, still growing, or have a medical condition such as diabetes or a thyroid problem, your needs can be quite different, so ask a doctor or dietitian.

How to Calculate Calories

First estimate your BMR. The Mifflin-St Jeor equation, published in 1990, is widely used and usually the closer estimate for most adults:

BMR=10W+6.25H−5A+s

Then multiply by an activity factor to get the calories that keep your weight:

Calories=BMR×activity factor
  • W: weight in kilograms (pounds × 0.4536).
  • H: height in centimeters (inches × 2.54).
  • A: age in years.
  • s: +5 for men, −161 for women.
  • Activity factor: 1.2 sedentary (little or no exercise); 1.375 lightly active (exercise 1 to 3 days a week); 1.55 moderately active (exercise 3 to 5 days a week); 1.725 very active (hard exercise 6 to 7 days a week); 1.9 extra active (hard daily exercise or a physical job).

The older Harris-Benedict equation, first published in 1919 and revised in 1984, is the other choice in the calculator. For men it's 88.362 + 13.397W + 4.799H − 5.677A, and for women 447.593 + 9.247W + 3.098H − 4.330A. It tends to give slightly higher numbers.

To lose weight, eat fewer calories than you burn. A pound of body weight is about 3,500 calories, so eating about 500 fewer calories a day loses about a pound a week (a kilogram is about 7,700 calories, or 1,100 a day for a kilogram a week). This rule of thumb is rough: weight loss often slows over time as your body adjusts.

Example

A 35-year-old man, 5 feet 10 inches (177.8 cm) tall, weighing 170 pounds (77.1 kg), who exercises 3 to 5 days a week:

  • BMR: 10 × 77.1 + 6.25 × 177.8 − 5 × 35 + 5 = 1,710 calories
  • To keep his weight: 1,710 × 1.55 = 2,650 calories a day
  • To lose about 1 pound a week: 2,650 − 500 = 2,150
  • With Harris-Benedict instead, he'd need about 2,750 to keep his weight.

How to Use the Calorie Calculator

"I'm 35, 5'10" and 170 pounds, and I work out a few times a week. How many calories should I eat to keep my weight, or to lose a pound a week?" This calculator answers that.

Let's enter the numbers for this example in each box. They are already filled in when the calculator opens, so you can follow along and then change any box to match yourself.

  • Units: Choose US for feet, inches and pounds, or Metric for centimeters and kilograms. Switching converts what you've typed.
  • Formula: Choose Mifflin-St Jeor, or Harris-Benedict to compare.
  • Age: Enter 35, in whole years, from 15 to 100.
  • Sex: Choose Male. The equations differ because men and women of the same size usually burn different amounts.
  • Height: Enter 5 feet and 10 inches (3 to 8 feet), or 177.8 centimeters in metric (90 to 250).
  • Weight: Enter 170 pounds (50 to 1,000), or kilograms in metric (20 to 450).
  • Activity Level: Choose Moderately active, for exercise 3 to 5 days a week. Pick the level that fits a typical week, not your best one.

Calculate and Reset

Click Calculate to see your results. If a box has a problem, such as letters, an empty box or a height out of range, a message pops up under that box instead. With the default numbers you get:

  • Your Results: the calories to keep your weight (2,650), your BMR, and the calories to lose about 1 pound or half a pound a week.
  • Calories a day to keep your weight: the headline number, 2,650.
  • Burned at Rest (BMR): 1,710, the calories your body uses doing nothing at all.
  • Lose ½ lb, Lose 1 lb and Gain ½ lb a week: 2,400, 2,150 and 2,900 calories a day. In metric they're in kilograms. A goal that would go below the safe minimum shows "Too low" instead of a number.
  • Calories a day at each activity level: a chart of how your needs change from sedentary (2,050) to extra active (3,250), with your level in amber.
  • Calories by Goal: a table from losing 2 pounds a week to gaining 1, with the change a day. Goals that would take you below 1,200 calories a day (women) or 1,500 (men) are greyed and marked, because going that low isn't recommended without a doctor's guidance.
  • Share Results: a link that opens this calculator with your numbers filled in. Copy it, or share it on Facebook or X.

Click Reset to put every box back to its default and show the default results again. These are estimates, and real needs can differ by a few hundred calories a day. Track your weight for a few weeks and adjust. This is for information only, not medical advice.