Calorie Calculator

How This Calorie Calculator Works

Enter your gender, age, height, weight, and activity level, and the calculator estimates the calories you burn at rest, scales that up to your total daily calorie needs, and breaks out target calorie ranges for mild or standard weight loss and gain — no separate manual math required.

Worked Example

A 30-year-old woman at 165 cm and 65 kg, with a light activity level, has a BMR of about 1,370 kcal/day and a TDEE of about 1,884 kcal/day — the calories she'd need to maintain her current weight. For a mild 0.5 lb/week loss, that's roughly 1,634 kcal/day; for a standard 1 lb/week loss, roughly 1,384 kcal/day.

The Formula

This calculator uses the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, generally considered one of the more accurate BMR formulas for the general population: BMR = 10 × weight(kg) + 6.25 × height(cm) − 5 × age + 5 (men) or − 161 (women). BMR — Basal Metabolic Rate — is the energy your body burns at complete rest just to stay alive. Multiplying it by an activity factor gives TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure), your actual calorie needs including movement and exercise.

Using TDEE for Weight Goals

Eating at your TDEE maintains your current weight. A sustained deficit of roughly 500 kcal/day tends to produce about 0.5 kg (1 lb) of weight loss per week, since that's roughly the energy stored in a pound of body fat — a 250 kcal/day deficit produces about half that rate; the reverse (a surplus) produces the same rates of weight gain. These are population averages, not guarantees — actual metabolism and results vary by individual, and much larger deficits than shown here are generally not recommended without medical guidance.