Calorie Calculator
Estimate the calories you burn each day and how much to eat to lose, keep or gain weight.
A job that takes little physical effort, getting about by car or bus, no regular exercise or sport, and most spare time spent sitting or standing.
Switches BMR to Katch-McArdle, which works from lean mass.
Choose a sex, then enter your age, height and weight to see the result.
See when you reach a goal weight in the Calorie Deficit Calculator, or split your calories in the Macro Calculator.
Estimates the calories you burn in a day, your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE), and how much to eat to keep, lose or gain weight at a weekly rate. Activity comes from the lifestyle bands of the FAO/WHO/UNU expert report, and the target for a goal comes from the NIH Body Weight Planner's model rather than a fixed calories-per-kilo rule. Pregnancy and breastfeeding add their own energy. Every calculation runs in your browser.
Reading the result
Maintenance (TDEE) is the intake that holds your weight today. It is shown at FAO's worked example for your activity band, with the range across the whole band under it: the band is wide, and where you sit in it depends on how much of your day is spent moving.
The target for Lose or Gain is the steady intake the model says gives that rate, on average, over the first 12 weeks. Every figure is an estimate. The surest way to calibrate it is to eat close to the target for a few weeks while weighing yourself at the same time of day, then move the intake up or down by what the scale shows.
How it works
BMR comes from Mifflin-St Jeor, or from Katch-McArdle when you enter a body fat percentage. It is multiplied by a physical activity level (PAL) from the FAO/WHO/UNU 2004 report's three lifestyles: sedentary or light activity, 1.40–1.69; active or moderately active, 1.70–1.99; vigorous, 2.00–2.40. The headline uses the worked example the report gives in each band, 1.53, 1.76 and 2.25; these are FAO's examples, not the middle of the band.
Many calculators multiply BMR by 1.2 for a sedentary person. That figure has no published source; FAO's lowest lifestyle starts at 1.40, because even a desk-bound day includes standing, walking and household tasks. The NIH Body Weight Planner uses the same pairing of Mifflin-St Jeor and PAL.
A weekly rate is not turned into calories at a fixed 3,500 kcal a pound (Wishnofsky's 1958 rule). As weight falls, so does the energy a body burns, so a fixed deficit loses less and less. The target here is found from Hall's dynamic model, which NIDDK's planner runs: the intake that reaches your weight less 12 weeks of the rate by week 12. Gain is modelled the same way.
Pregnancy adds FAO's 85, 285 or 475 kcal a day in the first, second and third trimester, and breastfeeding 505 kcal a day for the first 6 months and 460 after, for well-nourished women. Both hold the goal at maintain, as the weight model is not built for either. Figures are shown to the nearest 10 kcal; kJ are kcal × 4.184.
TDEE = BMR × PAL
BMR (Mifflin-St Jeor) = 9.99 × kg + 6.25 × cm − 4.92 × age + 5 (men) or − 161 (women)
BMR (Katch-McArdle) = 370 + 21.6 × lean mass in kg
Examples
A woman of 35, 165 cm and 64 kg, sedentary or light, Maintain
Maintenance is 2,050 kcal a day, within 1,870–2,260 kcal across the band, on a BMR of 1,340 kcal.
A man of 30, 180 cm and 90 kg, active, losing 0.5 kg a week
Maintenance is 3,310 kcal; the target is 2,650 kcal a day, 660 kcal under it. A fixed 3,500 kcal a pound would say 550 kcal; the model asks for more, as it counts the energy the body stops burning as weight falls.
A woman of 30, 160 cm and 60 kg, sedentary or light, in the second trimester
With Pregnant, second trimester, maintenance is 2,260 kcal, including FAO's 285 kcal for the trimester.
TDEE by activity
| Activity | Woman | Man |
|---|---|---|
| Sedentary or light | 1,970 kcal (1,800–2,170 kcal) | 2,580 kcal (2,360–2,850 kcal) |
| Active or moderately active | 2,260 kcal (2,180–2,560 kcal) | 2,970 kcal (2,870–3,360 kcal) |
| Vigorous | 2,890 kcal (2,570–3,080 kcal) | 3,800 kcal (3,380–4,050 kcal) |
Rules and sources
The activity bands, their worked examples and the pregnancy and breastfeeding energy are from the FAO/WHO/UNU 2004 report (chapters 5, 6 and 7). BMR is Mifflin-St Jeor (1990), or Katch-McArdle in the form Cunningham (1991) gives. Targets come from the dynamic model of Hall and colleagues (2011), ported from NIDDK's Body Weight Planner. NICE NG246 calls 800 to 1,200 kcal a day a low-energy diet and under 800 a very-low-energy diet, and recommends either only within a specialist service with clinical support, for no more than 12 weeks (recommendations 1.16.8 to 1.16.11); a target in either band carries a note saying so. The equations are for adults; the calculator gives no figure under 18.
Sources
- Human energy requirements: report of a joint FAO/WHO/UNU expert consultation (2004), chapters 5–7 — FAO
- Mifflin MD et al. A new predictive equation for resting energy expenditure in healthy individuals (Am J Clin Nutr 1990;51:241–247) — American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
- Cunningham JJ. Body composition as a determinant of energy expenditure: a synthetic review and a proposed general prediction equation (Am J Clin Nutr 1991;54:963–969) — American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
- Hall KD et al. Quantification of the effect of energy imbalance on bodyweight (Lancet 2011;378:826–837) — The Lancet
- Body Weight Planner — NIDDK, National Institutes of Health
- Overweight and obesity management (NG246), recommendations 1.16.8 to 1.16.11: low-energy and very-low-energy diets — NICE
- Wishnofsky M. Caloric equivalents of gained or lost weight (Am J Clin Nutr 1958;6:542–546) — American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
Reviewed
Frequently asked questions
See also
- Calorie Deficit Calculator — the date you reach a goal weight, week by week.
- Macro Calculator — your target split into protein, carbs and fat.
- BMR Calculator — the BMR equations side by side.
- Body Fat Calculator — a body fat estimate, which switches BMR to Katch-McArdle.