Calculate your Total Daily Energy Expenditure — the total calories you burn each day — and see recommended intake for weight loss, maintenance, and gain.
BMR is calculated using the Mifflin-St Jeor equation. TDEE = BMR × activity multiplier.
| Goal | Calories / day | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Extreme weight loss | 1,302 kcal | −1000 kcal |
| Mild weight loss | 1,802 kcal | −500 kcal |
| Maintain weight | 2,302 kcal | 0 kcal |
| Mild weight gain | 2,552 kcal | +250 kcal |
| Weight gain | 2,802 kcal | +500 kcal |
| Activity Level | TDEE (kcal) |
|---|---|
| Sedentary | 2,009 |
| Lightly Active | 2,302 |
| Moderately Active | 2,595 |
| Very Active | 2,888 |
| Extra Active | 3,181 |
These are estimates. Individual metabolism can vary by 15–20%. Consult a healthcare professional for personalized dietary advice.
How many calories do I actually burn in a day, and why does every calculator give me a different number? Mostly because they pick different equations and different activity multipliers. This page uses the Mifflin-St Jeor equation for your resting burn, multiplies it by one of five activity factors, and then lists daily calorie targets running from a 1,000 kcal cut to a 500 kcal surplus.
Step one is basal metabolic rate (BMR) from the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, published in 1990: BMR = 10 × weight (kg) + 6.25 × height (cm) − 5 × age (years), then add 5 for men or subtract 161 for women. Step two is TDEE = BMR × activity factor, where the factors are 1.2 (sedentary), 1.375 (lightly active), 1.55 (moderately active), 1.725 (very active) and 1.9 (extra active). In US mode the page first converts pounds with × 0.453592 and feet-and-inches with total inches × 2.54.
Worked example with the default profile: a 25-year-old man, 175 cm, 70 kg, lightly active. BMR = 700 + 1,093.75 − 125 + 5 = 1,673.75, which the page rounds to 1,674 kcal. TDEE = 1,674 × 1.375 = 2,301.75, rounded to 2,302 kcal. The goal table then shows 1,302 for extreme loss (TDEE − 1,000), 1,802 for mild loss (− 500), 2,552 for mild gain (+ 250) and 2,802 for gain (+ 500). The activity dropdown alone moves the answer a long way: the same man at 1.2 lands on 2,009 kcal and at 1.9 on 3,181 kcal, a gap of 1,172.
What the number does not account for: the equation only sees sex, age, height and weight, so it cannot tell a lean 70 kg lifter from a 70 kg person carrying more body fat, and it knows nothing about thyroid conditions, pregnancy, medications or a recent crash diet. The activity factor is your own guess from a dropdown, and it is easy to guess one level too high. The calorie floors are also hard-coded: the mild-loss row never drops below 1,200 and the extreme-loss row never below 1,000, so a small or sedentary user may see those floors rather than a literal subtraction. Use the result as a starting point and adjust after two or three weeks of real weight data.
A watch estimates movement and heart rate through the day, while this page uses a formula plus a dropdown you choose. A gap of a few hundred calories is normal, and neither figure is ground truth.
Pick it for the whole day, averaged across the week. Someone who trains three evenings but sits ten hours at a desk is usually lightly active at best. The multiplier already includes typical exercise, so adding workout calories on top counts them twice.
That floor is built into the page so the table cannot print absurdly low numbers. It is not a recommendation. Eating that little should only happen under medical supervision, and anyone who is pregnant, under 18 or has a history of disordered eating should talk to a doctor or registered dietitian before cutting calories at all.
Eat at the number for two to three weeks while weighing yourself under similar conditions. If your weight is moving noticeably faster or slower than you intended, shift intake by 100 to 200 kcal and give it another couple of weeks.