Calorie Calculator

This calculator uses the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, the formula most dietitians consider the most accurate for the general population. It combines your weight, height, age and sex into a single resting-metabolism estimate, which is then scaled up by your activity level to get TDEE.

Each level is a multiplier applied to your BMR: sedentary means little or no exercise, light activity is 1-3 workouts a week, moderate is 3-5, very active is 6-7 or a physically demanding job, and extra active combines hard training with a physically demanding job. Picking one level too high is the most common reason a calorie target ends up wrong.

A deficit or surplus of about 500 calories/day from your TDEE roughly targets a change of about 0.5kg (1lb) per week, since that's the approximate energy value of a pound of body fat. This calculator shows both a mild-loss and mild-gain target for reference; more aggressive deficits are possible but harder to sustain and more likely to affect muscle mass and energy levels.

BMR/TDEE formulas are population averages, not measurements of your actual metabolism, so real-world results vary by body composition, genetics, sleep, and other factors the formula doesn't see. Treat the number as a starting point to adjust from based on your real weight trend over a few weeks, not a fixed target.