Tools
Calorie Calculator (TDEE)
Use this calorie calculator to find your BMR and TDEE from age, sex, height, weight and activity level, in pounds and feet, stones or kilograms. It compares the Mifflin-St Jeor, Harris-Benedict and Katch-McArdle equations, then gives daily calories to lose, maintain or gain weight, a safe minimum check and a macro split in kcal and kJ. Free, no sign-up.
This is an estimate, not medical advice. If you are pregnant or breastfeeding, under 18, have a history of eating disorders, or live with a chronic condition such as diabetes, kidney or thyroid disease, set your target with your doctor or a registered dietitian.
Result
Enter your age, height and weight; your daily calories update instantly.
- Protein0 g
- Fat0 g
- Carbs0 g
| Goal | Per week | kcal/day | kJ/day | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mild weight loss | - | 0 | 0 | - |
| Weight loss | - | 0 | 0 | - |
| Fast weight loss | - | 0 | 0 | - |
| Maintain weight | - | 0 | 0 | - |
| Mild weight gain | - | 0 | 0 | - |
| Weight gain | - | 0 | 0 | - |
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How to use the calorie calculator
- Pick your units
US units take feet, inches and pounds; UK units take feet, inches, stones and pounds. Metric takes centimetres and kilograms.
- Enter sex, age, height and weight
The equations use different constants for women and men. The calculator is for adults aged 18 to 100, and the result updates as you type.
- Choose an honest activity level
Think about your whole week, including your job, not just the gym. Also, if you are unsure, pick the level below.
- Set your goal and equation
Choose to lose, maintain or gain, and at what pace per week. If you know your body fat, compare the Katch-McArdle result too.
- Adjust the macro split
Choose protein in grams per kilogram and fat as a share of calories. The calculator gives the rest to carbs and shows grams for each.
Calorie calculator formulas
The calculator first finds your basal metabolic rate (BMR). Then it multiplies BMR by an activity factor to get TDEE, and adds or subtracts the daily difference for your goal.
BMR = 10 × kg + 6.25 × cm − 5 × age − 161BMR = 10 × kg + 6.25 × cm − 5 × age + 5BMR = 447.593 + 9.247 × kg + 3.098 × cm − 4.330 × ageBMR = 88.362 + 13.397 × kg + 4.799 × cm − 5.677 × ageBMR = 370 + 21.6 × lean mass; lean mass = kg × (1 − body fat % ÷ 100)TDEE = BMR × 1.2 / 1.375 / 1.55 / 1.725 / 1.9target = TDEE ± lb per week × 3,500 ÷ 7 (metric: kg per week × 7,700 ÷ 7)protein kcal = g/kg × kg × 4; fat kcal = target × share; carb kcal = what is left; 1 g fat = 9 kcal1 lb = 0.45359237 kg; 1 in = 2.54 cm; 1 st = 14 lb; 1 kcal = 4.184 kJThe calculator keeps BMR and TDEE unrounded and only rounds what you see. So the gap between the maintenance row and your goal row always equals the exact deficit or surplus you chose.
Worked calorie calculator examples
Enter these people with the same values and you will see exactly these results. All use Mifflin-St Jeor, 1.6 g/kg protein and 30% fat.
| Person | BMR | Factor | TDEE (kcal) | TDEE (kJ) | Goal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Man, 35, 5 ft 10 in, 180 lb | 1,758 | × 1.375 | 2,417 | 10,112 | 1,917 (lose 1 lb/week) |
| Woman, 30, 5 ft 5 in, 150 lb | 1,401 | × 1.55 | 2,172 | 9,087 | 1,672 (lose 1 lb/week) |
| Woman, 50, 5 ft 1 in, 121 lb | 1,106 | × 1.2 | 1,327 | 5,554 | 1,077 (lose 0.5 lb/week; below minimum) |
| Man, 28, 6 ft 0 in, 13 st 5 lb (UK) | 1,856 | × 1.725 | 3,202 | 13,397 | 3,452 (gain 0.5 lb/week) |
For the first man, revised Harris-Benedict gives a BMR of 1,837 and TDEE of 2,526 kcal. With 22% body fat, Katch-McArdle gives 1,746 and 2,400 kcal. In the third row the calculator shows the 1,200 kcal warning.
Calories per day by activity level
This table shows daily needs for someone with a BMR of 1,500 kcal at each of the five levels. Multiply your own BMR by the same factor to adapt any row.
| Level | Typical week | Factor | TDEE (kcal) | TDEE (kJ) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sedentary | desk job, no exercise | 1.2 | 1,800 | 7,531 |
| Lightly active | light exercise 1 to 3 days | 1.375 | 2,063 | 8,630 |
| Moderately active | moderate exercise 3 to 5 days | 1.55 | 2,325 | 9,728 |
| Very active | hard exercise 6 to 7 days | 1.725 | 2,588 | 10,826 |
| Extra active | twice daily training or a physical job | 1.9 | 2,850 | 11,924 |
These are the activity multipliers most calorie and TDEE calculators use. UK food labels show energy in both kcal and kJ, so the last column helps when you compare with packaging.
What does a calorie calculator actually measure?
A calorie calculator estimates how much energy your body burns in a day. That total has two parts. First comes your basal metabolic rate (BMR), the energy you use at complete rest for breathing, circulation and body heat. Then comes everything movement and digestion add on top. Together they make your total daily energy expenditure, or TDEE.
The big number in the result is your maintenance calories, the amount that keeps your weight stable. The card below it then gives the target for your chosen goal. You also get the figure in kilojoules, your body mass index and a side by side view of three equations. If you need your exact age from a birth date, the age calculator does that in one step.
In practice, treat the result as a starting point, not a verdict. Two people with the same age, height and weight can burn a few percent more or less. So use the number for two or three weeks, then adjust it to what your scale shows.
Which equation should your calorie calculator use?
This calculator uses the Mifflin-St Jeor equation by default. Mifflin and colleagues published it in 1990 after measuring resting energy use in 498 healthy adults aged 19 to 78. Later reviews also found it among the most consistent options for healthy adults, which is why most dietitians start with it.
The Harris-Benedict equation dates from 1919; the version here is the 1984 revision by Roza and Shizgal. It usually lands a little higher than Mifflin; in our examples the gap is 90 to 130 kcal a day. Katch-McArdle, by contrast, ignores sex and works from lean body mass. If you know your body fat from a DEXA scan or a reliable measurement, it can suit muscular people better.
In short, start with Mifflin-St Jeor. Then check the comparison rows. When all three equations agree, your estimate is solid; when they spread widely, take the middle value and let your scale decide.
How do you pick the right activity level?
The activity factor moves the result more than any other input. For example, someone with a BMR of 1,500 kcal sees 1,800 kcal as sedentary but 2,588 kcal as very active. That 788 kcal gap equals roughly 1.6 lb of fat over a week. So an optimistic choice quietly slows the weight loss you expect.
Think about your whole day, not only your workouts. If you sit at a desk and walk briskly three times a week, lightly active fits. A nurse or warehouse worker who also trains most days may be very active. Extra active is for athletes who train twice a day and for heavy manual work.
If you are unsure, pick the level below and weigh yourself at the same time each morning for two weeks. If you lose faster than planned, move up one level. When nothing changes, move down instead.
How many calories should you cut to lose weight?
The calculator turns your weekly pace into a daily deficit. The classic rule says a pound of body fat holds about 3,500 kcal. So losing 1 lb a week takes a deficit of 500 kcal a day, and 1.5 lb takes 750. In metric mode the same idea uses about 7,700 kcal per kilogram, which gives 550 kcal a day for 0.5 kg.
However, the rule works best in the short term and overstates long term loss. As you lose weight, your BMR falls and your body saves a little energy. Therefore, recalculate with your new weight every 10 pounds or so. That keeps your target honest.
Pace matters too. Half a pound to a pound a week suits most people and is easier to keep up. The fast option brings quicker results but also more hunger, fatigue and muscle loss. The same logic applies if you want to gain: a slow surplus favors muscle over fat.
Why not eat under 1,200 or 1,500 calories a day?
Very low intakes make it hard to get enough protein, vitamins and minerals. For that reason, Harvard Health advises that calorie intake should not fall below 1,200 a day for women or 1,500 for men without the supervision of a health professional. When your target drops below that line, the calculator shows an amber warning and flags the row in the table.
The simplest fix is a slower pace. Moving more also helps, because the same deficit then leaves you a bigger food budget. If the target also falls below your BMR, the calculator says so separately.
This tool is not enough on its own if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, under 18, have a history of eating disorders, or live with diabetes, kidney or thyroid disease. Talha Aslan and the team built it for general estimates; please set your personal plan with your doctor or a registered dietitian.
How should you split protein, fat and carbs?
The macro block divides your target calories into protein, fat and carbs. Protein comes first, because grams per kilogram of body weight say more than a percentage does. The adult RDA is 0.8 g/kg. The 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans go further and aim for 1.2 to 1.6 g/kg a day. During weight loss, that range also helps you keep muscle.
For fat, the National Academies suggest 20 to 35% of calories. Carbs then take whatever is left, and the calculator shows the grams. If carbs fall below 130 g a day, the adult RDA, you will see a short note. To check a share by hand, the percentage calculator is handy.
People with a lot of excess weight get a high protein figure when it rests on current weight. In that case dietitians often use a goal weight instead. So read the grams as an upper bound rather than a quota.
Do US, UK and metric units change the result?
No, units only change how you enter the numbers. The calculator converts feet, inches, pounds and stones to centimetres and kilograms first, and the equations always run in metric. For example, 5 ft 10 in is 177.8 cm and 180 lb is 81.65 kg. In UK units, 12 st 12 lb is the same 180 lb.
When you switch units, the calculator converts what you typed. Small rounding may shift the result by a calorie or two. The one visible difference is the weekly pace: US and UK modes show pounds per week, while metric shows kilograms. That is why 1 lb and 0.5 kg per week come out close but not identical.
Need other conversions? The unit converter covers length, weight and energy. Also note that 1 kcal equals 4.184 kJ, and UK and EU food labels print both.
Should your health or fitness site offer a calorie calculator?
Calorie questions are everyday health searches in the US and the UK. If you run a gym, a nutrition practice or a health food brand, the person typing that question is exactly your customer. A good calculator keeps visitors on the page, builds trust and leads naturally to a booking or product page.
That said, Google looks hard at trust signals on health content. Formulas without sources or invented numbers can hurt your rankings. Our E-E-A-T guide explains those signals, and our piece on website trust signals covers what turns visitors into clients.
Talha Aslan and the team build custom calculators as part of a web design project. Then our SEO consulting puts the tool in front of the right searches.
Common calorie counting mistakes
- ✕MistakeOverstating your activity level✓Do this insteadTwo gym sessions a week do not make you very active; pick the lower level and check with your scale.
- ✕MistakeTreating BMR as your target✓Do this insteadBMR is only your resting burn; your target comes from TDEE minus the deficit you chose.
- ✕MistakeNever recalculating✓Do this insteadRun the numbers again every 10 pounds or so, or your loss will stall.
- ✕MistakeIgnoring the minimum warning✓Do this insteadIf the warning appears, choose a slower pace or work with a doctor.
- ✕MistakeMixing up stones and pounds✓Do this insteadOne stone is 14 lb; enter 12 st 12 lb in the two boxes, not as 12.12.
- Mifflin et al. (1990), Am J Clin Nutr: A new predictive equation for resting energy expenditure in healthy individuals
- Roza and Shizgal (1984), Am J Clin Nutr: The Harris Benedict equation reevaluated
- Dietary Guidelines for Americans (USDA and HHS)
- NHS: Understanding calories
- Harvard Health: Calorie counting made easy (1,200 and 1,500 kcal minimums)
Frequently Asked Questions
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