Calorie Calculator
Find your daily calorie needs
About the Calculator
Knowing your daily calorie needs makes fitness and nutrition plans much easier to follow. This calculator estimates your basal metabolic rate and your total daily energy needs based on age, height, weight, and activity level. Use it to set a maintenance target, or to plan a safe calorie deficit or surplus. It is a helpful starting point for weight loss, muscle gain, or general health goals. Enter your details, pick an activity level, and get a clear number you can use to plan meals. The goal is clarity, not perfection, so you can make consistent choices that match your lifestyle.
Daily Calories
2,556 cal
BMR: 1649 cal
Lose Weight
2,056
Maintain
2,556
Gain Weight
3,056
The Formula
How to Calculate Manually
- 1
Calculate your BMR using weight (kg), height (cm), and age.
- 2
Multiply BMR by your activity factor.
- 3
Sedentary: BMR × 1.2 | Light exercise: BMR × 1.375
- 4
Moderate exercise: BMR × 1.55 | Active: BMR × 1.725
- 5
For weight loss, subtract 500 calories; for gain, add 500.
Examples
30-year-old male, 70kg, 175cm, moderate exercise
BMR = 1,673 cal, TDEE = 2,593 cal/day
How many calories to lose 1 lb/week?
Eat 500 fewer calories than your TDEE daily (3,500 cal = 1 lb)
💡 Tips
- •Don't cut calories too drastically - it can slow metabolism.
- •Protein requires more energy to digest than carbs or fat.
- •Muscle burns more calories at rest than fat.
- •Track your intake for a week to understand your actual consumption.
🎉 Fun Facts
- •The calorie was born in fire: a food calorie is measured by literally burning food in a device called a bomb calorimeter; scientists incinerate the food and measure heat released to determine caloric content, which is why nutrition labels exist.
- •Food label rounding loophole: FDA allows rounding on nutrition labels: 0-5 calories = "0 calories", 5-50 = nearest 5, 50+ = nearest 10; meaning a "0 calorie" spray butter might have 4.99 calories per spray and 50 calories if you use it 11 times.
- •The 3,500 calorie myth: the "3,500 calories = 1 pound" rule (predicting you would lose 52 lbs/year with a 500 calorie daily deficit) is oversimplified; in reality, the body adapts, metabolism slows, and most people lose only 50% of predicted weight due to adaptive thermogenesis.
- •Your brain is an energy hog: your brain represents 2% of body weight but burns 20% of daily calories (about 320 calories for a 1,600 calorie diet), making it the most metabolically expensive organ per pound, which is why "thinking hard" makes you hungry.
- •"Negative calorie" foods do not exist: celery is often called "negative calorie" because it is 6 calories but takes energy to digest; but the thermic effect of food (TEF) is only 5-15% of calories consumed, so celery nets about 5 calories, not negative.