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Calculate your daily calorie needs based on your age, gender, weight, and activity level.
Use our free calorie calculator to estimate your daily caloric needs. Based on the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, it accounts for your age, sex, height, weight, and activity level. The calculator is designed to give a fast answer, but the quality of the answer still depends on accurate inputs and a clear idea of what decision you are trying to support.
- Enter Age, Gender, and Weight using the same units you plan to compare or report.
- Add Height and Activity Level and review the inputs before calculating.
- Read the main daily calories (tdee) first, then use the supporting outputs to understand the trade-offs behind that result.
- Compare your numbers with the worked examples below if you want a quick reasonableness check.
The result estimates maintenance calories, which is the amount typically needed to hold body weight steady under the selected activity level. On this page, the primary output is daily calories (tdee).
Scenario 1: 30-year-old male, 70 kg, 175 cm, moderately active. Inputs used: age: 30, gender: male, weight: 70, height: 175, activity: 1.55. Example result: 2,556 kcal/day. A 30-year-old moderately active male needs approximately 2,556 calories per day to maintain weight.
Core formula: TDEE = BMR * activity multiplier. Basal metabolic rate is estimated with the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, then scaled by your activity level to estimate total daily energy expenditure.
- BMR is the energy your body uses at rest.
- TDEE is the better maintenance target because it includes activity.
Use this calculator to set a maintenance baseline before planning a calorie deficit, surplus, or macro strategy. Related paths for follow-up analysis include bmi calculator and body fat calculator.
Most bad outputs come from a few repeated input errors or interpretation mistakes. Use this short checklist before relying on the result.
- Picking an activity level that is more aspirational than real.
- Assuming estimated TDEE is perfect from day one without tracking response.
- Using calorie targets without checking protein, recovery, and training context.
