Maintenance Calorie Calculator

About this tool

Maintenance calories are the daily energy that keeps weight roughly stable. This page estimates BMR (calories at rest) with Mifflin-St Jeor, then multiplies by an activity factor to get TDEE — your maintenance number. The extra rows are a calorie deficit or calorie surplus of 250 or 500 kcal/day for planning only.

How to use

1. Enter your age (between 15 and 100), gender, height in cm, and weight in kg.
2. Select the physical activity level that best matches your typical weekly routine.
3. Read estimated BMR and maintenance calories (TDEE). Use the deficit or surplus rows only if you want a 250 or 500 kcal/day gap.

Formula and methodology

Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) uses the Mifflin-St Jeor equation: for men, BMR = 10 × weight (kg) + 6.25 × height (cm) − 5 × age (years) + 5; for women, BMR = 10 × weight (kg) + 6.25 × height (cm) − 5 × age (years) − 161. Maintenance Calories (TDEE) = BMR × Activity Multiplier: Sedentary (1.2), Light (1.375), Moderate (1.55), Active (1.725), or Very Active (1.9). Deficits of 250 and 500 kcal/day are standard planning estimates for ~0.25 kg and ~0.5 kg weekly changes (never dropping below estimated BMR).

Worked example

A 30-year-old woman, 165 cm tall and weighing 62 kg with a moderately active lifestyle, has an estimated BMR of 1,340 kcal/day. Multiplying by 1.55 gives an estimated maintenance calorie target of 2,077 kcal/day. A standard weight loss target with a 500 kcal deficit is approximately 1,577 kcal/day.