🔥Calorie calculator
Find out how many calories you burn in a day and how much to eat to lose, keep or gain weight.
Estimates for healthy adults. Not medical advice — if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, under 18 or have a medical condition, ask your doctor or dietitian.
How it is calculated
Basal metabolic rate (BMR) — the energy your body uses at complete rest — is estimated with the Mifflin–St Jeor equation: 10 × weight (kg) + 6.25 × height (cm) − 5 × age, then + 5 for men or − 161 for women.
BMR is multiplied by an activity factor (from 1.2 for little exercise to 1.9 for very hard daily exercise) to estimate the calories you burn in a day — your maintenance calories.
For weight loss we subtract about 500 kcal a day (roughly 0.5 kg or 1 lb a week) or 250 kcal for a gentler pace; for weight gain we add about 300 kcal. Real results vary: water, hormones and how precisely you track all play a part.
Questions
How accurate is a calorie calculator?
It gives a good starting point, not an exact number. Equations like Mifflin–St Jeor are close for most people but can be off by about 10% either way. Track your weight for 2–3 weeks and adjust the target if it moves faster or slower than expected.
How many calories should I eat to lose weight?
A deficit of about 500 kcal a day below your maintenance calories usually leads to a loss of about 0.5 kg (1 lb) a week. Slower is easier to keep up and protects muscle.
Is it safe to eat very few calories?
Very low-calorie diets should only be followed under medical supervision. For most adults that means not going below about 1,200 kcal (women) or 1,500 kcal (men) a day on your own.
Why does my weight change from day to day?
Day-to-day changes are mostly water, salt and food in your gut. Look at the trend over weeks rather than at a single weigh-in.
Track it every day with Me Nutrition
Snap your meals — the app counts calories and protein against your daily target. 3 days free, then a subscription you can cancel anytime in App Store settings.
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