Daily energy needs and weight-goal estimates
Mild weight loss
0.25 kg / 0.5 lb per week
Weight loss
0.5 kg / 1 lb per week
Mild weight gain
0.25 kg / 0.5 lb per week
Weight gain
0.5 kg / 1 lb per week
Daily energy range
Estimates are planning guides, not medical prescriptions. Avoid aggressive calorie deficits without professional guidance.
Evidence-based guide
Daily calorie needs are an estimate of the energy required to support basic physiology, movement, digestion, and exercise. This calculator separates basal metabolic rate (BMR) from total daily energy expenditure (TDEE), then shows practical maintenance and gradual weight-change targets.
Uses age, sex, weight, and height. It is a widely used starting point for adults when body-fat percentage is unknown.
An updated version of the historic Harris–Benedict equations using age, sex, height, and weight.
Uses estimated lean body mass: BMR = 370 + 21.6 × lean mass in kg. It requires a reasonably accurate body-fat estimate.
Maintenance calories are not a fixed biological constant. Track average body weight and intake for two to four weeks, then adjust the estimate if your real trend differs. A 500-calorie daily deficit is a conventional planning estimate, but actual weight change varies with body size, water balance, adherence, and metabolic adaptation.
Pregnancy, breastfeeding, adolescence, illness, eating-disorder history, very high training volume, and certain medications can make general equations inappropriate. Energy intake should not routinely fall below nutritional needs without supervision.
On food labels, one capital-C Calorie equals one kilocalorie (kcal), or 4.184 kilojoules.
Use Mifflin–St Jeor as a general default. Katch–McArdle can be useful when body-fat percentage is measured reliably.
Food logging error, water changes, activity changes, and individual metabolism all affect the observed result. Use multi-week averages rather than a single weigh-in.
Machine and wearable estimates can be imprecise. Avoid automatically eating back every reported exercise calorie.
