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Calculate your Total Daily Energy Expenditure — the calories you actually burn per day — plus targets for losing or gaining weight and daily macros. Uses the Mifflin-St Jeor equation.
| Lose 1 lb (0.45 kg) / week | 2,193 kcal |
| Lose 0.5 lb (0.25 kg) / week | 2,443 kcal |
| Maintain weight | 2,693 kcal |
| Gain 0.5 lb (0.25 kg) / week | 2,943 kcal |
| Gain 1 lb (0.45 kg) / week | 3,193 kcal |
| Sedentary | 2,085 kcal |
| Lightly active | 2,389 kcal |
| Moderately active | 2,693 kcal |
| Very active | 2,997 kcal |
| Extremely active | 3,301 kcal |
| Plan | Protein | Carbs | Fat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Moderate carb | 202g | 236g | 105g |
| Lower carb | 269g | 135g | 120g |
| Higher carb | 202g | 337g | 60g |
≈ 18,851 kcal per week. Protein and carbs: 4 kcal/g, fat: 9 kcal/g.
Your Total Daily Energy Expenditure is the sum of four things: your basal metabolic rate (BMR — the energy your organs burn at rest, typically 60–75% of the total), the thermic effect of food (roughly 10% of intake, the cost of digesting what you eat), planned exercise, and all the non-exercise movement in your day — walking, fidgeting, taking the stairs.
TDEE is the number every calorie target is built from. A weight-loss diet is simply eating below TDEE; a muscle-gain phase is eating slightly above it. Without knowing this number you're guessing — and studies of self-reported intake show people routinely misjudge how much they eat and burn. Knowing the target is step one; actually hitting the right calorie number every day is step two.
We use the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 1990 and rated the most reliable predictive equation for resting metabolism in the American Dietetic Association's comparison of common formulas (Frankenfield et al., 2005). It replaced the older Harris-Benedict equation from 1919, which tends to overestimate modern, more sedentary bodies.
Men: BMR = 10 × weight(kg) + 6.25 × height(cm) − 5 × age + 5
Women: BMR = 10 × weight(kg) + 6.25 × height(cm) − 5 × age − 161
BMR is then multiplied by an activity factor: 1.2 for sedentary, 1.375 for light activity (1–3 workouts/week), 1.55 for moderate (3–5/week), 1.725 for very active (6–7/week), and 1.9 for physically demanding jobs plus hard training. If you want the deeper mechanics of the two numbers, we break them down in BMR vs TDEE, explained.
To lose weight: subtract 250–500 kcal from your TDEE. A 500 kcal daily deficit targets roughly one pound per week. Bigger deficits show faster scale results but are harder to hold and sacrifice more muscle — if progress stalls, check the usual suspects in why you're not losing weight in a calorie deficit.
To maintain: eat at TDEE. This is also your anchor after a diet ends — see our maintenance calorie calculator for the maintenance-specific playbook.
To gain muscle: add 250–500 kcal over TDEE with adequate protein (the macro table above uses 30–40% of calories from protein). More surplus than that mostly adds fat, not muscle.
Whatever the goal, the equation only sets the target — the results come from tracking against it. That's the part most people quit: manual logging takes 15–20 minutes a day. Calzy cuts it to a photo per meal, about 3 seconds each, with calories and macros counted automatically. You can try the exact AI on our free food calorie scanner right in your browser.
Sources
This calculator provides general estimates for healthy adults and is not medical advice. Consult a professional before major dietary changes, especially with any medical condition.
TDEE — Total Daily Energy Expenditure — is the total number of calories you burn per day: your basal metabolic rate (the energy your body uses at complete rest) plus everything on top of it — daily movement, exercise, and the energy cost of digesting food. Eat at your TDEE and your weight stays stable; eat below it and you lose weight; eat above it and you gain.
Predictive equations like Mifflin-St Jeor estimate resting metabolism within about 10% for most healthy adults, and the activity multiplier adds more uncertainty on top. Treat the result as a well-informed starting point: eat at the calculated number for two to three weeks, watch the scale trend, and adjust by 100–200 kcal if your weight moves in a direction you didn't intend.
BMR (basal metabolic rate) is what you'd burn lying still all day — for most people it's 60–75% of their total burn. TDEE is BMR multiplied by an activity factor to account for movement, training, and digestion. Calorie targets for weight loss should be based on TDEE, not BMR — eating below BMR is almost never necessary.
Most people overestimate. If you have a desk job and train 3–5 times a week, 'moderately active' is usually right — not 'very active'. If you're unsure, pick the lower level, run it for two weeks, and let your actual weight trend tell you who's right.
A deficit of 500 kcal below TDEE targets roughly 1 lb (0.45 kg) of loss per week; 250 kcal targets about half that. Larger deficits work faster but are harder to sustain and cost more muscle. The calculator shows both targets — pick the one you can actually stick to.
Yes. TDEE scales with body weight, so a 20 lb loss can shave 100–200 kcal off your daily burn. Recalculate every 10–15 lb of weight change, or whenever your rate of loss stalls for 3+ weeks at the same intake.
How many calories keep your weight stable — and how to verify it.
Upload a food photo, get calories and macros in seconds.
What each number means and which one your diet should use.
Setting a deficit that works without wrecking your energy.
The full walkthrough behind the numbers.
Track against your TDEE automatically with photo logging.