BMR Calculator
Range: 15 - 100
Range: 50 - 500
Range: 1 - 8
Range: 0 - 11
Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)
1,631
calories/day at rest
Total Daily Energy Expenditure
2,528
calories/day with activity
What This Means
BMR (1631 cal): Calories your body burns at complete rest to maintain vital functions like breathing, circulation, and cell production.
TDEE (2528 cal): Total calories you burn daily, including physical activity. This is your maintenance calorie level.
TDEE by Activity Level
| Activity Level | Daily Calories |
|---|---|
| Sedentary (little or no exercise) | 1,957 cal |
| Light (exercise 1-3 days/week) | 2,243 cal |
| Moderate (exercise 3-5 days/week) | 2,528 cal |
| Active (exercise 6-7 days/week) | 2,813 cal |
| Very Active (intense daily exercise) | 3,099 cal |
To Lose Weight
2,028
cal/day (-500)
To Maintain
2,528
cal/day
To Gain Weight
3,028
cal/day (+500)
About This Calculator
Uses the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, considered the most accurate for most people. Individual metabolism varies based on genetics, body composition, hormones, and other factors. These calculations provide estimates - adjust based on your actual results over time.
About the BMR Calculator
The BMR Calculator estimates your Basal Metabolic Rate, the number of calories your body burns at complete rest to keep essential functions like breathing, circulation, and cell repair running. It represents the floor of your daily energy needs before any movement or digestion is added.
Most calculators use the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, which factors in your weight, height, age, and sex, and is regarded as more accurate for the general population than the older Harris-Benedict formula. To turn BMR into a real-world target, you multiply it by an activity factor (the Physical Activity Level) to get Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE), the calories you actually burn in a day.
Common use cases include setting calorie goals for weight loss, maintenance, or gain, planning macronutrient splits, and understanding why metabolism slows with age or after significant weight loss. It pairs naturally with the BMI Calculator, which screens body weight relative to height, while BMR addresses energy needs.
A practical tip is to eat at or above your BMR even when cutting calories, since chronically dipping below it can stall progress and reduce lean mass. Recalculate every few weeks as your weight changes, because BMR scales with body size, and treat the result as an estimate to refine against your actual weight trend.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the difference between BMR and TDEE?
- BMR is the calories you burn at rest for basic functions. TDEE is BMR multiplied by an activity factor to include movement, exercise, and digestion, so TDEE is the more useful number for setting daily calorie targets.
- Which formula does the calculator use?
- It typically uses the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, which uses weight, height, age, and sex and is considered more accurate for most people than the older Harris-Benedict equation.
- Should I eat below my BMR to lose weight?
- Generally no. It is usually better to create a deficit from your TDEE while staying at or above BMR, since eating far below your basal needs can reduce lean muscle and slow your metabolism over time.
- Why does BMR decrease with age?
- BMR declines with age largely because of gradual loss of lean muscle mass and hormonal changes. Maintaining muscle through resistance training helps offset this decline and keeps resting energy needs higher.