Calorie Calculator
Range: 15 - 100
Range: 80 - 500
Range: 1 - 8
Range: 0 - 11
Daily Calorie Goal
2,573
calories per day to maintain weight
Expected Weekly Change
0.0 lbs
per week
Suggested Meal Breakdown
Breakfast
643
cal (25%)
Lunch
772
cal (30%)
Dinner
772
cal (30%)
Snacks
386
cal (15%)
Your Metabolic Data
Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)
1,660 cal/day
Calories burned at complete rest
Maintenance Calories (TDEE)
2,573 cal/day
With your activity level
Calorie Guidelines
- Safe minimum: 1,200 cal/day for women, 1,500 cal/day for men
- Weight loss: 500 cal deficit = ~1 lb (0.45 kg) loss per week
- Weight gain: 500 cal surplus = ~1 lb (0.45 kg) gain per week
- Losing more than 2 lbs/week is generally not recommended without medical supervision
- Adjust based on actual results - track weight over 2-4 weeks before adjusting
About the Calorie Calculator
The Calorie Calculator determines how many calories you should eat per day to reach a specific goal, whether that is losing weight, maintaining, or gaining. It starts from your maintenance level (your Total Daily Energy Expenditure) and then applies a deficit or surplus based on the goal you select. The output is a concrete daily calorie target you can build meals around.
Under the hood it estimates your Basal Metabolic Rate from your weight, height, age, and sex, usually with the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, then scales by an activity factor to get maintenance calories. For weight loss it commonly subtracts 500 calories per day to target roughly one pound lost per week, since a pound of fat stores about 3,500 calories. For gain it adds a modest surplus to favor muscle over fat.
This tool is the practical bridge between knowing your energy needs and actually planning food. It works hand in hand with the TDEE Calculator, which provides the maintenance baseline, and the Macros Calculator, which splits your calorie target into grams of protein, carbohydrate, and fat. Many people use it to set a starting deficit and then track adherence over time.
A useful tip is to avoid aggressive deficits, since cutting too hard often causes muscle loss, fatigue, and rebound eating. A deficit of 15 to 25 percent below maintenance is sustainable for most people, and pairing it with adequate protein protects lean mass. Recheck your target every few weeks as your weight changes, because your calorie needs drop as you get lighter.
Frequently asked questions
- How many calories should I cut to lose weight?
- A daily deficit of about 500 calories targets roughly one pound of fat loss per week. More aggressive cuts work faster but risk muscle loss and are harder to sustain, so a 15 to 25 percent deficit is usually recommended.
- Why does the calculator ask for my activity level?
- Activity multiplies your resting metabolic rate to estimate total daily burn. Someone training daily needs far more calories than a sedentary person at the same weight, so this strongly affects your target.
- Should I eat back the calories I burn from exercise?
- If your activity level already accounts for your training, eating back exercise calories double-counts them. It is simpler to pick an activity level that includes your typical workouts and keep a steady daily target.
- How is this different from a TDEE calculator?
- A TDEE calculator gives your maintenance burn, while the calorie calculator applies your goal (lose, maintain, or gain) on top of that to produce an actual intake target.