Free calorie calculator calculator
See exactly how many calories you should eat a day. Enter your sex, age, height, weight, and activity level, pick a goal — maintain, lose, or gain — and the calculator returns your daily calorie target, your maintenance (TDEE), and the deficit or surplus behind it, updated live, as you type.
On this page16 sections
Estimates based on Mifflin-St Jeor BMR × activity factor. Individual metabolic rates vary. Consult a dietitian for personalized guidance.
Results are estimates. Consult a professional.
How many calories should I eat a day?
The honest answer is: it depends on your body and your goal — which is exactly why a one-size-fits-all number like 2,000 calories is a poor fit for most people. The calories you should eat each day come down to how much energy your body burns (your TDEE) and whether you want to hold your weight, lose, or gain. This calorie calculator does the work: enter your sex, age, height, weight, and activity level, pick a goal, and it returns the daily calorie target that gets you there.
As broad reference points, most adult women need roughly 1,600–2,400 calories a day and most adult men 2,000–3,000, depending on age and how active they are. But those ranges are wide for a reason — a 25-year-old athlete and a 65-year-old desk worker sit at opposite ends of them. The calculator narrows the range to a single number built from your own stats.
How the calorie calculator finds your number
The calculator runs a three-step chain. The first two find what you burn; the third adjusts for your goal. It happens live as you type, but here is what is going on:
- Estimate your BMR. The Mifflin-St Jeor equation predicts the calories your body burns at complete rest, from your sex, age, height, and weight.
- Scale it to TDEE. Your basal rate is multiplied by an activity factor (1.2 sedentary up to 1.9 for an athlete) to capture everything you do on top of resting — your total daily energy expenditure, which is also your maintenance level.
- Apply your goal. Maintenance leaves TDEE as-is. Losing weight subtracts 250 (for 0.5 lb a week) or 500 calories (for 1 lb); gaining adds the same. The result is your daily calorie target.
Two of those steps have dedicated tools if you want to dig in: the TDEE calculator breaks down your full daily burn by activity level, and the BMR calculator isolates the resting figure underneath it.
Calories to maintain, lose, or gain weight
Every calorie goal is defined relative to one anchor: your maintenance calories (TDEE). Eat at maintenance and your weight holds. Eat below it and you lose. Eat above it and you gain. The size of the gap sets the pace.
| Goal | Adjustment from TDEE | Expected pace |
|---|---|---|
| Maintain weight | ±0 | Weight holds steady |
| Lose weight (gentle) | −250 cal/day | About 0.5 lb (0.25 kg) per week |
| Lose weight (standard) | −500 cal/day | About 1 lb (0.45 kg) per week |
| Gain weight (lean) | +250 cal/day | About 0.5 lb per week, mostly lean |
| Gain weight (faster) | +500 cal/day | About 1 lb per week |
These are the exact adjustments this calculator applies to your TDEE for each goal.
For weight loss, a 300–500 calorie daily cut is the sustainable sweet spot most experts recommend — fast enough to see results, gentle enough to keep. For weight gain, a modest 250–500 calorie surplus builds muscle without piling on excess fat. The mechanics of a deficit, and why the scale rarely tracks the math exactly, are covered in depth on the calorie deficit calculator.
A worked example using the calorie calculator
Priya is 35, stands 165 cm, weighs 68 kg, and does a couple of light workouts a week (lightly active). She wants to see her calorie number for every goal at once. Here is the arithmetic the calculator runs, step by step.
Step 1 — Calculate her BMR
Using the women’s Mifflin-St Jeor formula: 10 × 68 + 6.25 × 165 − 5 × 35 − 161 = 680 + 1,031 − 175 − 161 = 1,375 calories burned at complete rest.
Step 2 — Scale to TDEE
Lightly active means an activity factor of 1.375. So 1,375 × 1.375 = 1,891 calories. That is her maintenance: eat about 1,891 a day and her weight holds.
Step 3 — Read off the target for each goal
| Goal | Calculation | Daily target |
|---|---|---|
| Lose 1 lb/week | 1,891 − 500 | 1,391 cal |
| Lose 0.5 lb/week | 1,891 − 250 | 1,641 cal |
| Maintain | 1,891 ± 0 | 1,891 cal |
| Gain 0.5 lb/week | 1,891 + 250 | 2,141 cal |
| Gain 1 lb/week | 1,891 + 500 | 2,391 cal |
Priya's full picture — the literal output of the calculator above for each goal.
How many calories should you eat by sex and age?
Your sex and age move your calorie needs as much as anything except activity. Men generally need more than women at the same height because they carry more lean muscle, and needs ease downward through adulthood as muscle mass and movement decline. The table below shows estimated daily calories to maintain weight, from the USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans, by sex, age, and activity level.
| Age | Women — sedentary | Women — active | Men — sedentary | Men — active |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19–30 | 1,800–2,000 | 2,400 | 2,400–2,600 | 3,000 |
| 31–50 | 1,800 | 2,200 | 2,200–2,400 | 2,800–3,000 |
| 51–60 | 1,600 | 2,000–2,200 | 2,000–2,200 | 2,600–2,800 |
| 61+ | 1,600 | 2,000 | 2,000–2,200 | 2,400–2,600 |
Estimated calories to maintain weight. Source: USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020–2025. 'Active' ≈ a daily walk of 3+ miles plus everyday movement.
Why 2,000 calories isn't your number
The 2,000-calorie figure on nutrition labels is not a recommendation for you — it is a single reference value the US FDA chose so that the % Daily Values on packaging have a consistent baseline. It was picked as a round, roughly representative number for the general population, not a personalized target.
Plenty of people need meaningfully more or less. A small, older, sedentary woman might maintain on 1,600; a tall, very active young man might need 3,000 or more. Anchoring to 2,000 because it is on the cereal box is how people under-eat or over-eat without realizing it. The calculator's number, built from your own body and activity, is the one to trust.
Calorie quality vs quantity — are all calories equal?
For body weight, a calorie is a calorie: hit a deficit and you lose, hit a surplus and you gain, whatever the food. But for everything else — hunger, energy, muscle, and health — the source matters enormously. 500 calories of chicken, beans, and vegetables and 500 calories of soda are identical on the scale and worlds apart on the plate.
- Protein keeps you full and protects muscle. It is the most satiating macro and the hardest for the body to store as fat, so a high-protein day at the same calorie count feels easier and holds onto lean mass in a deficit.
- Fiber-rich whole foods do more per calorie. Vegetables, fruit, legumes, and whole grains fill you up on fewer calories, so your target is far easier to hit than it is on refined, calorie-dense food.
- Liquid calories barely register. Sodas, juices, and alcohol add up fast without triggering fullness, which is why they are a common hidden reason a calorie target gets blown past.
Hit your number with mostly whole, protein-forward foods and the same calorie target becomes far more comfortable. To split your target into protein, carbs, and fat, pair this with the macro calculator.
Why crash diets fail (and what to do instead)
A very low-calorie crash diet looks like a shortcut and behaves like a trap. Slashing intake far below your needs does drop weight fast at first — but much of that early loss is water and muscle, not fat, and the deeper you cut, the harder your body fights back.
- You lose muscle, not just fat. Too steep a deficit burns lean tissue alongside fat, which lowers your resting calorie burn and leaves you smaller but not leaner.
- Your metabolism adapts. The body reads severe restriction as a threat and quietly dials down energy use, so the same diet stops working — the slowdown is real and measurable.
- Hunger and fatigue make it unsustainable. Nobody white-knuckles 1,000 calories a day for long; the rebound binge that ends most crash diets is biology, not weak willpower.
How to hit your calorie target
Knowing your number is the easy part; eating it consistently is where results come from. A few habits do most of the work:
- Track honestly for a couple of weeks. Weigh and log food, including oils, drinks, and bites while cooking. You don't have to do it forever — just long enough to learn what your target looks like on a plate.
- Front-load protein and vegetables. Build meals around them and the calorie target takes care of itself, because both keep you full.
- Weigh weekly, not daily. Day-to-day weight swings with water and food; the seven-day average is the real signal of whether your target is working.
- Recalculate as your weight changes. Your TDEE falls as you lose and rises as you gain, so re-run the numbers every 4–5 kg (10 lb) instead of holding an old target.
How accurate is this calorie calculator?
The arithmetic is exact and the formula is the best of the common options — the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, judged the most accurate predictive BMR formula for adults by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. But it works from population averages, so it cannot see your individual metabolism, body composition, or NEAT (the calories you burn fidgeting and moving unconsciously). Any single estimate can land roughly 10% above or below your true number, and the activity factor adds further uncertainty because self-rated activity tends to be optimistic.
Treat the result as a high-quality starting point, then let the scale fine-tune it: if your weekly-average weight is moving the wrong way after two or three weeks, adjust your target by 100–200 calories. For the method to dial in your exact maintenance, see the maintenance calorie calculator.
Calorie calculator definitions
Data sources and methodology
This calculator estimates BMR with the Mifflin-St Jeor equation (Mifflin MD, St Jeor ST, et al., American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1990), identified by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics as the most reliable predictive equation for adults, scales it to TDEE with the standard 1.2–1.9 activity factors, then applies a flat goal adjustment of ±250 or ±500 calories. The by-sex-and-age estimates come from the USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans (2020–2025); the 2,000-calorie reference value is the US FDA's labeling baseline. All math runs in your browser — nothing you enter is stored or shared.
Mifflin MD, St Jeor ST, et al. A new predictive equation for resting energy expenditure in healthy individuals. Am J Clin Nutr, 1990.USDA & HHS. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020–2025 — estimated calorie needs by age, sex, and activity level.Frequently asked questions about the free calorie calculator calculator
About this calorie calculator
This calorie calculator runs entirely in your browser. Your sex, age, height, weight, and activity level never leave your device — nothing is sent to a server, logged, or shared. It estimates your BMR with the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, multiplies by your activity factor to find your maintenance calories (TDEE), then applies your goal adjustment to set your daily target, updating instantly.
Calculators Cloud offers 400+ free tools with no sign-up. The whole Health calculators shelf includes TDEE, BMR, Calorie deficit, Maintenance calorie, and Macro tools alongside this one. Or browse the full calculator directory.