Calculate Calories for Maintenance – Free Online Calculator

Resting kcal/day = 10 × weight (kg) + 6.25 × height (cm) − 5 × age (years) + coefficient. The coefficient is +5 for the male equation and −161 for the female equation.

Mifflin and colleagues derived the equation in 498 healthy adults aged 19–78. It predicts resting energy, not full-day expenditure. Calculations outside that age span extend beyond the original sample; a wider accepted input range does not establish validation. [1]

The sex coefficient reproduces the study's equations. The tool does not model individual hormonal status, body composition, illness, or medication effects.

The tool uses 1.2 for sedentary, 1.375 for lightly active, 1.55 for moderately active, 1.725 for very active, and 1.9 for extra active. These are practical calculator assumptions, not activity coefficients validated in the original Mifflin study.

TDEE = resting energy × activity factor. Consider your whole day, including work and routine movement, rather than treating a single workout as your daily activity level. The estimate already includes an activity allowance; adding exercise calories again may double-count them.

For a 35-year-old male, 80 kg and 180 cm: resting energy = 800 + 1,125 − 175 + 5 = 1,755 kcal/day. Selecting sedentary gives 1,755 × 1.2 = 2,106 kcal/day.

Imperial inputs are converted before calculation: kg = lb ÷ 2.20462; cm = total inches × 2.54. The final estimate is rounded to whole kcal/day. Display rounding does not make the underlying prediction more precise.

A systematic review by Frankenfield and colleagues compared resting-metabolic-rate equations in healthy adults. Mifflin–St Jeor performed favourably among the equations reviewed, but meaningful individual prediction errors remained. That does not validate a particular activity factor or guarantee your TDEE. [2]

Use the result as a starting reference, not a compulsory eating target. Compare it with consistent observations of usual intake and longer-term weight patterns; a single day's scale change does not establish your maintenance needs.

No. NIDDK's body-weight modelling accounts for changing energy expenditure over time. This simpler calculator does not run that dynamic model, forecast weight change, or adapt its estimate as your body changes. [3]

Seek individualized advice when health conditions or life stages make a general adult reference unsuitable. This calculation runs locally in your browser without an AI request; the displayed result is not automatically saved to the Shelog app.