Calorie Calculator

BMR is the calories your body burns at complete rest to sustain vital functions - breathing, circulation, and cell maintenance. TDEE adds all the energy your daily activity and digestion burn on top of that. BMR is your floor; eating at or below it without medical supervision can cause muscle loss. TDEE is your maintenance level - the calories at which your weight neither rises nor falls.

The Mifflin-St Jeor formula adds 5 kcal/day for males and subtracts 161 kcal/day for females to account for average differences in body composition. Men typically carry more lean muscle mass relative to fat at the same height and weight, which raises resting energy expenditure. This is an average correction - individuals vary significantly.

A deficit of roughly 500 kcal/day producing about 1 lb (0.45 kg) of loss per week is considered sustainable and preserves more lean muscle than faster rates. A deficit of 1,000 kcal/day is the upper limit typically recommended in supervised clinical programs. Faster loss usually involves significant water and muscle loss alongside fat.

Formula-based TDEE can be off by 10-20% for any individual. Common reasons for no weight change include: overestimating your activity level, underestimating food portions, metabolic adaptation after weeks of restriction, or hormonal factors. Weigh yourself at the same time each morning for two weeks, average the trend, and adjust intake by 100-150 kcal up or down accordingly. This calculator is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice.