Maintenance Calorie Calculator

Find the daily calories that keep your weight exactly where it is — your maintenance calories — with a breakdown across all five activity levels.

Sex
Age years
Height cm
ft in
Weight kg lb
Activity level
  • Sedentary — little or no exercise
  • Light — exercise 1–3 days/week
  • Moderate — exercise 3–5 days/week
  • Active — exercise 6–7 days/week
  • Very active — hard exercise or physical job
Maintenance calories
—kcal/day To stay at your current weight

Mifflin-St Jeor BMR × your activity multiplier. Formulas start you within about ±10% — hold the number for 2–3 weeks of morning weigh-ins, then adjust by 100–200 kcal if the scale trends up or down.

Your maintenance calories are the break-even point: the daily energy intake at which you neither gain nor lose weight. Every deliberate cut or bulk starts from this number — you can’t set a sensible deficit or surplus without knowing where zero is.

How it’s calculated

The calculator uses the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, the standard clinical formula for resting metabolism:

  • Men: BMR = 10 × weight (kg) + 6.25 × height (cm) − 5 × age + 5
  • Women: BMR = 10 × weight (kg) + 6.25 × height (cm) − 5 × age − 161

That resting number is then multiplied by an activity factor — 1.2 for sedentary up to 1.9 for very active — to account for everything you do beyond lying still. The result table shows your maintenance at every level, because the multiplier is the biggest lever in the whole estimate: the gap between sedentary and very active is often more than 1,000 kcal.

Maintenance vs. TDEE

They’re the same quantity viewed from different angles. TDEE describes what you burn; maintenance calories describe what to eat to stay level. We keep both calculators because people search for — and think in — both framings, but the math underneath is identical.

Using the number honestly

A formula gets you close, not exact. The reliable method: eat your calculated maintenance for two to three weeks while weighing yourself each morning. If the weekly average holds steady, that’s your true maintenance. Trending up or down by more than ~0.25 kg per week? Shift intake 100–200 kcal and re-measure. Your maintenance also drifts as weight, muscle, and activity change — recalculate after any significant change.

Frequently asked questions

What are maintenance calories?

Maintenance calories are the energy your body burns in a full day — basal metabolism plus movement and exercise. Eat that amount and your weight holds steady; eat consistently above or below it and you gain or lose. It's the same quantity as TDEE (total daily energy expenditure).

How are maintenance calories calculated?

The calculator estimates your BMR with the Mifflin-St Jeor equation — the most accurate standard formula for the general population — then multiplies it by an activity factor from 1.2 (sedentary) to 1.9 (very active) to cover daily movement and training.

Why am I gaining (or losing) weight eating my maintenance number?

Formulas start you within about ±10% — they can't see your exact muscle mass, hormones, or how you count 'moderate' exercise. Treat the number as a starting point: track morning weight for 2–3 weeks, and if the trend moves, adjust intake by 100–200 kcal and re-check.

Should I pick a lower activity level to be safe?

Most people overestimate activity. If you sit most of the day and train 3–4 times a week, 'light' to 'moderate' usually fits better than 'active'. Picking a level too high inflates the target and quietly erases a planned deficit.

References