// Basic Fitness Calculators

Calorie Calculator

Pick your goal and get the daily calorie number to eat towards, alongside the maintenance figure it came from.

Your details

Your result

Daily target
2,633kcal/day
Maintenance (TDEE)
2,633kcal/day

Estimates are for general guidance only and are not medical advice. For a personalised plan, book a free guided tour at RPM Gym.

What your result means

The headline number is a target, not a measurement. It's your maintenance level with a deliberate adjustment applied: 500 kcal below for weight loss, a 10–20% surplus above it for muscle gain, or maintenance itself if you're holding steady.

Both figures are shown on purpose. The target tells you what to do this week; the maintenance figure tells you how big the adjustment actually is. A 500 kcal cut from 2,200 is a much larger intervention than the same cut from 3,200, and knowing the ratio is what stops people picking a target they can't hold.

Calorie searches split into two different questions. If you want to understand what your body spends across a day and where the number comes from, that's total daily energy expenditure and the TDEE calculator answers it properly. This page answers the narrower one: given a goal, what should I eat?

How it is calculated

Mifflin-St Jeor BMR × activity, with a goal adjustment

BMR = (10 × weight kg) + (6.25 × height cm) − (5 × age) + 5 for men, − 161 for women Maintenance = BMR × activity factor Target: lose = maintenance − 500 · maintain = maintenance · gain = maintenance × 1.10 to 1.20

What it assumes

  • The 500 kcal cut maps to roughly half a kilogram of body fat per week, using the common 7,700 kcal-per-kilogram approximation.
  • The gain target is a proportion of maintenance, not a fixed number of calories. No single fixed surplus has been established as optimal, and the same 350 kcal is a very different intervention at 2,000 than at 3,500. The page shows the midpoint of the range.
  • The activity factor is a bracket you select, not something measured. It's the largest source of error in the result.
  • Body composition isn't an input, so at the same height, weight, age and sex a leaner and a less lean person receive the same target.

Units and rounding

  • Weight in kilograms, height in centimetres, age in years.
  • Calories are kilocalories per day, rounded to whole numbers.
  • A zero or missing input returns no result rather than a calorie figure.

Worked example

A 32-year-old woman, 68 kg, 168 cm, training 3–5 days a week (moderate, 1.55), wanting to lose weight.

  1. BMR = (10 × 68) + (6.25 × 168) − (5 × 32) − 161
  2. = 680 + 1,050 − 160 − 161 = 1,409 kcal/day
  3. Maintenance = 1,409 × 1.55 = 2,184 kcal/day
  4. Weight-loss target = 2,184 − 500 = 1,684 kcal/day

A target of about 1,684 kcal/day against a maintenance level of 2,184: a cut of roughly 23%, which is real but manageable.

Limitations

  • Predictive equations sit within roughly ±10% for most people, so treat the target as a starting point to test rather than a number to obey.
  • Tracked intake carries its own error, and it runs in the same direction, because portions are routinely under-recorded. Two estimates stacked together drift faster than either alone.
  • The target isn't fixed. As you lose weight the maintenance figure falls with you, which is why a cut that worked for two months quietly stops working in the third.
  • Very low targets are where this tool stops being appropriate. If the arithmetic pushes you under roughly 1,200 kcal as a woman or 1,500 as a man, that's a conversation with a doctor or dietitian, not a number to adopt.
  • It doesn't account for medical conditions, medication or pregnancy, all of which change energy needs in ways an equation can't see.

What to do next

  • Eat at the target for two to three weeks and weigh yourself under the same conditions. The trend across weeks is the feedback; a single morning is noise.
  • If the scale hasn't moved in the expected direction after three weeks, adjust intake by 100–200 kcal rather than recalculating. The equation will keep giving the same answer.
  • Set protein first, then divide what remains between carbohydrate and fat. Protein is the macro with the clearest body-composition evidence and the easiest to undershoot in a deficit.
  • If you're cutting, take the smaller adjustment first. A deficit you can hold for twelve weeks beats a larger one abandoned in three.

Sources

Related calculators
Calorie DeficitMaintenance CaloriesMacroProteinTDEEBMI
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// Frequently Asked

Questions, answered.

How many calories should I eat a day?

It depends on your maintenance level and what you're trying to do with it. Enter your details above and the calculator gives both: the target for your goal, and the maintenance figure underneath it so you can see how large the adjustment is.

What is the difference between this and the TDEE calculator?

TDEE is your total daily energy expenditure: what your body spends. This page takes that figure and turns it into an eating target for a specific goal. If you want to understand the number, use TDEE; if you want to know what to eat, use this.

Is a 500 calorie deficit right for everyone?

It's a common default because it maps to roughly half a kilogram of fat per week, but it is a fixed subtraction applied to very different people. At a 3,000 kcal maintenance it is a modest 17% cut; at 1,800 it is nearly 28% and much harder to sustain.

Why did my calorie target change after I lost weight?

A smaller body costs less to maintain and move, so maintenance falls as weight falls. People also tend to move less in a deficit without noticing. Recalculating every 4–5 kg keeps the target honest.

Do I need to eat exactly this number every day?

No. The weekly average is what drives the result, so a higher day balanced by a lower one is fine. Chasing a precise daily figure adds stress without adding accuracy, given the error already in both the estimate and your tracking.

Should I eat more on training days?

You can, and many people find it easier to eat. It only matters that the week averages out near the target. If you chose an activity level that already accounts for your training, don't add training calories again on top.

A target you can actually hold beats a perfect one you abandon.

Bring the number to a free guided tour at RPM Gym and let a coach pressure-test it against how you actually eat and train.

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