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Mifflin-St Jeor · Macros included

How many calories you actually need

Your maintenance level, the target for the goal you pick, and how to split it into protein, carbohydrate and fat. Everything is worked out on your device as you type.

Short answerLast edited October 31, 2026

The Calorie Calculator estimates how many calories you burn each day and how many you need to lose, keep or gain weight at your activity level. It starts from the Mifflin-St Jeor resting rate, which is the most widely used equation for this estimate, and multiplies it by an activity factor.

How it works

1

Enter your details

Add age, height, weight and sex.

2

Pick the activity level

Choose how much you move in a normal week.

3

Read the daily figure

Use the estimate as a starting point and adjust it with results.

Three numbers behind the target

BMR

What you burn lying still: breathing, heartbeat, body heat. It is the floor of the calculation.

Activity factor

A multiplier from 1.2 for desk work to 1.9 for physical jobs. BMR times this is your daily burn.

The goal

Minus 500 for steady loss, plus 300 for a lean gain. Anything above a 700 deficit costs muscle.

Deficit, maintenance, surplus

A deficit loses weight, but not only fat

A kilogram of fat stores roughly 7,700 kcal. A 500 kcal daily deficit predicts half a kilo a week — and in practice, less, because the body adapts: you move less, feel colder and burn slightly fewer calories at rest.

Maintenance is not one fixed number

Your burn changes with sleep, stress, training volume and the season. The estimate is a starting point; weigh yourself for two weeks and adjust by 100–150 kcal at a time.

A surplus builds muscle only with training

Extra calories without resistance training become fat. Add 250–300 kcal, train three to four times a week and watch the waist as well as the scale.

Protein protects muscle in a deficit

Around 1.6–2.2 g per kilo of body weight keeps muscle while you lose fat. The macro split above starts at 1.8 g and fills the rest with carbohydrate and fat.

Choosing the activity factor

FactorTypical weekSounds like
1.2Desk job, no trainingUnder 5,000 steps a day
1.375Desk job, 1–3 sessionsGym twice, walks at lunch
1.553–5 sessionsWeights plus a long weekend ride
1.7256–7 sessionsTwo sessions on some days
1.9Physical job or two-a-daysBuilder, farm work, competitive athlete
The best diet is the one you can still follow in month four.
Common advice among sports nutritionists
Which formula is used?
Mifflin-St Jeor, multiplied by an activity factor from 1.2 to 1.9. It matches measured resting energy within about 10% for most adults.
How fast can I lose weight safely?
0.5 to 1% of body weight a week. Faster usually means muscle and water, and it comes back.
Do I have to count every day?
No. Count honestly for two weeks, learn what your portions contain, then check in now and then.
How much protein do I need?
1.6–2.2 g per kilo of body weight when training. The tool starts at 1.8 g and shows the grams.
Is the number the same for men and women?
No. The equation subtracts 161 for women and adds 5 for men, before the activity multiplier.

Turning a Calorie Number into a Week of Meals

A daily target is only useful if it survives contact with a real kitchen. The trick is to stop counting ingredients and start counting patterns.

Build plates, not recipes

Most meals can be described as protein, carbohydrate, vegetables and fat. Fix the protein first — 30 to 40 grams per meal keeps you full — then fill the rest of the target with the other three. The same target then produces hundreds of different dinners.

Liquid calories count double

They barely register as food. A large sweet coffee and a juice can carry 500 kcal before lunch, which is a whole meal's worth of energy with none of its fullness.

Weigh the kitchen, not the plate

Estimating portions is off by 20–40% at the start, and always in the same direction: less than you think. Weigh for two weeks, then put the scale away.

Expect a plateau at week three

Water shifts, glycogen drops and the first fast kilos stop. The trend over a month is the only honest measure. If you want to see where the number comes from, read the BMR calculator; if you would rather track body composition, the BMI calculator gives you a second view.

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Quick facts

  1. The estimate starts from the Mifflin-St Jeor resting rate and multiplies it by an activity factor between 1.2 (little or no exercise) and 1.9 (very hard daily training).
  2. A daily deficit of about 500 kcal is the usual starting point for losing roughly half a kilogram a week, because 500 kcal × 7 days is about 3,500 kcal, close to one pound of fat.
  3. The Mifflin-St Jeor equation, published in 1990, predicts resting energy expenditure more accurately than the older Harris-Benedict formula.The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
  4. Activity multipliers of 1.2 to 1.9 turn a resting rate into a daily total, and the multiplier is the largest source of error in the estimate.The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
  5. The WHO classifies a BMI below 18.5 as underweight, 18.5 to 24.9 as normal, 25 to 29.9 as overweight and 30 or more as obese.World Health Organization

Questions people ask

How many calories do I need a day?
The total is your resting rate multiplied by an activity factor. Someone with a sedentary job uses about 1.2, while a person who trains hard most days uses about 1.725 to 1.9. The calculator shows the total for each level, so you can pick the one closest to your week.
How many calories should I eat to lose weight?
Subtract a deficit from your maintenance total. A deficit of about 500 kcal a day is a common starting point for roughly half a kilogram of loss per week. Very large deficits are harder to keep up and are not suited to everyone, so the calculator shows the number without recommending a diet.
Are calorie calculators accurate?
They are estimates. Equations like Mifflin-St Jeor are accurate on average, but individual results can differ by a noticeable margin. Your weight trend over two to three weeks is a better guide than any single formula, so adjust the target if the scale does not move.

What this page is about

  • Basal metabolic rate

    The energy the body spends at rest, estimated with the Mifflin-St Jeor equation from weight, height, age and sex.

  • Body mass index

    Weight in kilograms divided by height in metres squared, used by the WHO as a screening band for underweight, normal, overweight and obesity.

Official sources cited on this page

  1. A new predictive equation for resting energy expenditure in healthy individualsThe American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
  2. Obesity and overweight — fact sheetWorld Health Organization

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