Know your numbers.
Then eat like it.
Find your Total Daily Energy Expenditure and a macro split built for your goal — not a generic 2,000 calorie guess. Built on the Mifflin-St Jeor equation (Katch-McArdle if you know your body fat %).
Fill in your stats on the left and hit calculate — takes about 15 seconds.
How this is actually calculated
1. Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)
The calories your body burns at complete rest. We use the Mifflin-St Jeor equation by default — the formula most widely validated against measured energy expenditure. If you enter a body fat percentage, we switch to Katch-McArdle, which is more accurate for leaner or more muscular bodies because it's based on lean mass rather than total weight.
2. Activity multiplier → TDEE
BMR is multiplied by an activity factor to estimate your Total Daily Energy Expenditure — the calories you burn in an average day, including movement and exercise.
| Sedentary | ×1.2 |
| Lightly active | ×1.375 |
| Moderately active | ×1.55 |
| Very active | ×1.725 |
| Extra active | ×1.9 |
Common questions
BMR is the energy your body needs just to stay alive at rest — breathing, circulation, cell repair. TDEE adds everything else: walking, working, digesting food, and exercise. TDEE is always higher than BMR, and it's the number you should actually use to plan calorie intake.
Formula-based estimates are typically within 10% of your true expenditure, which is a solid starting point — not a lab measurement. Treat your result as day one of an experiment: track your weight and intake for 2–3 weeks and adjust up or down 100–150 calories based on what actually happens.
Most people trying to build muscle or lose fat while preserving it do well around 1.6–2.2 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight per day. This calculator's macro presets are built inside that range so the grams shown are already practical, not just a percentage.
No — your activity multiplier already accounts for regular training. Adding a separate allowance for workouts on top of the "very active" or "extra active" settings typically overestimates your needs and slows progress.