How to Calculate Your Daily Calorie Needs

Every calorie plan starts with the same question: how many calories does your body actually burn in a day? Generic charts cannot answer it, because two people of the same height can have very different needs. The good news is that science gives us a reliable way to calculate it.

Step 1: Calculate your BMR

Your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) is the energy your body uses at complete rest — breathing, circulation, cell repair. The most trusted formula is the Mifflin-St Jeor equation:

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

Example: a 30-year-old man who weighs 75 kg and is 175 cm tall has a BMR of roughly (750) + (1094) − (150) + 5 = 1,699 kcal/day — just to exist.

Step 2: Multiply by your activity level

Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) = BMR × activity multiplier:

• 1.2 — Sedentary: desk job, little exercise
• 1.375 — Lightly active: light exercise 1–3 days/week
• 1.55 — Moderately active: moderate exercise 3–5 days/week
• 1.725 — Very active: hard exercise 6–7 days/week
• 1.9 — Extremely active: physical job plus training

Our example man, moderately active: 1,699 × 1.55 ≈ 2,633 kcal/day to maintain his weight.

Step 3: Adjust for your goal

To lose weight, eat about 300–500 kcal below your TDEE — that typically means around 0.3–0.5 kg of fat loss per week, a safe and sustainable rate. To gain muscle, eat about 200–300 kcal above your TDEE while training. Do not drop below 1,200 kcal/day (women) or 1,500 kcal/day (men) without professional supervision.

Treat it as a starting point, not gospel

Formulas estimate — they do not measure. Track your intake and weight for 2–3 weeks: if your weight is not moving as expected, adjust your target by 100–200 kcal and reassess. NutriCounter's BMR calculator does all this math for you, and the daily tracker shows exactly how your eating compares to your goal.