Calorie Calculator
Ten quick questions instead of three. The more this page knows about your real days — job, steps, training, sleep — the closer your calorie number lands.
Why this calculator asks more questions
Most calorie calculators compress your entire life into one dropdown — and that dropdown is where their error lives. Someone with a desk job who trains four evenings a week and someone on their feet all day who never trains can end up on the same “moderately active” row while burning 600 kcal a day apart.
This page splits the question the way the science does:
- Your BMR from Mifflin–St Jeor — or, if you know your body fat, from Katch–McArdle, which works from lean mass and is noticeably more accurate for lean or muscular people.
- Your daily life — job type and step count set your NEAT, the movement that is not exercise. This is the biggest single difference between people of the same size.
- Your training, priced honestly — sessions per week × type × length, converted through MET values and spread across the week, instead of a flat multiplier that overpays short workouts and underpays long ones.
- Your sleep — it does not change the arithmetic, but under 6 hours reliably raises hunger and slips extra eating past your plan, so the result warns you.
The safety floor
If your chosen pace would push intake below your BMR (or below 1,500/1,200 kcal), the calculator refuses and raises the target to the floor. Very-low-calorie dieting costs muscle, hormones and adherence; the sustainable fix for a slow cut is more movement, not less food.
The number is a starting point, not a verdict. Two weeks of eating the target and weighing daily (same time, same conditions, compare weekly averages) tells you more than any formula can. Moving as planned? Keep going. Not moving? Adjust 150–200 kcal and repeat.
What to do next
- Split your target into macros with the macro calculator — protein first.
- If you picked a fat-loss goal, read the calorie deficit, explained so the scale's daily noise does not shake you.
- Recalculate after every 4–5 kg of change — maintenance moves with your weight.
Frequently asked questions
Why does it ask for body fat percentage?
If you know it, the calculator switches to the Katch–McArdle equation, which estimates from lean mass rather than total weight. For muscular or very lean people that is meaningfully more accurate. Leave it empty and the standard equation is used.
My gym watch says I burn more than this.
Wrist trackers overestimate workout calories by 20–40% on average. This page prices training from published MET values, which run closer to lab measurements.
Should I eat back exercise calories?
No — your training is already inside the number. Adding it again is the most common way a deficit quietly disappears.
What if I stop losing weight?
First recalculate at your new weight — lighter bodies burn less. Then check portions honestly, and only then trim 150–200 kcal or add 2,000 daily steps.
Is the sleep question serious?
Very. Short sleep raises ghrelin (hunger) and lowers leptin (fullness); in controlled studies people eat 200–400 kcal more the next day without noticing. It will not change your maths, but it will change your behaviour.
How fast should I lose?
0.5–1% of body weight per week keeps most of your muscle and your sanity. Faster looks better for a fortnight and then costs you in rebound.