Calorie Maintenance Calculator – Estimate Your Maintenance Calories
Estimate how many calories you may need per day to maintain your current weight based on your body metrics and activity level.
How this calculator helps
Estimate how many calories you may need per day to maintain your current weight based on your body metrics and activity level. It gives a quick estimate so you can compare scenarios and plan with clearer expectations.
Formula: Maintenance calories = BMR × activity factor, where BMR is estimated using the Mifflin-St Jeor equation.
Assumptions: This is a good planning estimate for adults, but it does not account for medication, medical conditions, or significant changes in body composition.
Worked example: A 32-year-old woman weighing 140 lb and 65 in tall with moderate activity may need roughly 2,000 calories per day to maintain weight.
- Inputs: Use your own values for the fields below.
- Adjustments: Try a couple of activity levels to see how much they shift your maintenance number.
- Output: Track your weight over a few weeks and adjust the estimate based on real results.
What the result means
Maintenance calories represent the point where your intake roughly matches your total daily energy expenditure, so weight stays steady rather than rising or falling. This estimate combines your basal metabolic rate, the energy your body uses at rest, with an activity multiplier that accounts for exercise and daily movement.
Activity level is the biggest source of error in these estimates, since people often overestimate how active they really are. A desk job with occasional workouts is usually "lightly active," not "very active," and picking too high a multiplier will overestimate maintenance calories.
Treat the number as a starting point and adjust based on real results: if your weight trends up or down over two to three weeks at this intake, shift your calories by 100-200 in the opposite direction and reassess.
Related calculators
Calorie maintenance, Protein intake, and Steps to distance are closely related to this estimate.
Frequently asked questions
- Which activity level should I pick? Be conservative; most people overestimate their weekly exercise and daily movement.
- Why isn't my weight changing at this number? Individual metabolism varies, so treat the result as a starting estimate and adjust after tracking a few weeks of real results.
- Does this account for muscle mass? Not directly. More muscle mass raises resting energy needs beyond what basic formulas capture.
Creator & reviewers
Creator persona
- Quinn ParkerWellness & nutrition estimates
Reviewer personas
- Casey RowanUnits, conversions & measurement
- Sage MitchellClarity & usability review