What Is a Calorie Intake Calculator?

Your daily calorie intake target is the number of calories you should eat to reach a specific weight goal — maintain, lose, or gain. It is built from your basal metabolic rate, adjusted for how active you are, then shifted by the energy balance you want: roughly 3,500 calories equals one pound of body weight.

How It Works

This calculator estimates BMR with the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, the most widely validated formula, using your sex, age, weight, and height. BMR is multiplied by an activity factor (1.2 to 1.9) to produce TDEE, your maintenance intake. Your goal then applies a fixed daily adjustment of 250 or 500 calories — equal to a 0.5 or 1 lb weekly change — and the result is your daily calorie target.

Understanding Your Results

The primary number is your daily calorie target for the selected goal. The three-stat bar separates BMR, TDEE, and the goal adjustment; the donut chart shows how TDEE splits between resting burn and activity; and the breakdown table walks each step so the headline number can be verified. Adjust the goal selector to see how moving between maintain, lose, and gain shifts the target by exactly 250 kcal per half-pound step.