Daily Calorie and Macro Calculator

To maintain your weight, eat roughly your TDEE. To lose weight, subtract 300–500 kcal from your TDEE (about 0.3–0.5 kg lost per week); to build muscle, add 200–300 kcal. On average this lands between 1,600–2,400 kcal for women and 2,000–3,000 kcal for men.

The most widely used equation is Mifflin-St Jeor. For men, BMR = (10 × weight) + (6.25 × height) − (5 × age) + 5; for women, BMR = (10 × weight) + (6.25 × height) − (5 × age) − 161. Multiply that BMR by an activity factor between 1.2 and 1.9 to get your daily calorie needs (TDEE).

Roughly 7,700 kcal of deficit equals 1 kg of fat loss. A 500 kcal daily deficit works out to about 0.5 kg per week. Going below 1,200 kcal for women or 1,500 kcal for men is not recommended — muscle loss and nutrient deficiencies become likely at that level.

Sedentary adults need about 0.8 g per kg of body weight, while people who train regularly or are in a calorie deficit do better on 1.6–2.2 g per kg. For a 70 kg person that is roughly 112–154 g of protein a day.

BMR is what you would burn lying in bed all day. TDEE adds the energy cost of walking, working, exercising and digesting food. TDEE is always higher than BMR — the gap ranges from 20% to 90% depending on your activity level.

The Mifflin-St Jeor equation lands within about 10% of measured values for most healthy adults. Body composition, genetics, hormones and medication can shift the result. Treat the number as a starting point and adjust it after tracking your weight for 2–3 weeks.

BMI = weight (kg) ÷ height (m)². Under 18.5 is underweight, 18.5–24.9 is normal, 25–29.9 is overweight and 30 or above is obese. BMI cannot tell muscle from fat, so it can be misleading for athletes with high muscle mass.

A calorie calculator like this one gives you the target: it works out how many calories you should eat, once. A calorie tracking app measures how close you get to that target every day, logging what you eat and showing what is left. They are complements, not alternatives — you calculate the target first, then track against it.

Three ways. A kitchen scale is the most accurate but useless when you eat out. Hand measures are practical: a palm of meat is roughly 100 g, a fist of rice roughly 150 g. Photo estimation is the fastest — AI apps such as EatLog estimate portion size and calories from a photo of your plate. The calculator on this page gives you a daily target; for individual meals you need one of these methods.

No, but they are linked. A calorie calculator finds your total energy target; a macro calculator divides that energy between protein, carbs and fat. You cannot work out macros without knowing the calorie target first, which is why this page does both: hit calculate and you get your daily calories and your macro split in grams.

Recalculate whenever your weight changes by 3–4 kg, or when your activity level changes for good — a new job, a new training programme. As you lose weight your body gets smaller and needs less energy; sticking to the original target is the most common reason weight loss stalls. A practical rule: run the numbers again once a month.

Three common reasons. First, intake is higher than assumed — oils, sauces and drinks often go uncounted, and portion estimates run 20–30% low on average. Second, the activity level was set too high; that alone inflates the daily target by 300–500 kcal. Third, water retention: salt, carbs, the menstrual cycle and newly started exercise can hold several kilos of water and mask real fat loss on the scale for weeks. Judge progress by a weekly average, not a single weigh-in.