Calorie deficit calculator
Calorie deficit calculator: BMR, TDEE and a safe daily target
Enter your details to estimate your BMR (calories at rest), your maintenance calories (TDEE) and daily targets for steady weight loss. The calculator never suggests going below the limits used in clinical guidelines.
Your calories
For adults aged 18 and over who are not pregnant or breastfeeding.
Example: woman, 32, 68 kg, 162 cm, light activity
Resting energy (BMR)
1,370 kcal
Maintenance (TDEE)
2,130 kcal
To lose about 0.5 kg a week
1,580 kcal/day
How the estimate works
- Resting energy (BMR). The Mifflin–St Jeor equation: 10 × weight (kg) + 6.25 × height (cm) − 5 × age, plus 5 for men or minus 161 for women. A systematic review comparing equations with measured resting energy found it the most accurate of the common ones.
- Maintenance (TDEE). BMR × a physical activity level (PAL). The levels follow the FAO/WHO/UNU expert report, which puts sedentary and light lifestyles at 1.40–1.69, active at 1.70–1.99 and vigorous at 2.00–2.40.
- A deficit. About 7,700 kcal per kilogram of body weight is a common starting estimate, so 0.5 kg a week is a deficit of about 550 kcal a day at first.
| Activity | PAL used |
|---|---|
| Mostly sitting, little exercise | 1.4 |
| Light: on your feet some of the day, or exercise 1–3 days a week | 1.55 |
| Active: exercise most days, or an active job | 1.75 |
| Very active: hard training daily, or a physical job | 2 |
| Vigorous: hard training and a physical job | 2.2 |
Why weight loss slows
The 7,700 kcal rule is a starting estimate. As you lose weight, you need less energy to move and maintain a smaller body, and your body adapts, so the same intake produces slower loss over time. Modelling studies of energy balance show that weight loss slows over the months and levels off unless intake is adjusted. Recalculate every few kilograms, and use your actual weight trend as the real test.
Safe limits
The 2013 US obesity guideline suggests intakes of about 1,200–1,500 kcal a day for women and 1,500–1,800 kcal for men for weight loss, or a deficit of 500–750 kcal a day. Lower intakes are for programmes with medical supervision. The calculator doesn’t show a target below 1,200 (women) or 1,500 kcal (men); it asks you to choose a slower pace instead.
Keep your muscle while you lose fat
Larger deficits make it harder to keep muscle. Resistance training and enough protein help most: use the protein calculator for a daily range, and log your training in the workout tracker. A modest deficit is easier to sustain than a severe one. To see whether what you lose is fat, measure your waist every few weeks as well: the body fat calculator and the BMI and waist-to-height calculator both use it.
What 100 to 400 kcal looks like
| Food | Portion | Calories |
|---|---|---|
| Chapati / roti | 1 medium roti (36 g) | 73 kcal |
| Aloo paratha | 1 paratha (93 g) | 191 kcal |
| White rice, cooked | 1 katori (150 g) | 195 kcal |
| Lentils, boiled (plain dal, no oil) | 1 katori (150 g) | 174 kcal |
| Paneer | 100 g | 258 kcal |
| Masala dosa | 1 masala dosa (210 g) | 346 kcal |
| Banana, ripe (robusta) | 1 medium banana (118 g) | 124 kcal |
| Ghee | 1 tsp (5 g) | 45 kcal |
| Cooking oil (sunflower) | 1 tbsp (13.6 g) | 120 kcal |
Cooking fat is the easiest place for calories to hide: one tablespoon of oil is about 120 kcal. Add up a whole day of meals with the Indian food calorie counter.
Better than a formula: your own trend
Formulas can be 10% or more away from what you actually burn: in one study, Mifflin–St Jeor came within 10% of measured resting energy for 82% of adults (87% of those without obesity and 75% of those with it). With Bodyvault Pro, the adaptive target learns from your logged food and your weight trend over a couple of weeks, then adjusts your daily calories to what your body is really doing. Read more on the calorie counter page.
Privacy
The calculation runs in this page. Nothing you type is sent to a server, saved in your browser or put into the address bar; reloading the page restores the example. The site’s usual behaviour is in the privacy policy.
Questions
What is the difference between BMR and TDEE?
BMR is the energy you burn at rest. TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) adds everything else: moving, exercise and digesting food. TDEE is your maintenance calories.
How big should my calorie deficit be?
For most adults, 300–600 kcal a day gives steady loss of roughly 0.25–0.5 kg a week at first. Guidelines suggest a 500–750 kcal deficit, without going below about 1,200 kcal (women) or 1,500 kcal (men) unless medically supervised.
Why am I not losing weight on my calorie target?
The estimate can be 10% or more off, intake is easy to undercount, and water weight hides fat loss for a while. Track two to three weeks of intake and weight, then adjust.
Is this calculator suitable for everyone?
No. It isn’t for under-18s, pregnancy, breastfeeding, eating disorders or medically managed diets. Get individual advice in those situations.
Sources
- Mifflin MD et al. (1990). A new predictive equation for resting energy expenditure in healthy individuals. Am J Clin Nutr 51(2):241–247.
- Frankenfield D, Roth-Yousey L, Compher C (2005). Comparison of predictive equations for resting metabolic rate in healthy nonobese and obese adults: a systematic review. J Am Diet Assoc 105(5):775–789.
- Frankenfield DC (2013). Bias and accuracy of resting metabolic rate equations in non-obese and obese adults. Clin Nutr 32(6):976–982.
- FAO/WHO/UNU (2004). Human energy requirements: report of a joint FAO/WHO/UNU expert consultation.
- Hall KD et al. (2011). Quantification of the effect of energy imbalance on bodyweight. Lancet 378(9793):826–837.
- Hall KD (2008). What is the required energy deficit per unit weight loss? Int J Obes 32(3):573–576.
- Jensen MD et al. (2014). 2013 AHA/ACC/TOS guideline for the management of overweight and obesity in adults. Circulation 129(25 Suppl 2):S102–S138.