Calorie Calculator
How many calories do you actually burn in a day? Plug in your stats and activity level — the penguin crunches the Mifflin-St Jeor equation and hands you cut, maintain, and bulk targets.
How to use
- Pick your units. Metric (cm/kg) or imperial (inches/lb) — whichever you know offhand.
- Enter age, sex, height, and weight. These feed the Mifflin-St Jeor equation that estimates your resting burn.
- Choose your activity level. Be honest — most people land on Light or Moderate.
- Read your targets. TDEE is your daily burn; eat near it to maintain, ~500 under to cut, ~300 over to bulk.
Frequently asked questions
What is TDEE?
TDEE — Total Daily Energy Expenditure — is the total number of calories your body burns in a day, including everything: keeping you alive at rest, digesting food, and all your movement and exercise. Eat at your TDEE to maintain weight, below it to lose, above it to gain.
What is BMR and how is it calculated?
BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) is what you'd burn lying in bed all day — just keeping the lights on. This calculator uses the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, the most widely validated formula: it combines your weight, height, age, and sex into a resting-burn estimate, then multiplies by your activity level to get TDEE.
How many calories should I eat to lose weight?
A common, sustainable target is about 500 calories below your TDEE per day, which works out to roughly a pound a week. That's exactly what the "Cutting target" above shows. Bigger deficits work faster but are harder to stick with — consistency beats intensity.
Should I use metric or imperial?
Whichever you actually know. The math is identical either way — the toggle just converts your inches and pounds to centimeters and kilograms behind the scenes before running the equation.
Is this medical advice?
No. These are well-established estimates, but they're still estimates — real metabolisms vary. If you have a health condition, are pregnant, or are an athlete with unusual needs, talk to a doctor or dietitian before acting on the numbers.
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