How to Calculate Your Daily Calorie Need

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  • Here’s a link to our handy calculator that can perform these calculations for you: 

 The number of calories you should eat per day depends on your physical body, your level activity, and your weight goals (if you have any). Follow these steps to figure out your calorie needs.

  1. Write down your vital statistics:
    • Age (years)
    • Height (cm)
    • Weight (kgs)
    • Goal Weight (if applicable)
    • Goal Date (the date by which you’d like to gain or lose the weight)
  2. Calculate your Body Mass Index and Weight Catagory(BMI)Body Mass Index (BMI) is an indicator of body fatness based on height and weight. Use our BMI Calculator or calculate it yourself:BMI = Weight / [Height/100]2Your BMI determines your weight category based on standards used bythe Center for Disease Control and the World Health Organization.
    BMI Weight Status
    Below 18.5 Underweight
    18.5 - 24.9 Normal
    25.0 - 29.9 Overweight
    Above 29.9 Obese
  3. Calculate your Basal Metabolic Rate based on your genderThis is the daily number of calories you burn at rest.
    • BMR (Female) = 655.1 + 9.563 * Weight + 1.850 * Height - 4.676 * Age(yrs)

    • BMR (Male) = 66 + 13.7 * Weight + 5 * Height - 6.8 * Age
  4. Calculate your Total Energy ExpenditureThis is your BMR plus the number of calories you burn due to physical activity. This is the number of calories you need to eat per day in order to maintain your current body weight.Total Energy Expenditure = BMR*(Activity Level)Use the table below to determine your Activity Level:
    Activity Level Men Women
    Sedentary (inactive) 1.15 1.15
    Lightly Active (most professionals, office workers, shop workers, teachers, homemakers) 1.4 1.35
    Moderately active (workers in light industry, most farm workers, active students, department store workers, solders not in active service, commercial fishing workers) 1.5 45%
    Very active (full-time athletes and dancers, unskilled laborers, forestry workers, military recruits in training, soldiers in active service, mine workers, steel workers) 1.85 1.7
    Exceptionally active (lumberjacks, blacksmiths, female construction workers) 2.1 2
  5. Calculate your ideal weight range:A person with “normal” weight status has a BMI between 18.5 and 24.9.Your ideal weight range is between 18.5*[Height/100]2 and 24.9*[Height/100]2  You can use this information to determine your goal weight.
  6. Calculate your daily calorie needs:If you want to maintain your current body weight, then your daily calorie need is the same as your Total Energy Expenditure (calculated above).If you want, to gain or lose weight, you need to burn more calories than you consume. First decide when you want to lose the weight by and determine how many days are between now and your goal date (this date duration calculator does just that).Now determine your daily calorie deficit (or surplus); this is the number of extra calories you need to expend (or consume) each day in order to achieve your goal weight by your goal date.
    • Daily Calorie Deficit (or Surplus) = 7800*(Current Weight - Goal Weight) / Days Until Goal Date 
  7. Finally, calculate your daily calorie need.
    • Daily Calorie Need = [Total Energy Expenditure / Days Until Goal] - Daily Calorie Deficit