BMR & Daily Calorie Calculator
Your basal metabolic rate and the calories you actually burn in a day, at five activity levels.
Basal metabolic rate is what your body spends just staying alive — breathing, pumping blood, keeping warm — over 24 hours at complete rest. Multiply it by an activity factor and you get total daily energy expenditure, the number every diet plan is really built around.
How this is worked out
Mifflin–St Jeor is the default because it has consistently been the most accurate of the prediction equations for the general population: 10 × weight (kg) + 6.25 × height (cm) − 5 × age + 5 for men, and the same with −161 for women. The revised Harris–Benedict equation is kept as a comparison; Katch–McArdle skips sex and age entirely and works from lean body mass, which makes it the better choice if you know your body fat percentage.
Every one of these is a population average with a real error margin — around ±10% for most people, and worse at the extremes of body size. Treat the number as a starting point: eat at it for a fortnight, weigh yourself under the same conditions, and adjust from what actually happened rather than from the equation.
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Common questions
What is the difference between BMR and TDEE?
BMR is your resting burn over 24 hours. TDEE is BMR multiplied by an activity factor, so it includes movement, exercise and digesting food. TDEE is the number to eat at to maintain weight.
Which activity level should I pick?
Most people overestimate. If you have a desk job and train three times a week, "lightly active" is usually closer to the truth than "moderately active".
Can I eat below my BMR to lose weight faster?
It is not recommended without medical supervision. Very low intakes make it hard to get enough protein and micronutrients, and they cost you muscle along with fat.