Conservative fat loss
~300 below maintenance
Best when you want a slower cut with more training energy and fewer hunger spikes.
2,875
Free calorie calculator
TDEE calculator for maintenance calories and weight goals.
Estimate how many calories you burn per day, then turn that number into practical targets for fat loss, maintenance, lean gain, and daily protein. No account needed.
Use this when you need a starting number.
- Set a maintenance calorie estimate.
- Choose a realistic deficit or lean-gain target.
- Use tracking data to calibrate after 2–3 weeks.
Calculator
Find your daily target
years
ft
in
lb
Estimated maintenance
3,175
calories/day
This is your estimated TDEE: BMR plus daily movement and training. Treat it as a starting target, then calibrate from your real weight and intake trend.
BMR
2,041 kcal
Estimated calories your body uses at rest using Mifflin-St Jeor.
Activity multiplier
1.55×
Moderately active: Training 3–5 days/week or an active daily routine.
Best starting target
2,675kcal/day
Start with the standard fat-loss target, then adjust by your 2–3 week weight trend. A common starting point for steady fat loss when recovery and adherence still feel good.
Standard fat loss
~500 below maintenance
A common starting point for steady fat loss when recovery and adherence still feel good.
2,675
Aggressive fat loss
~750 below maintenance
Useful only for short phases. Watch sleep, training, hunger, and mood closely.
2,425
Maintenance
Estimated maintenance
Use this when your goal is consistency, recomp, or confirming your real baseline.
3,175
Lean gain
~250 above maintenance
A small surplus for muscle gain without pushing weight up faster than needed.
3,425
Protein starter range
160–225g/day
Split across four meals, that is about 40–56g protein per meal. This keeps the target practical instead of turning your day into macro spreadsheet cosplay.
Now make the number usable.
A calculator gives you a target. IntakeCalc helps you see whether your real meals match it today.
Nutrition estimates are planning tools, not medical advice. If you are pregnant, recovering from an eating disorder, managing a medical condition, or under 18, work with a qualified professional.
How to use it
The estimate matters only after it hits real meals.
01
Start with the target
Pick the calorie target that matches your goal. Do not average five calculators and call that precision.
02
Track for 2–3 weeks
Log intake consistently enough to compare the target against your actual weight trend.
03
Adjust in small moves
If the trend is too slow or too fast, change the target by 100–200 calories instead of panic-rebuilding the plan.
04
Keep protein simple
Use the protein range as a meal-planning guardrail. Hit it most days, then improve from there.
Formula
Methodology
This calculator uses the Mifflin-St Jeor equation to estimate BMR, then multiplies that by an activity factor to estimate total daily energy expenditure.
Fat-loss targets subtract roughly 300, 500, or 750 calories from maintenance. Lean gain adds roughly 250 calories. These are practical starting points, not promises about exact weekly scale movement.
Protein uses a simple range of roughly 0.7–1.0 grams per pound of body weight because most users need a meal-planning target they can act on today.
Example
35-year-old male, 6'3", 225 lb, moderate activity
The calculator estimates maintenance around the low 3,000s calories/day, then gives fat-loss, maintenance, and lean-gain targets around that anchor. The exact best target depends on real tracking and scale trend.
FAQ
Common TDEE questions
What is TDEE?
TDEE means total daily energy expenditure. It is an estimate of the calories you burn in a normal day after combining your resting metabolism with movement, training, and daily activity.
Is this calculator exact?
No calculator is exact. TDEE is a starting estimate. Your real maintenance calories come from tracking intake and body-weight trend for a few weeks, then adjusting the target.
Should I use the aggressive fat-loss target?
Only for short phases and only if energy, sleep, training, and hunger are still manageable. Most people do better starting with a conservative or standard deficit.
Why does IntakeCalc show protein too?
Calories set the weight trend, but protein helps make the target more usable for meals, training, and satiety. A simple protein range is often more useful than a complicated full macro plan on day one.
Next calculator steps
Keep the math moving in the right order.
Daily follow-through
Turn the calculator result into daily tracking.
The calculator helps you choose the number. IntakeCalc helps you see whether today’s meals actually fit it.
Track the target daily