Find out how many calories you need per day to maintain your current weight. The calculator uses the Mifflin-St Jeor equation and your activity level — and shows what happens to the number if you want to lose or gain instead.
📌 This is an estimate based on the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, accurate to within about ±10% for most adults. Individual metabolism, body composition and medical conditions can shift real needs. Calorie targets below 1,200/day are not shown — consult a professional before aggressive deficits.
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Finding your true maintenance
A calculator gives you a starting estimate — your real maintenance is confirmed by data. Eat at the calculated number for two to three weeks while weighing yourself every morning. If your weekly average weight stays flat, the number is right. If you drift up or down by more than half a pound per week, adjust intake by 150–250 calories and repeat. This simple feedback loop beats any formula, because it captures your individual metabolism and real activity.
Maintenance is also the anchor for every other goal: a cut is simply maintenance minus 250–500 calories, and a lean bulk is maintenance plus 250–500. Use the TDEE calculator to see the full activity-level breakdown, the calorie deficit calculator to plan a cut, and the macro calculator to split your calories into protein, carbs and fat.
Frequently asked questions
Maintenance calories are the number of calories you need to eat per day to keep your weight exactly where it is. They equal your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE): your resting metabolism plus all daily movement and exercise. Eating below maintenance loses weight; eating above it gains weight.
Calculate your BMR with the Mifflin-St Jeor equation (10 × weight in kg + 6.25 × height in cm − 5 × age, +5 for men / −161 for women), then multiply by an activity factor: 1.2 if sedentary, 1.375 for light exercise, 1.55 for moderate, 1.725 for very active, 1.9 for extra active. The result is your daily maintenance intake.
The two usual reasons are an overestimated activity level and underestimated food logging — studies show people under-report intake by 20–40% on average. Drop to the next activity level down, weigh food for two weeks, and compare your scale trend. Your true maintenance is the intake at which your weekly average weight stays flat.
Yes. Maintenance drops as you lose weight (a smaller body burns fewer calories), rises when you gain muscle, and declines slowly with age — roughly 1–2% per decade after 20 for the same body composition. Recalculate whenever your weight changes by more than about 10 pounds or your training changes significantly.
Returning to maintenance after a weight-loss phase — sometimes called reverse dieting or a maintenance phase — helps stabilize the new weight. Increase intake gradually (100–200 calories per week) toward your new, lower maintenance level, and hold there for at least a few weeks before any new deficit.