Maintenance Calories Calculator
Maintenance calories are the amount you can eat every day without gaining or losing weight. They are your TDEE — your total daily energy expenditure — and they are the most useful number in nutrition, because every other target is defined against them. The maintenance calories calculator above works out your number from your sex, age, weight, height and activity level.
This page explains what maintenance means, how to find your number, how to eat at it without drifting, and what to do when your weight starts to move.
What Maintenance Calories Are
Maintenance calories are the calories that balance what you burn: your basal metabolic rate plus all your activity, exercise and digestion. Eat exactly that amount and your weight stays stable, because energy in equals energy out. Eat more and the surplus is stored as fat; eat less and the deficit comes out of your fat stores. Your maintenance level is not fixed — it rises and falls with your weight, your activity and your age — but at any moment there is a number, and the calculator finds it.
Worked Example: Maintenance at 2,556 Calories
Take a 30-year-old man, 70 kg, 175 cm, moderately active. His BMR is 10 × 70 + 6.25 × 175 − 5 × 30 + 5 = 1,649 calories. Multiply by 1.55 for moderate activity and his maintenance is 2,556 calories a day. His weekly maintenance is 17,892 calories. If he eats 2,556 a day, his weight stays where it is. If he eats 2,806, he gains about 0.25 kg a week. If he eats 2,056, he loses about 0.5 kg a week. The calculator above shows all of these targets at once, so you can see the whole picture before choosing.
Maintenance Calories at Every Activity Level
The same man — BMR 1,649 — has a very different maintenance level depending on how active he is.
| Activity level | Multiplier | Maintenance calories |
|---|---|---|
| Sedentary | × 1.2 | 1,979 kcal |
| Lightly active | × 1.375 | 2,267 kcal |
| Moderately active | × 1.55 | 2,556 kcal |
| Very active | × 1.725 | 2,844 kcal |
| Extra active | × 1.9 | 3,133 kcal |
The gap between sedentary and extra active is 1,154 calories a day. That is why two people of the same size can maintain on very different amounts of food, and why a change in lifestyle — a desk job instead of a physical one, or a new running habit — moves your maintenance by hundreds of calories.
Maintenance Calories for Different People
| Person | BMR | Maintenance (moderately active) |
|---|---|---|
| Woman, 25, 60 kg, 165 cm | 1,345 kcal | 2,085 kcal |
| Woman, 40, 65 kg, 165 cm | 1,320 kcal | 2,046 kcal |
| Man, 25, 75 kg, 178 cm | 1,743 kcal | 2,701 kcal |
| Man, 40, 80 kg, 178 cm | 1,718 kcal | 2,662 kcal |
| Man, 55, 80 kg, 178 cm | 1,643 kcal | 2,546 kcal |
Check the 55-year-old man: 1,643 × 1.55 = 2,546.65, rounded to 2,546. His 25-year-old self at the same weight needed about 155 calories a day more. That slow decline is normal, and it is one reason weight creeps up in middle age if eating habits do not change with it.
How to Eat at Maintenance
Eating at maintenance sounds simple — eat your number — but in practice it needs a little structure, because nobody counts every calorie forever. The practical approach is to learn what your maintenance looks like as meals, then live by the pattern rather than the maths.
- Work out your number with the calculator above and note your weekly total as well as your daily one.
- Build three days of meals that hit the target, using the macro split from the calorie calculator — for 2,556 calories, that is 192 g of protein, 256 g of carbohydrate and 85 g of fat on a balanced split.
- Repeat those days with variety, so the pattern becomes automatic.
- Weigh yourself once a week, same day, same conditions, and compare four-week averages.
- If the average is drifting up by more than 0.5 kg a month, trim 100 to 200 calories a day. If it is drifting down, add the same.
- Think in weeks, not days. One big meal does not break maintenance — a week of them does.
Why Maintenance Is Harder Than Losing Weight
Most people find maintenance harder than dieting, and the research agrees: the majority of people who lose weight regain it within two years. The reasons are partly biological — after weight loss, hunger hormones rise and fullness hormones fall, and your body burns fewer calories than the formulas predict — and partly behavioural: the diet ends, tracking stops, and old habits return. The fix is to treat maintenance as a phase with its own rules, not as the absence of a diet: keep weighing yourself weekly, keep training, keep protein high, and keep a rough eye on portions. The calorie calculator gives you the target; the habits keep you there.
When Your Maintenance Changes
- Weight change. Every 5 kg of weight changes your BMR by about 50 calories a day and your maintenance by about 80. Recalculate when your weight moves.
- Activity change. A new job, a new sport or an injury can move your maintenance by hundreds of calories overnight.
- Age. Maintenance falls about 8 calories a year through BMR alone at moderate activity. Small per year, but 150 calories a day between 25 and 45.
- Muscle gain. Each kilogram of muscle adds about 13 calories a day of resting burn, plus the training that built it.
- Season. People move less in winter and more in summer. If your weight drifts with the seasons, your activity is the cause.
Maintenance After Weight Loss
After losing weight, your maintenance is lower than the formulas predict, because your body adapts: it burns fewer calories at the same weight than a person who was always that weight. Studies suggest the gap is 100 to 300 calories a day, and it can persist for months or years. That is why people who lose 10 kg often find they must eat less than someone of the same weight who never dieted. The practical answer is to find your real maintenance by experiment: start with the calculator number, track your weight for a month, and adjust by 100 calories at a time until it is stable. Strength training and high protein narrow the gap, because they preserve the muscle that keeps your burn up.
Related tools: your resting burn from the BMR calculator, a daily target with macros from the calorie calculator, and your weight category from the BMI calculator. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute explains how to maintain a healthy weight long term.
At a Glance
Use the tdee calculator above with your own numbers, and keep the reference figures below handy while you plan.
| Activity level | Multiplier | TDEE (BMR 1,649) |
|---|---|---|
| Sedentary | × 1.2 | 1,979 kcal |
| Lightly active | × 1.375 | 2,267 kcal |
| Moderately active | × 1.55 | 2,556 kcal |
| Very active | × 1.725 | 2,844 kcal |
| Extra active | × 1.9 | 3,133 kcal |
What to remember
- TDEE is your BMR times your activity factor — it is your maintenance calorie level.
- A 500-calorie deficit loses about 0.5 kg a week; a 250 deficit loses about 0.25 kg.
- Never eat below 1,200 calories a day (women) or 1,500 (men) without medical supervision.
- Protein should be 1.6 to 2.0 g per kg of body weight a day when you train.
- TDEE falls as you lose weight — recalculate every 5 kg lost.
Your checklist
- Enter your details and activity level in the calculator above.
- Note your TDEE and your target for your goal.
- Follow the target for two weeks, weighing yourself twice a week.
- Compare weekly averages, not single weigh-ins.
- Adjust by 100 to 200 calories if your weight is not moving as expected.
Mistakes to avoid
- Choosing too high an activity level — the most common error.
- Adding exercise calories on top of the activity multiplier, which counts them twice.
- Using pounds as kilograms — divide pounds by 2.205 first.
- Judging progress by one weigh-in instead of the four-week trend.
- Treating TDEE as exact — it is an estimate, accurate to about 10 percent.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are maintenance calories?
The calories you burn in a day — your TDEE. Eat that amount and your weight stays stable. For a 30-year-old man at 70 kg and 175 cm, moderately active, maintenance is 2,556 calories a day. Eat more and you gain; eat less and you lose.
How do I calculate my maintenance calories?
Work out your BMR with the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, then multiply by an activity factor from 1.2 to 1.9. For our example man: BMR 1,649 × 1.55 = 2,556 calories a day. The calculator above does it for you.
How do I eat at maintenance without counting calories?
Learn what your maintenance looks like as meals: build three days of meals that hit the target, then repeat the pattern with variety. Weigh yourself weekly and adjust by 100 to 200 calories if the four-week average drifts.
Why am I gaining weight if I eat at maintenance?
Usually because the maintenance number is too high — most often from an activity level that is too generous — or because of untracked extras like drinks, sauces and weekend meals. Recalculate with an honest activity level and track everything for two weeks.
Does maintenance change after weight loss?
Yes. After losing weight your body burns fewer calories than the formulas predict, by roughly 100 to 300 a day. Find your real maintenance by experiment: start with the calculator number, track for a month, and adjust by 100 calories at a time until your weight is stable.
How many maintenance calories does a woman need?
A moderately active 25-year-old woman at 60 kg needs about 2,085 calories a day; a moderately active 55-year-old woman at 65 kg needs about 1,930. Use the calculator above for your own number.
Disclaimer: This calculator provides estimates for general information only and is not medical advice. Maintenance calorie equations are population averages and can be off by 10 percent or more for individuals. Consult a doctor or registered dietitian before using maintenance calories to plan a diet, especially if you have a medical condition.