Maintenance calorie calculator: calories to stay the same weight

Estimated maintenance calories for 80 kg, 180 cm, 30 years, moderately activeworked example

2,759 kcal

Resting metabolic rate underneath it: 1,780 kcal
Activity multiplier applied: × 1.55A convention, not a published coefficient
Across a week: 19,313 kcal
What a 10% estimate error is worth here: ± 276 kcal/dayWhich is why the scale outranks the equation

Maintenance calories and TDEE are one quantity under two names. The number above is a starting point, not a reading: hold your intake near it for two to three weeks, weigh yourself under the same conditions, and average. If the average is flat, that intake is your maintenance figure — measured rather than predicted.

Realistic range

2,483 kcal to 3,035 kcal

The ±10% prediction band from the Frankenfield 2005 review, carried through the activity multiplier. Two people with these same four inputs can genuinely need figures this far apart.

WeightIn kilograms, or type the unit.HeightIn centimetres.Age5 kcal a year, in this equation.

Sex, as the equation defines it

Activity level× 1.55 sits inside the FAO/WHO/UNU sedentary or light activity lifestyle band.

How to turn this estimate into a measurement

1. Eat near the figure above for two to three weeks, without deliberately changing your training.
2. Weigh yourself at the same time of day, under the same conditions, on most days.
3. Average each week. A single reading moves with water, salt and glycogen; an average does not.
4. Flat average, held for a fortnight, means that intake is your maintenance. Drifting up or down means your real figure is below or above the estimate — adjust by 100 to 150 kcal and repeat.

Nothing here is stored or sent anywhere; this page does its arithmetic in your browser.

Looking for the same number under its other name, with the full activity ladder and the FAO/WHO/UNU bands? That is the TDEE calculator. To see what a gap below this figure implies, use the calorie deficit calculator.

Maintenance calories are the same quantity as TDEE, under a different name: the energy that leaves your weight where it is. This calculator estimates it from the Mifflin-St Jeor equation and an activity factor, shows the range that estimate really covers, and explains why the scale is the only real check.

Resting energy expenditure (Mifflin-St Jeor) — BMR (kcal/day) = 10 x weight(kg) + 6.25 x height(cm) - 5 x age(y) + 5 (male) or - 161 (female). Verified 2026-07-30 against Mifflin et al., Am J Clin Nutr 1990 (Derived from 498 healthy adults aged 19 to 78. It landed within 10% of measured resting metabolic rate for more people than any other equation in the Frankenfield 2005 review, which also means it missed by more than 10% for some of them.)
Activity multipliers for total daily energy expenditureconvention — TDEE = BMR x activity multiplier (1.2, 1.375, 1.55, 1.725 or 1.9). Verified 2026-07-30 against FAO/WHO/UNU, Human energy requirements (2004) - the documented PAL framework this ladder approximates (No primary source publishes this ladder and no error term was ever attached to it. Choosing one rung rather than its neighbour moves the answer by roughly 200 to 300 kcal/day, which makes it the largest single source of disagreement between two calculators given the same body.)
Accuracy of resting-metabolic-rate equations — the review's accuracy criterion was a prediction within 10% of measured RMR. Verified 2026-07-30 against Frankenfield et al., J Am Diet Assoc 2005 (systematic review) (This describes how often an equation lands within 10% across groups of people. It is not a confidence interval for one person's result.)

Everything you type here is computed in your browser. Nothing you enter is stored on a server, sent anywhere, or shared — there is no account and no health data to leak.

Frequently asked questions

How many calories do I need to maintain my weight?

The estimate is a resting figure from the Mifflin-St Jeor equation multiplied by an activity factor. For an 80 kg, 180 cm, 30-year-old man at the middle rung of the ladder that comes to about 2,760 kcal a day, with a realistic range of roughly 2,480 to 3,040.

How do I find my real maintenance figure?

Measurement beats prediction: hold your intake steady for two or three weeks, weigh yourself under the same conditions, and take the average. If the average is flat, that intake is your maintenance. No equation can see your daily movement, and this one openly admits it.

Is maintenance the same as TDEE?

Yes. Total daily energy expenditure is what you burn; maintenance calories are what you eat to match it. They are the same number approached from two directions, which is why this page and the TDEE page cite the same equation and the same convention.

Why does my maintenance figure change over time?

Because its inputs do. Body weight changes the resting figure directly, age lowers it by 5 kcal a year in this equation, and a change in daily movement changes the multiplier. A figure from a year ago is a figure for a body from a year ago.

Does the activity factor include my workouts?

That is what it is for, and it is the weakest part of the estimate. The rungs are broad descriptions rather than a measurement, they have no published error term, and adjacent rungs sit 200 to 300 kcal apart for the same body.

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The next number

No body metric means much on its own. Here is what this one feeds into.

Calorie deficit calculatorA deficit is defined as a gap from this figure, so this is the number that has to come first.Macro calculatorSplit the same calorie figure into grams of protein, carbohydrate and fat inside the IOM ranges.

Related calculators

TDEE calculatorMetabolism Calorie deficit calculatorEnergy balance Macro calculatorNutrition targets

Every formula on this page is listed with its source on the methodology page, and changes to any reference value are logged in the data changelog. Canonical URL: https://myhealthmywellness.com/maintenance-calorie-calculator