Estimate the calories you burn in a day from your BMR and an activity level you choose. Free, and the activity factor is stated rather than hidden.
Total daily energy expenditure is the energy a body uses across a whole day, resting and moving together. The calculator reaches it in two steps, and it shows both.
First it estimates the resting rate with the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, from weight in kilograms, height in centimeters and age in years:
BMR = 10 * weight + 6.25 * height - 5 * age + 5
The constant is + 5 for male and - 161 for female. Then it multiplies that estimate by the activity factor you choose:
maintenance calories = BMR * activity multiplier
The five factors are the only ones the tool accepts. Sedentary is 1.2, for little or no planned exercise. Lightly active is 1.375, for light exercise 1 to 3 days each week. Moderately active is 1.55, for moderate exercise 3 to 5 days each week. Very active is 1.725, for hard exercise 6 to 7 days each week. Extra active is 1.9, for very hard exercise or a physical job.
The result names the level and the number, as Moderately active × 1.55, so the assumption behind the figure stays visible.
The resting rate is 1,649 kcal/day and the daily figure is 2,556 kcal/day.
The same man across all five levels gives 1,979, then 2,267, then 2,556, then 2,844, then 3,133. Each step up adds about 289 kilocalories, and the whole range spans 1,154 a day.
The resting rate is 1,257 kcal/day and the daily figure is 1,728 kcal/day. At very active, the same measurements give 2,167.
The tool lists five and describes each one, and it does not choose for you. The description is the whole definition, so read it rather than the label. One step in either direction is worth about 289 kilocalories a day in the first example.
The resting rate covers a body at rest and nothing else. This figure covers the day around it, and it is that resting rate multiplied by one factor. For the resting rate on its own, use the BMR Calculator.
No. It is a broad estimate, and the tool says so with the result. Two people who pick the same level can spend very different amounts of energy, because a factor cannot see how long you train, how hard, or how much you move for the rest of the day.
A tracker builds its figure from movement it detects and a model of its own. This tool applies one factor you chose to one equation. The two methods rarely agree.
No. It prints an estimate of the energy a day costs, and nothing beyond it. There is no target here, no deficit, no surplus and no plan. A doctor or a registered dietitian can tell you what to do with the number.
No. There is no account and no server call. Nothing you type leaves the browser, nothing is saved, and every field returns to its default when you reload the page. The tool also works with no internet connection after your first visit.
The multiplier scales the whole resting estimate, and the error in it too. That resting rate is a population average for your four numbers, and the day figure inherits every way you differ from it.
Nothing in this calculation is measured. It is one published equation and one factor from a short list, applied to numbers you typed.
For the height and weight ratio, use the BMI Calculator. To rework the figure by hand, use the Calculator.