Maintenance Calorie Calculator

How to Calculate Maintenance Calories

Calculating your maintenance calories involves determining the number of calories your body needs to maintain its current weight. This calculation takes into account various factors such as age, gender, height, weight, and activity level. Here's a detailed explanation of how to calculate your maintenance calories:

Maintenance Calorie Calculation Formula

The maintenance calorie calculation involves two main steps:

1. Calculate Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) using the Mifflin-St Jeor Equation:
   • For males: $$BMR = 10 * weight + 6.25 * height - 5 * age + 5$$
   • For females: $$BMR = 10 * weight + 6.25 * height - 5 * age - 161$$
   Where weight is in kg, height is in cm, and age is in years.
2. Calculate Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE): $$TDEE = BMR * Activity Factor$$

The Activity Factor ranges from 1.2 for sedentary individuals to 1.9 for very active individuals.

Calculation Steps

1. Input personal data: age, gender, height, weight, and activity level.
2. Calculate BMR using the appropriate formula based on gender.
3. Multiply BMR by the activity factor to get TDEE, which represents your maintenance calories.

Example Calculation

Let's calculate the maintenance calories for a 30-year-old male who is 180 cm tall, weighs 75 kg, and has a moderately active lifestyle.

Step 1: Calculate BMR

$$\begin{align} BMR &= 10 * 75 + 6.25 * 180 - 5 * 30 + 5 \\ &= 750 + 1125 - 150 + 5 \\ &= 1730 \text{ calories/day} \end{align}$$

Step 2: Calculate TDEE (moderately active = 1.55)

$$\begin{align} TDEE &= 1730 * 1.55 \\ &= 2681.5 \text{ calories/day} \end{align}$$

Therefore, this person's estimated maintenance calories are 2682 calories per day.

Visual Representation

This doughnut chart illustrates the distribution of maintenance calories for our example calculation. The inner circle represents the Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), which is the number of calories burned at rest. The outer ring shows the additional calories burned through daily activities and exercise. Together, they make up the Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE), which represents the maintenance calories.