Maintenance calories are the number of calories you can eat in a day without gaining or losing weight. This calculator estimates yours as a range, because every formula is an estimate, and then shows you how to confirm the real number with two weeks of weigh-ins. You also get your maintenance at every activity level and a weekday-and-weekend split that lands on the same weekly total.
Maintenance calories calculator
Enter your details for an estimate. Body fat percentage is optional; if you know it, the estimate is based on your lean mass instead of an average build.
Your maintenance at each activity level
| Activity level | Maintenance calories | Who this fits |
|---|
Most people pick one level too high. If you sit most of the day and exercise three times a week, you are probably lightly active, not moderately active. Picking the level that matches your real week is the single biggest thing you can do to make this number right.
A weekday and weekend split that still averages out
| Day | Calories | Note |
|---|
Your body responds to the weekly average, not to any single day. Eating a little less Monday to Friday and a little more on the weekend lands on the same total and is easier to keep up.
If you are coming off a diet
| Week | Calories per day |
|---|
This calculator is for healthy adults. It is not medical advice and not designed for pregnancy, breastfeeding, children, or anyone managing a medical condition or an eating disorder. If that is you, ask a doctor or registered dietitian for a personal target.
Confirm it: the two-week maintenance tracker
The estimate above is a starting point. Your real maintenance comes from your own data. Eat a steady amount for 14 days, weigh yourself each morning, then enter the averages here.
Key takeaways
- Maintenance calories are the calories that keep your weight steady. They are the same thing as your total daily energy expenditure, or TDEE.
- Every calculator is an estimate. The Mifflin-St Jeor formula used here lands within 10 percent of a measured result for about 7 in 10 adults, so treat the number as a range.
- Two weeks of weigh-ins beat any formula. Eat a steady amount, average your weight, and the tracker above turns the change into your real maintenance.
- Your maintenance drops as you lose weight, by roughly 10 to 15 calories a day for every pound lost, so recalculate every 10 pounds.
What maintenance calories are
Your body spends energy all day: keeping your heart beating and your brain working, digesting food, walking to the car, fidgeting, and exercising. Add it all up and you get your total daily energy expenditure, which is the formal name for maintenance calories. Eat that amount and your weight holds. Eat less and you lose weight. Eat more and you gain.
The biggest slice, 60 to 70 percent, is your basal metabolic rate, the energy it takes to stay alive at rest. About 10 percent goes to digesting food. The rest is movement, both planned exercise and the everyday kind. That last part is where two people of the same size can differ by 500 calories a day. A nurse on her feet for 12 hours burns far more than someone at a desk, even if neither sets foot in a gym.
How this calculator works
It starts with the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, published in 1990 and later found by the American Dietetic Association’s review to be the most reliable of the common formulas for healthy adults. The equation uses your weight, height, age, and sex to estimate your basal metabolic rate. The calculator then multiplies that by an activity factor, from 1.2 for sedentary to 1.9 for extra active, to get your maintenance.
If you enter your body fat percentage, the calculator switches to the Katch-McArdle formula, which works from lean mass. That is more accurate for people who carry a lot of muscle, or a lot more fat than average, because the standard formula assumes a typical build.
The range is there for a reason. In the validation study, the Mifflin-St Jeor formula came within 10 percent of a measured metabolic rate for 82 percent of people with a healthy weight and 70 percent of people with obesity. So a calculator that says 2,000 really means somewhere around 1,800 to 2,200. The range shown is the honest version of the number.
For the full picture, including BMI, ideal weight, and macros, use our TDEE calculator. This page focuses on one job: finding and confirming your maintenance.
How to confirm your maintenance in two weeks
The tracker above is simple, and it works because a pound of body fat holds roughly 3,500 calories. If you ate 2,000 calories a day for 14 days and lost one pound, you were about 250 calories a day below maintenance, so your real number is close to 2,250. Here is how to run the test so the result means something:
- Eat the same amount every day for 14 days. It does not have to be your estimated maintenance; it just has to be steady. Track everything, including oils, sauces, and drinks, which are what most people miss.
- Weigh yourself every morning after using the bathroom and before eating, on the same scale.
- Average the first three days and the last three days. Single weigh-ins swing by 2 to 4 pounds with water and salt, so averages are the only numbers worth using.
- Enter the averages and the tracker does the arithmetic.
The first week of any change can show water loss rather than fat, especially if you cut carbohydrates. If your first result looks too good to be true, run the test for another two weeks.
Average maintenance calories by age and sex
These are the estimated calorie needs from the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2020 to 2025 for adults of average height and a healthy weight. They are averages, so your own number can sit well outside them.
| Group | Sedentary | Moderately active |
|---|---|---|
| Women 19 to 30 | 1,800 to 2,000 | 2,000 to 2,200 |
| Women 31 to 50 | 1,800 | 2,000 |
| Women 51 and over | 1,600 | 1,800 |
| Men 19 to 30 | 2,400 to 2,600 | 2,600 to 2,800 |
| Men 31 to 50 | 2,200 to 2,400 | 2,400 to 2,600 |
| Men 51 and over | 2,000 to 2,200 | 2,200 to 2,400 |
If your calculator result is far from these, that is not necessarily wrong. A 6-foot-3 man or a 5-foot woman will sit outside the averages by design.
Why your maintenance changes
- Weight loss. A lighter body costs less to run and less to move. Expect maintenance to fall by about 10 to 15 calories a day per pound lost, which is why a deficit that worked in month one stops working by month three.
- Muscle. Muscle burns a little more at rest than fat, about 6 calories per pound per day against roughly 2. Strength training nudges maintenance up over time.
- Age. Maintenance drifts down 2 to 3 percent per decade after your twenties, mostly through lost muscle. Lifting slows that.
- Dieting itself. A long, steep deficit lowers your burn by 5 to 10 percent beyond what the weight loss alone explains. It recovers once you eat at maintenance again for a few weeks.
- Everyday movement. A new job, a new commute, or a baby can move maintenance by hundreds of calories without any change at the gym.
Eating at maintenance without counting forever
Counting for two to four weeks teaches you what your maintenance looks like on a plate. After that, most people do better with a few habits than with a lifetime of logging:
- Pick a weight range of 3 to 5 pounds rather than a single number, and weigh in a few mornings a week.
- Use the weekday and weekend split from the calculator. A slightly lower weekday number gives you room on weekends without losing the weekly total.
- Keep breakfast and lunch steady. Most people rotate the same few meals anyway. Fix those and only dinner needs attention.
- Act early. If your weekly average sits above your range for two weeks, trim 150 to 200 calories a day for a while. Small corrections beat big ones.
Our guide to maintenance calories and how to find yours goes deeper on the two-week test and the mistakes that throw it off, and how many calories you should eat a day covers the official ranges by age and goal.
Mistakes that make the number useless
- Choosing an activity level for the person you plan to be. Pick the level for the last two weeks, not for next month.
- Counting exercise twice. If you chose “moderately active,” your workouts are already in the number. Adding the calories your watch shows on top of that double-counts them.
- Trusting one weigh-in. Daily weight swings of 2 to 4 pounds are normal. Only averages mean anything.
- Never recalculating. Rerun the calculator every 10 pounds of change.
- Forgetting liquids and oils. A tablespoon of olive oil is about 120 calories, and a sweetened coffee can be 300. Both are easy to leave out of a food log.
When to talk to a doctor
Ask a doctor or registered dietitian before changing how much you eat if you have diabetes, thyroid disease, kidney disease, heart disease, or a history of disordered eating, or if you are pregnant or breastfeeding. See a doctor if you are losing weight without trying, if your weight changes quickly either way, or if eating at a sensible deficit for two months has not moved the scale at all. An underactive thyroid, some medicines, and fluid retention can all hide what is really happening.
The bottom line
Use the calculator for a starting range, then confirm it with two weeks of steady eating and daily weigh-ins. Pick the activity level that matches your real week, think in weekly totals rather than perfect days, and recalculate as your weight changes. Once you know your maintenance, every other calorie target, for losing or gaining, is a simple sum from there.
Frequently asked questions
What are maintenance calories?
Maintenance calories are the number of calories you need in a day to keep your weight steady. They cover your resting metabolism, digestion, everyday movement, and exercise. Eat less than this and you lose weight; eat more and you gain.
Are maintenance calories the same as TDEE?
Yes. TDEE, or total daily energy expenditure, is the technical name for the calories you burn in a full day, and maintenance calories is the everyday name for the same number.
How accurate is a maintenance calories calculator?
Within about 10 percent for most people. The Mifflin-St Jeor formula matched measured metabolic rates to within 10 percent for roughly 8 in 10 adults at a healthy weight and 7 in 10 adults with obesity. That is why this calculator shows a range, and why two weeks of weigh-ins is the better test.
Do maintenance calories go down as you lose weight?
Yes. A lighter body uses fewer calories at rest and during movement. Expect your maintenance to drop by roughly 10 to 15 calories a day for every pound you lose, so recalculate every 10 pounds.
Why am I gaining weight at maintenance?
Usually one of three things: your activity level was set too high, food is being under-counted (oils, sauces, drinks, and weekend meals are the common gaps), or the gain is water from salt, carbohydrates, or a new workout routine. Run the two-week tracker before assuming the formula is wrong.
Do I have to eat the same calories every day?
No. Your weekly total is what matters. If your maintenance is 2,200 a day, that is about 15,400 a week, and 2,000 on weekdays with 2,700 on weekend days lands in the same place.
How long should I eat at maintenance after a diet?
At least two to four weeks, and longer after a long or steep diet. Stepping up by 100 to 150 calories a week until you reach your estimated maintenance gives your body time to adjust and avoids the rebound that comes from jumping straight back to old eating.
Is 1,500 calories a day a low maintenance?
It can be normal for a smaller, less active woman, especially over 50. If a calculator gives you 1,500 and you are active or tall, check your inputs, because a maintenance that low usually means the activity level was set to sedentary by mistake.
Sources: Mifflin MD et al., “A new predictive equation for resting energy expenditure in healthy individuals,” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1990. Frankenfield D et al., “Comparison of predictive equations for resting metabolic rate in healthy nonobese and obese adults,” Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 2005. Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2020 to 2025, Appendix 2. Hall KD et al., “Quantification of the effect of energy imbalance on bodyweight,” The Lancet, 2011.