Calorie Calculator

What does a calorie calculator tell you?

A calorie is a unit of energy. Your body uses energy to stay alive, to move and to digest food, and it gets that energy from what you eat and drink. When you eat about as much as you use, your weight stays steady.

This calculator estimates that daily need, often called your maintenance calories or total daily energy expenditure (TDEE). It then shows how much to eat for a gentle, steady or faster change in weight, and warns you if a target falls below a safe level.

How are your daily calories calculated?

• First, the calculator estimates your basal metabolic rate (BMR), the energy you burn at complete rest, using the Mifflin-St Jeor equation.
• Next, it multiplies your BMR by an activity factor, from 1.2 for a sedentary lifestyle to 1.9 for very hard daily exercise or a physical job. This gives your maintenance calories.
• Finally, it adds or takes away calories for each weight goal, using the common estimate that about 7,700 kcal equals one kilogram of body weight.

For example, a moderately active 30-year-old man who is 175 cm tall and weighs 70 kg has a BMR of about 1,649 kcal. Multiplied by 1.55, that gives 2,556 kcal a day to maintain his weight. To lose about half a kilo a week, he would aim for around 2,006 kcal a day.

How many calories to lose or gain weight

Losing about half a kilo a week is a realistic pace for most people. Faster loss is harder to keep up and more likely to cost you muscle. As you lose weight your needs drop too, so recalculate every few kilos.

Where your calories come from

Fat carries more than twice the energy of carbohydrate or protein, which is why oily and fried food adds up quickly. Protein keeps you full for longer and helps protect muscle while you cut calories.

Cutting calories sensibly

• Fill half your plate with vegetables and salad, and a quarter each with protein and whole grains.
• Watch cooking oil and ghee: a tablespoon of oil is around 120 kcal.
• Swap sugary tea, coffee, juices and soft drinks for water, buttermilk or unsweetened drinks.
• Keep fried snacks, sweets and bakery items for occasional treats.
• Eat slowly and stop when you are comfortably full, not stuffed.
• Combine eating a little less with moving more. Even a daily 30-minute walk helps.

Why very low calories are not safe

As a general guide, most women should not eat less than about 1,200 kcal a day and most men less than about 1,500 kcal a day unless a doctor is supervising them. Below these levels it becomes hard to get enough protein, vitamins and minerals.

Very low-calorie diets can also cause muscle loss, tiredness, hair fall and gallstones, and they often end in weight regain. The calculator flags any target that falls below your safe minimum.

How accurate is a calorie calculator?

The figures are estimates for an average person with your details. Your real needs can be 10% or more higher or lower, depending on your muscle mass, genes, sleep, health and how active you really are.

Use the result as a starting point. Keep to it for two or three weeks, check your weight, and adjust by 100 to 200 kcal a day if you are not moving in the direction you want.

Your weight and your health cover

Keeping a healthy weight lowers the risk of diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease, the conditions behind many hospital stays in India. Some health insurers also run wellness programmes that reward you with renewal discounts for staying active.

Frequently asked questions