Enter your stats to find your daily calorie target. You'll also get your BMR, TDEE, and a full macro breakdown for protein, fat & carbs.
A calorie target is the number of calories you should eat each day to reach a specific body weight goal. It is derived from your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) and adjusted up or down based on whether your goal is to lose fat, gain muscle, or maintain your current weight.
Total calorie intake over time is the most reliable lever for body composition change. No specific diet or meal timing matters as much as consistently hitting your daily calorie number.
BMR, or Basal Metabolic Rate, is the number of calories your body burns at complete rest to keep essential functions running, including your heartbeat, breathing, and organ function. It represents your minimum daily calorie requirement before any physical activity is accounted for.
CalorieLab calculates BMR using the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, the most widely validated formula in nutritional science. Your age, sex, height, and weight are all factored in. Eating consistently below your BMR forces the body to break down muscle tissue for energy.
TDEE, or Total Daily Energy Expenditure, is the total number of calories your body burns in a day once your activity level is factored in. It is calculated by multiplying your BMR by an activity multiplier that reflects how much you move on a typical day.
TDEE is the most important number for setting a calorie target. Eating at your TDEE maintains your weight. Eating below it creates a deficit that drives fat loss. Eating above it creates a surplus that supports muscle and weight gain.
Macros, short for macronutrients, are the three categories of nutrients that provide calories: protein, fat, and carbohydrates. Protein supports muscle growth and repair, fat regulates hormones and absorbs nutrients, and carbohydrates serve as the body's primary fuel source during physical activity.
Tracking macros gives you more control than calorie counting alone. Two people eating the same number of calories can see very different results depending on their macro split. CalorieLab sets protein at 0.8g per pound of body weight, fat at 25% of total calories, and carbs fill the remainder.
A safe and sustainable rate of weight loss is 0.5 to 1 pound per week. One pound of body fat stores approximately 3,500 calories, so a daily deficit of 500 calories produces roughly 1 pound of loss per week without triggering significant muscle breakdown or metabolic adaptation.
Deficits larger than 1,000 calories per day are generally not recommended without medical supervision. Faster loss tends to mean more of the weight comes from muscle rather than fat. Consistency over months outperforms aggressive short-term approaches in nearly every case.
A calorie calculator using the Mifflin-St Jeor equation is accurate to within roughly 10% for most people. It produces a reliable starting estimate based on age, sex, height, weight, and activity level. Individual metabolism varies due to genetics, sleep, stress, and lean muscle mass, which no formula can fully account for.
Treat your result as a starting point, not a fixed prescription. Track your weight over two to three weeks and adjust your intake by 100 to 200 calories if you are not seeing the expected progress. Real-world feedback is more accurate than any equation.