Free tool
Maintenance calorie calculator
Estimate the intake that should hold your weight steady. The equation is a hypothesis. Three weeks of logging is the measurement.
Updated 2026-08-16By Chris RichardsAll tools
Your estimate
kcal / day maintenance estimate · BMR 1,419
Estimate only — verify with a weight log over 2–3 weeks. Not medical advice.
How this maintenance calculator works
Maintenance calories are the intake that keeps weekly weight averages flat. This tool estimates them the same way a TDEE calculator does: Mifflin-St Jeor for resting burn, then an activity factor for everything else.
Men: (10 × kg) + (6.25 × cm) − (5 × age) + 5. Women: the same, then −161. Multiply by 1.2 sedentary through 1.9 extra active. The output is labelled maintenance because that is the job you came here to do — hold weight — not to collect an acronym.
A worked example
A 41-year-old man, 180 cm, 82 kg, desk job, gym twice a week. BMR ≈ 1,745. Lightly active (1.375) is the honest multiplier: about 2,400 kcal. That is the hypothesis, not a prescription.
He eats near 2,400 for three weeks. Weekly averages drift from 82.0 to 82.6 kg. The estimate was a little high. Cut about 200, retest. The maintenance guide walks through that arithmetic.
Why the calculator and the scale disagree
Activity dropdowns are flattering. Oil, drinks, and weekends are under-logged. Prediction equations were built on populations, not you. A few hundred calories of gap is ordinary. When they disagree, the three-week trend wins. If you already measured maintenance with a log, you do not need this estimate at all.
- Pick the lower activity factor if you are between two.
- Do not add watch calories on top — NEAT is already in the multiplier.
- Recalculate after about 5 kg of weight change, not after a heavy weekend.
What this tool does not do
It does not know pregnancy, thyroid disease, medication, or a history of disordered eating. Those change whether a number should be used at all. Talk to a clinician if any of that applies. General information, not medical advice.
It also does not replace the maintenance guide. The calculator is the first afternoon. The guide is the three weeks that decide whether the number was any good. If you already have a measured maintenance from a log, skip this page and go to the deficit calculator.
FAQ
Is this the same as a TDEE calculator?
Same arithmetic, different job. TDEE names the burn. Maintenance names the intake that should match it. This page is for people who searched for the intake number.
How do I know the estimate is right?
Eat near it for 14–21 days, weigh daily, compare weekly averages. Flat means close. Drifting up, the true number is lower; drifting down, it is higher.
Should I eat the same calories every day?
Weekly average is what the scale sees. A flat daily target is simpler. Either works if the week lands near the estimate.
Can I use this while already losing weight?
The output is a hold-weight estimate. If you are mid-cut, it is a reference for later, or a check on whether your current intake is actually below it. Do not treat it as a new cut target without choosing a deficit on purpose.
Does this include exercise calories separately?
No. The activity factor is the exercise line. Adding a watch on top double-counts. See the eat-back guide.
Sources
- [1] Mifflin MD, St Jeor ST, et al. “A new predictive equation for resting energy expenditure in healthy individuals” (1990) — American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 51:241–247
- [2] Body Weight Planner — National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIH)
General nutrition information, not medical advice. Calorie and macro targets are estimates — talk to a doctor or a registered dietitian before changing your diet, especially if you are pregnant, managing a health condition, or have a history of disordered eating.
Get the app
Open Corvex on your iPhone
Track calories, weight, and macros in a daily log you will actually keep — then share progress stickers in one tap.