How do I work out my daily calories?

Start with your BMR, the energy your body uses at rest, then multiply it by an activity factor to get your maintenance calories. From there you subtract roughly 300 to 500 calories a day to lose weight, or add 200 to 300 to gain.

What formula does this calorie calculator use?

It uses the Mifflin St Jeor equation: 9.99 times weight in kilograms, plus 6.25 times height in centimetres, minus 4.92 times age, then plus 5 for men or minus 161 for women.

Are calorie calculators accurate?

They give a solid starting point rather than an exact number. Your real requirement moves with sleep, stress, training and daily movement, so treat the result as a place to begin and adjust based on what actually happens over a few weeks.

Free tool

Calorie calculator

Work out the energy your body uses in a day and the daily calories that match what you are trying to do. It takes about thirty seconds, and nothing you enter leaves your browser.

A page from the Excape nutrition booklet

Nutrition Unlocked, the Excape Studios nutrition guide

Free download

Now you have a number. Here is what to do with it.

Nutrition Unlocked is the EXCAPE coaching team's guide to sustainable nutrition habits. Twenty one pages on energy balance, building habits that hold, and why accountability matters more than willpower. No fad diets and nothing off limits.

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Sample recipes to get you started

How it works

The maths behind the number

01 · Your BMR

We use the Mifflin St Jeor equation, which is the one most dietitians reach for. It takes your weight, height, age and sex and returns the energy your body would use lying still all day.

02 · Your maintenance

Your BMR is multiplied by an activity factor between 1.2 and 1.75, based on how much you move and train. That gives the calories that hold your weight steady.

03 · Your target

To lose weight we take 300 to 500 off maintenance, which lands around half a kilo a week. To gain, we add 200 to 300 so the weight you put on is mostly muscle rather than everything else.

This calculator gives an estimate for healthy adults and is not medical advice. Your real requirement shifts with sleep, stress, medication, medical conditions and how much you move outside training. If you are pregnant, managing a health condition or working with very low intakes, speak to your GP or a registered dietitian before making changes.