Free Calorie Calculator (+ Guide)

What is a calorie calculator?

A calorie calculator works out how many calories to eat a day for a goal. It starts from your TDEE, what you burn in a day, and takes off or adds the difference your goal needs.

This calculator uses about 7,700 calories for each kg of body weight, which is about 1,100 a day for 1 kg a week. It's a rule of thumb, and real loss slows a little as you go.

How to use the calorie calculator

You only need to fill in yourself once, and every health calculator here reads it.

Your numbers stay in this browser.

A worked example

Here's the example the calculator loads when you press Try an example.

A 32-year-old woman is 165 cm tall, weighs 72 kg and exercises 1 to 3 days a week. She burns about 1,967 calories a day.

To lose 0.5 kg a week, she'd eat about 1,417 a day, 550 under what she burns. At that pace, she'd reach her goal of 65 kg in about 14 weeks.

Her target stays above the 1,200 a day Harvard Health sets as the floor for women without a doctor, so the calculator shows no warning.

How fast to go

Slower is easier to keep up, and it keeps more of your muscle.

In pounds, 1 lb a week is about 500 calories a day under your TDEE.

How to make it stick

A target is the easy part, and these habits do the rest.

Eat enough protein

Protein keeps you full and protects your muscle while you lose. The protein calculator and the macro calculator set your amount.

Move more, not only eat less

Walking and training raise what you burn, so you can eat more. The calories burned calculator shows what each activity adds.

Weigh in and adjust

Use your weekly average, not one morning. If it stalls for two weeks, take off another 100 to 200 calories.

Mistakes to avoid

These are the ways a calorie target backfires.

• Going under 1,200 calories a day as a woman or 1,500 as a man without a doctor
• Picking the fastest pace and stopping after two weeks
• Forgetting that your TDEE drops as you lose weight
• Cutting protein along with calories

Pick a pace you could keep for months, not days.

Small choices, every day

Your target only works if your days follow it.

Atomic Habits by James Clear is about building the small daily habits a calorie target depends on.

Atomic Habits

J

by James Clear

Atomic Habits by James Clear breaks down the science of tiny daily habits, showing how small consistent changes compound into extraordinary results over time.

Buy now Read summary

I may earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no additional cost to you.

Who is the calorie calculator for?

It's for anyone with a goal weight and a date in mind, and these tools help on the way.

• TDEE calculator – for what you burn at every activity level
• Macro calculator – for splitting your target into macros
• Protein calculator – for keeping your muscle as you lose
• Calories burned calculator – for what your workouts add
• Longevity diet plan – for what to eat for the long run

Set your target here, then build your meals around it.

More health calculators

Every health calculator reads the same "You", so you only enter yourself once.

Not sure what goal weight to pick? The ideal weight calculator gives you a range.