🥗 Calorie Counter

Comprehensive Calorie & Macro Tracker - calculate your personal daily targets, then log every meal.

✓ Mifflin-St Jeor Formula ✓ TDEE Calculation ✓ Protein · Fat · Carbs Tracking ✓ Auto-Saves Locally
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TDEE Calculator
? TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) = the total calories your body burns per day, including all activity. It's the foundation for setting any calorie goal.

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BMR
? Basal Metabolic Rate - calories burned if you stayed in bed all day. Just breathing, heartbeat, and organ function.
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TDEE
? Total Daily Energy Expenditure - your BMR × activity multiplier. This is your true maintenance calorie level.
🎯 Your Goal
🥩 Macro Split
? Macronutrients ("macros") are the three nutrients that provide calories: Protein (4 cal/g), Carbohydrates (4 cal/g), and Fat (9 cal/g). Different splits suit different goals.
📌 Your Daily Targets Preview
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Daily Dashboard

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Use the TDEE Calculator on the left to find your calorie needs, pick a goal and macro split, then click "Set as My Daily Targets" to unlock this dashboard.

How to Use This Calorie Counter

Start with the Profile card on the left: enter your sex, age, height, weight, and activity level, then choose a goal (lose weight, maintain, or build muscle). The calculator uses the Mifflin-St Jeor formula, widely regarded as one of the most accurate equations for estimating Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) in the general population, to estimate how many calories your body burns at rest. It then multiplies that number by an activity multiplier to estimate your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE), the total number of calories you burn in a typical day including movement and exercise.

From your TDEE, the tool sets a daily calorie goal and splits it into protein, fat, and carbohydrate targets in grams. As you log meals throughout the day in the Food Log card, your running totals update automatically and are compared against your targets, so you can see at a glance how close you are to your goals for the day.

Understanding TDEE, BMR, and Your Calorie Goal

BMR: the calories your body needs at rest

Your Basal Metabolic Rate is the energy your body uses just to keep you alive: breathing, circulating blood, maintaining body temperature, and supporting basic cell function, all while at complete rest. The Mifflin-St Jeor formula estimates BMR from your weight, height, age, and sex, since these factors are strongly linked to muscle mass and metabolic rate.

TDEE: BMR plus everything else you do

TDEE multiplies your BMR by an activity factor that accounts for daily movement, work, and exercise. Selecting an activity level that is too high is one of the most common reasons people are surprised that a calorie deficit "isn't working": if your real-world activity is closer to "Lightly Active" than "Very Active," your true TDEE will be lower than the calculator's estimate, and your effective calorie deficit will be smaller than intended.

Why the calorie goal includes a 500-calorie adjustment

A deficit or surplus of roughly 500 calories per day corresponds to a change of about one pound of body weight per week, since one pound of body fat represents approximately 3,500 calories. This is a widely used estimate rather than an exact rule. Actual results vary based on factors like water retention, hormonal changes, sleep, and how accurately food intake is logged, so weight changes should be tracked as a multi-week trend rather than a single day's reading.

Original Insights: Getting More Out of Your Food Log

Protein is the macro most worth prioritizing

Of the three macronutrients, protein has the strongest evidence for supporting satiety (feeling full) and preserving lean muscle mass during a calorie deficit. If you find yourself consistently under your protein target even when you are at or near your calorie goal, it is often more useful to adjust your food choices toward higher-protein options than to simply eat less of everything.

Logging consistency matters more than logging precision

Many people abandon calorie tracking because they feel they need to weigh and measure everything perfectly. In practice, logging every meal with reasonable estimates, even rounded to the nearest 50 calories, produces far more useful data over time than logging perfectly for three days and then stopping. Trends across a week or month are what matter most for adjusting your plan.

Recalculate your targets periodically

As your weight changes, your BMR and TDEE change with it. A calorie target calculated at the start of a weight-loss journey may no longer reflect your needs after losing 10 or 15 pounds. Revisiting the Profile card every few weeks and recalculating your targets helps keep your goals aligned with your current body composition rather than your starting point.

"Build Muscle" goals still require a thoughtful surplus

A calorie surplus is necessary to support muscle growth, but a surplus that is too large mostly adds body fat rather than muscle. Pairing a moderate surplus with adequate protein intake and resistance training is generally more effective than maximizing the surplus alone.

Glossary: Key Terms Explained

BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate)
The number of calories your body burns at complete rest just to maintain basic functions like breathing, circulation, and cell repair.
TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure)
Your BMR multiplied by an activity factor, representing the total calories you burn in a typical day including all movement and exercise.
Mifflin-St Jeor Formula
A widely used equation for estimating BMR from a person's weight, height, age, and sex. It is generally considered more accurate for the general population than older formulas such as the Harris-Benedict equation.
Calorie Deficit / Surplus
The difference between the calories you eat and the calories your body burns. A deficit (eating less than you burn) typically leads to weight loss over time, while a surplus (eating more than you burn) typically leads to weight gain.
Macronutrients (Macros)
The three nutrient categories that provide calories: protein (4 calories per gram), carbohydrates (4 calories per gram), and fat (9 calories per gram).
Activity Multiplier
A number applied to your BMR to estimate TDEE, ranging from about 1.2 for sedentary lifestyles to about 1.9 for extremely active lifestyles.
Lean Body Mass
Your total body weight minus body fat, including muscle, bone, organs, and water. Preserving lean body mass during weight loss is a common goal of adequate protein intake.
Macro Split
The proportion of your total daily calories that comes from each macronutrient, often expressed as a percentage (for example, 40% carbs / 30% protein / 30% fat) or in grams.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does my calorie goal seem different from other calculators online?

Different calculators use different formulas (Mifflin-St Jeor, Harris-Benedict, Katch-McArdle) and different activity multipliers, which can produce noticeably different results from the same inputs. This calculator uses the Mifflin-St Jeor formula, which is generally recommended as a reasonable default for most people without access to body fat percentage measurements.

What if I'm not losing or gaining weight at the rate the calculator predicts?

Calorie estimates are starting points, not guarantees. Individual metabolism, activity tracking accuracy, water retention, and logging consistency all affect real-world results. If your weight trend over two to three weeks differs significantly from what your calorie goal would predict, consider adjusting your daily calorie target up or down by 100 to 200 calories and reassessing after another two to three weeks.

Should I eat back the calories I burn through exercise?

This depends on which activity level you selected. If you chose an activity level that already reflects your typical exercise routine, your TDEE already accounts for that exercise, and you generally should not add it back. If you selected "Sedentary" and then did an unusually intense workout, you may have more flexibility that day.

Is it safe to eat below my calculated calorie goal?

Very low calorie intakes can lead to nutrient deficiencies, muscle loss, fatigue, and other health issues, and are generally not recommended without medical supervision. Most general guidance suggests not going far below your estimated BMR for extended periods. If you have questions about an appropriate calorie level for your situation, a registered dietitian or your doctor can help.

Is my data saved anywhere?

No. All data you enter, including your profile information and food log, is stored only in your own browser's local storage on this device. Nothing is sent to or stored on our servers. Clearing your browser data will remove your saved information.

Health Disclaimer: This Calorie Counter is provided for general informational and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical or nutritional advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Calorie and macro estimates are based on standard formulas and population averages, and individual needs can vary significantly due to medical conditions, medications, metabolism, and other factors. Always consult a registered dietitian, physician, or other qualified healthcare professional before making significant changes to your diet, especially if you have any medical condition, are pregnant or breastfeeding, or have a history of disordered eating.