Nutrition Tool
Maintenance Calories Calculator
Estimate how many calories you may need each day to maintain your current weight. Useful as a starting point before cutting, bulking or wondering why the scale is doing its own thing.
This is a general estimate for healthy adults. Medication, medical conditions, pregnancy, breastfeeding, very high activity and metabolic differences can all affect calorie needs.
Your Estimate
Daily Maintenance Calories
Estimated Daily Energy Needs
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Maintenance Calories
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Estimated BMR
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Weekly Maintenance
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Activity Level Used
Enter your details to calculate a practical maintenance calorie starting point.
What Maintenance Calories Actually Mean
Maintenance is not a perfect number.
It is a useful starting estimate. Your actual maintenance can shift with training, steps, stress, sleep and whether your weekend involves two takeaways.
Track your average weight.
Eat near the estimate for two to three weeks, then look at your average scale weight rather than reacting to one random morning weigh-in.
Adjust gradually.
If weight is slowly falling, your real maintenance may be higher. If it is rising, it may be lower. Small calorie adjustments work better than huge swings.
Useful Next Steps
Want to lose fat?
Start from maintenance and use a moderate calorie deficit rather than instantly dropping food intake into the basement.
Start from maintenance and use a moderate calorie deficit rather than instantly dropping food intake into the basement.
Want to gain muscle?
Use maintenance as the baseline, then add a small calorie surplus and pair it with proper resistance training.
Use maintenance as the baseline, then add a small calorie surplus and pair it with proper resistance training.
Want to maintain?
Keep calories broadly around this number and adjust based on average body-weight trends, energy and training performance.
Keep calories broadly around this number and adjust based on average body-weight trends, energy and training performance.
Related Nutrition Tools
Use maintenance as your baseline.
Once you know your starting point, choose whether to cut, bulk or simply stay consistent.