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Maintenance Calorie Calculator

Health

Find the exact calories you need to maintain your current weight, with an optional body-fat-aware Katch-McArdle formula and a per-meal calorie breakdown.

Reviewed by the thecalcu.com team · Last updated July 6, 2026

Gender
Age
yrs
1580
Weight
kg
30200
Height
cm
100250
Activity Level
Know Your Body Fat %?
Meals Per Day
meals
26

Maintenance Calories

—kcal/day
Per Meal (3/day)
— kcal

What is a Maintenance Calories?

A maintenance calorie calculator estimates the exact number of calories you need to eat each day to keep your current body weight stable. This number, technically your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE), combines your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), the energy your body burns just staying alive, with the additional calories burned through daily movement, exercise, and digestion. Understanding your maintenance calorie level is the foundation for any deliberate weight change, since both fat loss and muscle gain are built on a calorie offset from this baseline.

This calculator uses the well-validated Mifflin-St Jeor equation by default, factoring in your gender, age, weight, height, and activity level. For users who know their body fat percentage, it offers an optional switch to the Katch-McArdle formula, which calculates BMR from lean body mass rather than total weight, a meaningfully more accurate approach for people who are leaner or more muscular than the general population the standard formulas were built around. If you're looking for the broader picture including deficit and surplus targets, the TDEE Calculator covers that; this tool is focused specifically on finding and using your maintenance number.

Why Use a Maintenance Calorie Calculator?

Most people either guess their maintenance calories or rely on a generic "2,000 calories a day" rule that ignores individual differences in body size, activity, and metabolism. This calculator replaces that guesswork with a formula-based estimate tailored to your actual stats, and it goes a step further by offering the Katch-McArdle formula for anyone with a known body fat percentage, a meaningfully more precise starting point than weight-only formulas for athletes and lifters.

It also solves a practical problem: a single daily calorie number is hard to apply meal by meal. By breaking your maintenance calories down per meal based on how many meals you actually eat, you get an immediately usable target rather than a number you have to do math with every time you sit down to eat. Pairing this with the Lean Body Mass Calculator helps you get an accurate body fat estimate before switching to the more precise formula.

Who Should Use This Calculator?

People trying to maintain their current weight who want a reliable calorie target rather than trial and error. Athletes and lifters who know their body fat percentage and want the more accurate Katch-McArdle estimate instead of a weight-only formula that can overestimate needs for leaner, more muscular bodies. Anyone coming off a diet who needs to find their new, lower maintenance level after weight loss, since maintenance calories drop as body weight drops.

People who eat structured meals (2, 3, 4, or more times a day) who want their calorie target broken down per meal for easier planning. Anyone comparing calculation methods who wants to see how a standard formula compares to a body-fat-aware one for their own numbers, before deciding which to trust for meal planning with the Calorie Calculator or BMR Calculator.

What Insights Does the Maintenance Calorie Calculator Give You?

Maintenance Calories (kcal/day), the headline number, and your calorie target if the goal is to keep your current weight exactly where it is. This is calculated as BMR × activity multiplier.

BMR (kcal/day), the calories your body burns at complete rest, calculated using either the Mifflin-St Jeor formula (weight-based) or the Katch-McArdle formula (lean-mass-based, if you provide a body fat percentage). This is the foundation the maintenance number is built from.

Calories Per Meal (kcal), your maintenance calorie total divided evenly across your selected number of meals per day, giving you a ready-to-use target for meal planning rather than a single daily figure you have to divide yourself.

How to use this Maintenance Calories calculator

  1. Select your Gender using the toggle at the top of the form.
  2. Enter your Age, Weight, and Height using the sliders or by typing exact values.
  3. Choose your Activity Level from the five detailed option cards, each showing its multiplier and description.
  4. If you know your body fat percentage, switch "I know my body fat percentage" to Yes and enter your Body Fat % on the slider that appears, this switches the calculation to the more accurate Katch-McArdle formula.
  5. Adjust the Meals Per Day slider to match how you actually eat.
  6. Read your Maintenance Calories in the highlighted result card, along with your Calories Per Meal breakdown just below it.
  7. Use the step-by-step breakdown to see exactly how your BMR and maintenance number were calculated.
Show formula & methodology ↓Show less ↑

Formula & Methodology

Standard formula, Mifflin-St Jeor BMR:

For men: BMR = 10 × weight(kg) + 6.25 × height(cm) − 5 × age + 5
For women: BMR = 10 × weight(kg) + 6.25 × height(cm) − 5 × age − 161

Body-fat-aware formula, Katch-McArdle BMR:

Lean Mass (kg) = weight(kg) × (1 − body fat % ÷ 100)
BMR = 370 + 21.6 × Lean Mass (kg)

Maintenance calories (either formula):

Maintenance Calories = BMR × activity multiplier, where the multiplier ranges from 1.2 (sedentary) to 1.9 (extremely active).

Per-meal breakdown:

Calories Per Meal = Maintenance Calories ÷ meals per day

Worked example: A 32-year-old male, 82 kg, 180 cm, moderately active, who knows his body fat is 18%: Lean Mass = 82 × 0.82 = 67.2 kg → Katch-McArdle BMR = 370 + 21.6 × 67.2 ≈ 1,822 kcal → Maintenance Calories = 1,822 × 1.55 ≈ 2,824 kcal/day → at 3 meals/day, roughly 941 kcal per meal.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are maintenance calories?
Maintenance calories are the number of calories you need to eat each day to keep your body weight stable, no gain, no loss. They equal your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE), which combines your Basal Metabolic Rate (the energy your body burns at rest) with the extra calories burned through daily movement and exercise. Eating above this number causes weight gain over time, and eating below it causes weight loss.
How is my maintenance calorie number calculated?
By default, this calculator uses the Mifflin-St Jeor equation to estimate your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) from your gender, age, weight, and height, then multiplies that by an activity factor based on your selected activity level. If you know your body fat percentage, you can switch to the Katch-McArdle formula instead, which calculates BMR from your lean body mass rather than your total weight, a more accurate approach for people who are leaner or more muscular than average.
What is the Katch-McArdle formula and when should I use it?
The Katch-McArdle formula estimates BMR using lean body mass (`370 + 21.6 × lean mass in kg`) instead of total body weight, which makes it more accurate for people with a body composition that differs significantly from average, such as athletes, bodybuilders, or people carrying more body fat than typical. You should use it if you have a reasonably accurate body fat percentage from a DEXA scan, skinfold calipers, or a reliable bioelectrical impedance scale; otherwise, the standard Mifflin-St Jeor formula is the better default.
What is the difference between maintenance calories and TDEE?
Maintenance calories and TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) are the same number, TDEE is simply the technical name for the calorie total your body burns in a day, and eating that amount is what keeps your weight at maintenance. The [TDEE Calculator](/tdee-calculator/) presents this number alongside weight-loss and weight-gain calorie targets, while this calculator focuses specifically on the maintenance number and breaks it down per meal.
Why does this calculator break my calories down per meal?
Seeing your maintenance calories divided across your typical number of meals per day makes the number more practical to apply immediately, instead of mentally dividing a four-digit total every time you plan a meal, you get a ready-to-use per-meal target. This is especially useful for intermittent fasting schedules, structured meal plans, or anyone tracking food in discrete meals rather than continuous grazing.
How accurate is a maintenance calorie calculator?
Formula-based estimates like Mifflin-St Jeor and Katch-McArdle are generally accurate within about 10% of your true energy expenditure for most people, but individual metabolism, muscle mass, hormones, and daily activity can shift the real number. The most reliable approach is to use this calculator as a starting point, track your actual weight over 2-3 weeks at the suggested calorie level, and adjust up or down by 100-200 calories based on the real-world trend.
How do I use the maintenance calorie calculator?
Enter your gender, age, weight, and height, then choose your activity level from the five detailed options. If you know your body fat percentage, toggle 'Yes' under body fat to switch to the more precise Katch-McArdle formula and enter your percentage. Adjust the meals-per-day slider to see your calorie target broken down per meal, and read your maintenance calorie total in the highlighted result card.
Can I use this calculator to lose or gain weight?
This calculator is built to find your maintenance level specifically, the number where your weight stays stable. To lose weight, most people eat 300-500 calories below this maintenance number; to gain weight, most people eat 300-500 calories above it. For built-in loss and gain targets alongside your maintenance number, use the [TDEE Calculator](/tdee-calculator/) or [Calorie Calculator](/calorie-calculator/).
What activity level should I select?
Choose the option whose description matches your typical week: 'Sedentary' if you have a desk job with little or no structured exercise, 'Lightly Active' for 1-3 days per week of exercise, 'Moderately Active' for 3-5 days per week, 'Very Active' for 6-7 days per week of hard exercise, and 'Extremely Active' if you combine a physically demanding job with daily training. Overestimating your activity level is a common cause of inaccurate maintenance calorie estimates, so it's worth being conservative if you're unsure.
Does my maintenance calorie number change over time?
Yes, your maintenance calories shift as your weight, muscle mass, age, and activity level change, so it's worth recalculating every few months or after a significant change in training routine or body composition. Weight loss in particular lowers your maintenance number because a lighter body burns fewer calories at rest, which is why many diets need periodic calorie adjustments to keep working.
What is lean body mass and why does it matter for the Katch-McArdle formula?
Lean body mass is your total body weight minus fat mass, it includes muscle, bone, organs, and water. Because muscle tissue burns more calories at rest than fat tissue, two people at the same total weight but different body fat percentages can have meaningfully different metabolic rates, which is exactly what the Katch-McArdle formula accounts for. You can calculate your lean body mass directly with the [Lean Body Mass Calculator](/lean-body-mass-calculator/) if you want to see that number on its own.
Is this different from the BMR Calculator?
The [BMR Calculator](/bmr-calculator/) shows only your Basal Metabolic Rate, the calories burned at complete rest, without factoring in daily activity. This calculator takes that BMR (using either Mifflin-St Jeor or Katch-McArdle) and multiplies it by your activity level to produce your full maintenance calorie number, which is the figure that actually matters for day-to-day eating decisions.
Also known as
maintenance calories calculatorcalories to maintain weightKatch-McArdle calculatorTDEE at current weightmaintenance calorie level