This energy intake estimator can help you figure out how many calories you should eat each day. It considers factors like your age, sex, height, weight, and how active you are. It can also give you some basic advice on how to gain or lose weight. You can get the results in US units, metric units, or other units.
The estimator uses one of these formulas to figure out your basal metabolic rate (BMR), which is how much energy you use when you’re not doing anything:
- Mifflin-St Jeor Equation: For men: BMR = 10W + 6.25H – 5A + 5; For women: BMR = 10W + 6.25H – 5A – 161
- Revised Harris-Benedict Equation: For men: BMR = 13.397W + 4.799H – 5.677A + 88.362; For women: BMR = 9.247W + 3.098H – 4.330A + 447.593
- Katch-McArdle Formula: BMR = 370 + 21.6 (1 – F)W where: W is body weight in kg, H is body height in cm, A is age, and F is body fat in percentage.
The estimator also considers how active you are to figure out how many calories you need to eat each day to keep your weight the same. Here are the different activity levels it uses:
| Activity Level | Description |
|---|---|
| Sedentary | Little or no exercise |
| Light | Exercise 1-3 times/week |
| Moderate | Exercise 4-5 times/week |
| Active | Daily exercise or intense exercise 3-4 times/week |
| Very Active | Intense exercise 6-7 times/week |
| Extra Active | Very intense exercise daily, or physical job |
The estimator also has a food energy converter that you can use to change between calories and other common food energy units. I hope this makes things clearer!.