Maintenance calories in one sentence
Your maintenance intake is your BMR (the energy you use at rest) multiplied by a factor for how active you are. This page opens with a 40-year-old man, 5′10″ and 190 lb, with a desk job and little exercise: about 2,134 calories a day. If the same man exercised moderately three to five days a week, his estimate would rise to about 2,756. Activity is often the biggest lever.
How to check your number in three weeks
- Eat close to the estimate on most days. It doesn't need to be exact; a rough daily log is enough.
- Weigh yourself a few mornings a week under the same conditions and look at the weekly average rather than single days.
- Compare the averages after two to three weeks. Flat means you have found maintenance. Drifting up or down means your true number is a little lower or higher, so adjust by 100 to 200 calories and repeat.
The full walk-through, including what to do about water-weight swings, is in how to find your maintenance calories.
Things that move maintenance up or down
- Body size. Larger bodies use more energy, both at rest and when moving.
- Lean mass. Two people with the same weight can differ if one carries more muscle. Enter a body-fat % to use the Katch-McArdle equation, which accounts for this.
- Day-to-day movement. Walking, standing, chores and fidgeting add up and vary a lot between people with the same workout routine.
- Age. The equations reduce the estimate a little each year.
Looking for a quick reference instead? See tables for specific weights, such as a 150 lb woman or a 180 lb man.
Frequently asked questions
What are maintenance calories?
Maintenance calories are the number of calories that keeps your body weight roughly stable over time. In practice it is the same number as your TDEE (total daily energy expenditure): the calories you burn in a day, so eating about that much leaves weight unchanged.
Is maintenance the same every day?
No. You burn more on active days and less on quiet ones, and daily weight also swings with water, salt and food in your gut. Maintenance is best thought of as a weekly average, which is why the calculator gives one daily figure based on a typical week.
Why does my maintenance seem different from the calculator?
Equations predict the average person with your age, sex, height and weight. Real people vary, and the activity level you choose adds more uncertainty. If your weight is steady at an intake that differs from the estimate, trust your own data. Here is how to check it.
Do maintenance calories change as I get older or lighter?
Yes. All three formulas lower the estimate as age goes up and as weight goes down, so it is worth recalculating after a meaningful change in weight or in how active you are.