Free Calorie Calculator for Accurate Daily Calorie Needs

A calorie deficit calculator works out how many calories you need to eat to lose weight. It first estimates your maintenance calories (your TDEE) and then subtracts a deficit, giving you a daily target that's lower than the calories you burn so your body uses stored fat for energy.

Enter your age, sex, height, weight, and activity level, then choose a weight-loss goal. The calculator instantly sets your deficit for you — a 'mild' goal uses about a 250-calorie deficit, 'weight loss' uses 500, and 'extreme' uses 1,000. The number it shows is the daily calorie target you eat to lose weight at that pace.

It calculates your Basal Metabolic Rate with the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, multiplies it by an activity factor to find your TDEE (maintenance calories), then subtracts your chosen deficit. The result is the number of calories to eat each day to lose weight.

The most accurate predictive calorie calculators use the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, which research has shown to be more reliable than the older Harris-Benedict formula for the general population. Our calculator uses Mifflin-St Jeor and is typically within about 10% of your true needs — track your results for 2–3 weeks and adjust to fine-tune.

For most people a deficit of 300–500 calories per day is ideal: it produces about 0.5–1 lb (0.25–0.45 kg) of fat loss per week and is sustainable. Larger deficits speed up loss but risk muscle loss and hunger. The calculator lets you pick the pace and shows the matching deficit.

Use this free calorie deficit calculator — no sign-up or payment required. Enter your details, choose a weight-loss goal, and it shows your free daily calorie target and the exact size of your deficit in seconds.

Because roughly 3,500 calories equals a pound of fat, a 500-calorie daily deficit leads to about 1 lb of loss per week, and 1,000 calories per day to about 2 lb. The calculator shows your weekly target, and the weight loss calculator estimates how long it will take to reach a specific goal weight.

Your calorie deficit is the gap between the calories you burn (your TDEE) and the calories you eat. For example, if your maintenance is 2,200 calories and you eat 1,700, your deficit is 500 calories per day. Enter your stats above and the calculator displays your personal deficit for each goal.

Eat fewer calories than you burn each day. You can do this by reducing portion sizes, prioritizing protein and vegetables, cutting liquid calories, and moving more. Use your calculated target as your daily ceiling and track your intake to stay consistently below maintenance.

Eat the target the calculator gives for your chosen weight-loss goal. As a safety floor, most experts advise not dropping below about 1,200 calories per day for women or 1,500 for men without medical supervision, to protect muscle and metabolism.

Enter your details, select a weight-loss goal, and the calculator gives you a daily calorie target below your maintenance level. Eat at or under that number consistently, prioritize protein, and recalculate every few kilos of weight change to keep losing.

Your maintenance calories are your TDEE — the amount you can eat to keep your weight stable. The calculator shows this as the 'maintain weight' result. Eat above it to gain and below it to lose. Our maintenance calorie calculator finds the number from your BMR and activity level.

Build meals around lean protein and fibre-rich foods that keep you full on fewer calories, watch portions of calorie-dense fats and oils, and limit sugary drinks and alcohol. Track your food against the daily target from the calculator so you stay below maintenance without feeling deprived.

Calorie deficit = maintenance calories − calories eaten. First find your maintenance (TDEE) using the calculator, decide how fast you want to lose (e.g. 500 calories/day for about 1 lb per week), then subtract that from maintenance to get your daily eating target. The tool does all of this automatically.

Your ideal intake depends on your goal: eat at your TDEE to maintain, below it to lose, and above it to gain. Enter your details above and the calculator shows the exact daily calorie amount and macro breakdown for each goal.

The best calorie deficit calculator is accurate, free, easy to use, and shows both your maintenance calories and goal-based targets with macros. Ours uses the science-backed Mifflin-St Jeor equation, runs privately in your browser, and is completely free.

Yes. This tool calculates how many calories you should eat each day. To stay on track with restaurant or fast-food meals, check the calories on the menu or nutrition info and fit them within the daily target the calculator gives you.

Aim for a daily deficit of 300–500 calories for steady, sustainable fat loss of around 0.5–1 lb per week. If you want faster results you can go up to 1,000 calories, but pair it with high protein and resistance training to protect muscle. The calculator sets the deficit for the pace you choose.

Calculators based on the Mifflin-St Jeor equation are the most accurate for everyday use, which is why we use it. No formula is perfect because individual metabolism varies, so use your result as a starting point and adjust based on real-world weight change over a few weeks.

It's a tool that tells you how many calories to eat to lose weight. The headline number is your daily calorie target; the deficit is how far below maintenance that target sits. Eat around that number each day, and the weekly figure shows your expected rate of fat loss.