Daily calorie calculator
How many calories you need a day, based on your weight, height, age and how much you move. It is the same calculation Foodia runs when it sets your targets: the numbers here are the ones you will see in the app.
1,500kcal
You burn 1,899 kcal.This is an estimate, not a prescription. If you have a health condition or a demanding goal, a professional should adjust it.
Where this number comes from
First it works out what your body burns at rest using the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, the one clinical guidelines use because it is the most accurate in healthy adults. Then it multiplies by how much you move, and applies your goal on top.
Nothing here is proprietary: it is public arithmetic and you can check it. The only part that is ours is where we put the floor.
TMB♀ = 10·peso + 6,25·altura − 5·edad − 161 TMB♂ = 10·peso + 6,25·altura − 5·edad + 5 gasto = TMB × actividad meta = gasto × objetivo proteína = peso × 1,8 (2,0 con fuerza) grasa = peso × 0,8 carbos = lo que sobra
You know your number. The hard part comes next.
Knowing how many calories you need is the easy half. The hard half is knowing how many you have had today. Photograph the plate and Foodia tells you, and if you connect Apple Health it raises the target on days you move more.
Questions about the calculation
Why Mifflin-St Jeor and not Harris-Benedict?
Harris-Benedict dates from 1919 and overestimates expenditure for most people. Mifflin-St Jeor was published in 1990 on a modern sample and is the one dietetics guidelines recommend because it has less error in healthy adults.
How accurate is this?
An equation lands within roughly 10% of real expenditure for most people, and does worse at the extremes of body weight and for those with a lot of muscle. Treat it as a starting point and adjust it against what the scale does over two or three weeks.
Why will it not go below a certain number?
Because a fixed percentage becomes dangerous for smaller people: on a 1,500 kcal expenditure, a hard deficit would fall to 1,050 kcal a day. The floor sits at 1,200 kcal for women and 1,500 for men, the figures below which cutting further is not recommended without supervision.
Where do the grams for each macro come from?
Protein is set at 1.8 g per kilo of body weight, rising to 2 g if you lift. Fat is 0.8 g per kilo. Carbs are whatever calories remain after subtracting those two. It is the same split the app applies.
Does it work if I am pregnant or have a condition?
No. Pregnancy, breastfeeding and several metabolic conditions change the calculation, and this equation does not account for them. In those cases the number has to come from a professional; the app has a dedicated goal for entering the plan they give you.