How to Determine Your Maintenance Calories per Day
Your maintenance calories are the amount of energy (calories) your body needs each day to maintain its current weight. Eating roughly this amount means you’ll neither gain nor lose fat over time. Understanding this number is the foundation for any fitness goal—whether you want to build muscle, lose fat, or simply maintain your current physique.
Step 1: Find Your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR)
Your BMR is how many calories your body burns at rest just to keep you alive—breathing, circulating blood, repairing cells. The most common way to estimate it is with the Mifflin-St Jeor equation:
Men:
BMR = 10 × weight (kg) + 6.25 × height (cm) – 5 × age (y) + 5Women:
BMR = 10 × weight (kg) + 6.25 × height (cm) – 5 × age (y) – 161
For example, a 30-year-old man who is 6’0″ (183 cm) and 200 lbs (91 kg) has a BMR of about 1,900 calories/day.
Step 2: Factor in Activity Level
Since you don’t just lie in bed all day, multiply your BMR by an activity multiplier (called your TDEE—Total Daily Energy Expenditure):
Sedentary (little exercise): × 1.2
Lightly active (1–3 workouts/week): × 1.375
Moderately active (3–5 workouts/week): × 1.55
Very active (6–7 workouts/week): × 1.725
Extra active (intense training/manual labor): × 1.9
Using the same example, if that man trains 4 days per week, his TDEE = 1,900 × 1.55 ≈ 2,945 calories/day.
Step 3: Test and Adjust
Formulas give you a starting point, but your real maintenance number may vary due to genetics, muscle mass, metabolism, and lifestyle. The best approach is:
Track your daily calorie intake for 2–3 weeks.
Monitor your weight over that period.
If your weight stays the same, you’ve found your maintenance.
If it drops, increase calories slightly; if it rises, lower them slightly.
Why It Matters
Fat Loss: Eat below maintenance (caloric deficit).
Muscle Gain: Eat above maintenance (caloric surplus).
Maintenance: Stay around your TDEE.
Knowing your maintenance calories empowers you to control your body composition instead of guessing. Think of it as your personal “energy budget”—once you know the number, you can spend (eat) more wisely.