Calorie calculator

The calculator on our website is based on the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, the formula most often used for working out the calorie requirement that a human body needs every day.

The daily energy requirement, or the daily energy ration, is the amount of energy taken in from food that the human body needs in order to work under optimal conditions.

How it works:

To find out how many calories your body needs every day, follow the steps listed below:

1.Enter your age – in years (example: 28)
2.Select your sex: (example: female)
3.Enter your height – in cm (example: 180)
4.Enter your current weight – in kg (example: 68)
5.Choose BASAL METABOLIC RATE or ACTIVITY LEVEL;
6.The first one on the list is the BASAL METABOLIC RATE, which is the minimum energy needed to sustain life – to maintain the body's functions and homeostasis – and is the basis for working out the necessary daily calorie intake (no physical activity at all is involved here). Read more about the daily energy requirement.

Make your choice and then press the calculate button.

Depending on how active you are every day, you can choose one of the 5 levels as follows:

1.Sedentary: I do very little or no exercise – you can choose this level if you have very little physical activity throughout the day: you do not walk anywhere at all, you have no household activities (cooking, cleaning and so on), you work professionally from a chair and without any notable use of calories, you do not go shopping or into town with friends, you are almost completely at rest 24 hours a day

Lightly active: I train 1-3 times a week – you can choose this level if you are an active person without going to the gym; if you also walk at work, if you do 1-2 hours of housework a day, if you walk at least 30 minutes a day (shopping, to work, going for a walk) or if you choose to exercise at least once a week, at home or at the gym

Moderately active: I train 3-5 times a week – you can choose this level if you are an active person at home or at work; if your job requires several hours of active work a day, if you walk a lot or do 2-3 hours of housework a day, or if you choose to exercise at least three times a week at home or at the gym

Very active: I do hard exercise 6-7 times a week – you can choose this level if you are on the move most of the day; whether you work from home, at work or go to the gym every day; if your day involves physical activity of 8 hours a day at least 6 times a week, or 1 hour of sustained training at the gym

Extra active: I do hard exercise or have a job that involves physical work – you can choose this level if you work physically 8 hours a day in various fields: construction, farming and so on; if you do competitive sport or go to the gym every day

Select the type of activity and then click the CALCULATE button. Below you will get 5 results, and depending on the goal you have set you can choose the calorie requirement you will use as your reference when working out your daily menu (example: moderately active).

In our example (35 years old, female, 169 cm, 81 kg, moderately active) we get the following results: 2372 kcal to keep your weight, 1872 kcal to lose half a kilo a week, 1373 kcal to lose 1 kg a week (with 2875 kcal you gain half a kilo in a week, and with 3372 kcal a day you gain 1 kg in a week.

For balanced weight loss, nutrition experts recommend reducing the daily intake needed to maintain your weight by 500 kcal, that is a weight loss of 0.5 kg a week.

If you want to see how big the difference in calories is depending on your daily physical activity, you can do so by selecting the 5 levels one after the other and pressing the CALCULATE button each time.

The energy requirement helps you choose from the HealthyandTasty nutrition plan how many meals a day you want to eat, or how to adapt your menus yourself by selecting your favourite dishes on the website.