How to Find Maintenance Calories: Use Your Real Numbers
How to find maintenance calories from what you actually ate and weighed: an adaptive TDEE calculator that beats formula guesses, plus cut and lean-bulk targets.
Eating at maintenance and still not growing? The diagnosis finds why.
From your food log, averaged over the same weeks.
Average of that week's morning weigh-ins.
Same scale, same time of day.
Compare with a formula
The formula guesses 2,730 kcal, 90 kcal below what your own numbers show. Trust your numbers: the formula only knows your size, not how you live.
It uses what actually happened to your weight. The math counts about 3,500 kcal per lb of change, an average that runs a little high for lean people, so a small trend is read as slightly larger than it is.
Sources: Hall 2008, energy per unit of weight change; Helms et al. 2014 (lose 0.5–1% a week); Mifflin et al. 1990.
Eating at maintenance and still not growing? Find out why- Published
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To find your maintenance calories, log what you eat for two to four weeks, weigh yourself most mornings, and compare the weekly-average weight at the start and the end. If your weight held, your average intake is maintenance. If it moved, the calculator above corrects for the change, which is the same math adaptive TDEE apps use, done in one step with your own numbers.
How do you find your maintenance calories?
Take your average daily intake and add or subtract the energy behind your weight change. Each kilogram is counted as about 7,700 kcal (3,500 per pound). Eating 2,600 kcal a day while losing 0.6 kg over three weeks means maintenance is about 2,820. The 7,700 figure is an approximation: a model of weight change shows it fits people with plenty of fat and runs high for leaner people (Hall, 2008).
So treat the answer as accurate to within about a hundred calories, then keep eating it and watch the trend.
Why does a maintenance calories calculator get it wrong?
Formula calculators only know your size, age and a guessed activity level. Even the most reliable equation, Mifflin–St Jeor, is accurate to within 10% for most people and misses by more for others, according to a systematic review of four common equations (Frankenfield et al., 2005). The activity guess then multiplies that error. Open "Compare with a formula" above to see how far the guess sits from your real number.
What is an adaptive TDEE calculator?
One that works out your total daily energy expenditure from your own intake and weight trend instead of a formula. That is what this tool does: logged calories in, weekly-average weight change out, maintenance from the difference. Rerun it every few weeks; as your weight, training or job changes, your maintenance does too.
How long should you track before trusting it?
Two weeks at the very least; three or four is better. Day-to-day weight swings come from water, salt and food in the gut, not fat, and short logs mistake them for real change. Averaging each week's weigh-ins smooths most of that out. Log honestly too: forgotten snacks and cooking oil make maintenance look lower than it is.
What should you eat once you know maintenance?
That depends on the goal:
- Cut: aim to lose 0.5–1% of bodyweight a week, the range that best protects muscle (Helms et al., 2014). The calculator shows the 0.5% target.
- Lean bulk: about 5–10% above maintenance. A 5% and a 15% surplus built the same muscle in trained lifters, and the bigger one added mostly fat (Helms et al., 2023). The bulking calorie calculator and the lean bulk guide take it from there.
If you are eating at or above maintenance and still not building muscle, calories are not the bottleneck: find out what is.
FAQ
Is maintenance the same as TDEE?
Yes. Maintenance calories are your total daily energy expenditure: the intake at which your weight holds steady.
What if my weight did not change?
Then your average intake is your maintenance. Keep logging a little longer to be sure.
Does lifting change your maintenance calories?
A little: training sessions and extra muscle both raise it. Recalculate after a few months of training.
How accurate does my food log need to be?
Consistent more than perfect. Weigh foods at first and keep logging the same way; a steady small error cancels out.
Written and maintained by LiftDecode. Training and nutrition education for healthy adults, not medical advice — if you have a health condition or an injury, talk to a professional who can examine you.