Maintenance is the master number
Maintenance calories are simply your TDEE — intake and expenditure in balance. Everything in nutrition is defined relative to it: a cut is maintenance minus, a bulk is maintenance plus, and a diet break is a deliberate return to it.
Knowing your maintenance precisely is also the difference between dieting blind and dieting calibrated. The gold-standard method costs nothing: eat a fixed intake for two to three weeks while weighing daily; if the weekly average doesn't move, that intake is your maintenance — more accurate for you than any formula, including ours.
When to recalculate
After every ~5 kg of weight change, after big shifts in training or daily activity, and after long deficits — where metabolic adaptation can temporarily lower the true number by 5–15%.
Frequently asked questions
How do I find my exact maintenance calories?
Use the calculator for a starting estimate, then eat that intake consistently for 2–3 weeks while tracking your weight. Stable weekly average = your true maintenance. Adjust 100–150 kcal and repeat if it drifts.
Why do I gain weight eating at calculated maintenance?
Either the estimate runs high for you (formulas carry ±10% error) or logged intake is below actual intake. Both are common and fixable — adjust down 150 kcal and verify portions for two weeks.
Does maintenance change with age?
Less than folklore says. Landmark 2021 research found expenditure stable from roughly 20 to 60 after adjusting for body composition — most 'middle-age slowdown' is lost muscle and movement, both reversible.
More calculators
TDEE Calculator
Work out your Total Daily Energy Expenditure
Calorie Calculator
Get a daily calorie target matched to your goal
BMR Calculator
Estimate the calories your body burns at complete rest, compared across the three standard equations
Calorie Deficit Calculator
Choose a weekly weight-loss rate and see the exact daily calories that achieve it
Macro Calculator
Split your daily calories into protein, carbs and fat
Weight Loss Calculator
See your realistic goal date
Sources
- Mifflin MD, St Jeor ST, Hill LA, Scott BJ, Daugherty SA, Koh YO. A new predictive equation for resting energy expenditure in healthy individuals. Am J Clin Nutr. 1990. [link]
- Leibel RL, Rosenbaum M, Hirsch J. Changes in energy expenditure resulting from altered body weight. N Engl J Med. 1995. [link]
- Pontzer H, Yamada Y, Sagayama H, et al. Daily energy expenditure through the human life course. Science. 2021. [link]