Free Calorie Calculator

What is your BMR?

Basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the minimum amount of energy required to maintain vital bodily functions at rest, such as breathing, circulating blood, and maintaining body temperature. Therefore, BMR can account for up to 70% of an individual’s Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) (1). BMR is influenced by a variety of factors, including age, sex, body composition, and hormonal levels. Understanding one’s BMR is important for creating a personalized nutrition and exercise plan.

Research has shown that BMR can vary widely between individuals, even when controlling for body size and composition (2). The BMR can be estimated using predictive equations based on age, sex, height, weight, and body composition, but these estimates may not accurately reflect an individual’s true BMR (3).

What is your TDEE?

Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) is the total number of calories an individual expends in a day, including BMR, physical activity, and the thermic effect of food (4). Understanding one’s TDEE is important for weight management, as a positive energy balance (consuming more calories than expending) can lead to weight gain, while a negative energy balance (expending more calories than consuming) can lead to weight loss.

To accurately estimate TDEE, it is important to consider an individual’s BMR, as well as their level of physical activity and the thermic effect of food. TDEE can be estimated using predictive equations, such as the Mifflin MD, St Jeor equation, which takes into account an individual’s age, sex, height, weight, and activity level (5). 

Overall, understanding one’s BMR and TEE is important for creating an effective nutrition and exercise plan for weight management and overall health. 

Now that you calculated your calories using my free calorie calculator, what do you do next? You can started by reading my free weight loss guide. 

Sources:

1. National Research Council (US) Subcommittee on the Tenth Edition of the Recommended Dietary Allowances. (1989). Recommended dietary allowances. National Academies Press (US). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK218764/
2. Bouchard, C., Tremblay, A., Nadeau, A., Dussault, J., Despres, J. P., Theriault, G., Boulay, M. R., Lortie, G., & Leblanc, C. (1988). Genetic effect in resting and exercise metabolic rates. Metabolism, 37(8), 746-752. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3046885/
3. Ravussin, E., Burnand, B., Schutz, Y., & Jequier, E. (1985). Energy expenditure before and during energy restriction in obese patients. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 41(4), 753-759. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3970519/
4. Westerterp, K. R. (2017). Physical activity, food intake, and body weight regulation: insights from doubly labeled water studies. Nutrition Reviews, 75(9), 693-702. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29028280/
5. Based on research by: Mifflin MD, St Jeor ST, Hill LA, Scott BJ, Daugherty SA, Koh YO. “A new predictive equation for resting energy expenditure in healthy individuals“  The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (February 1990)