How much should you actually be eating?
Find the calories your body burns each day, then a sensible daily target for losing fat, holding steady or building muscle, with the protein to go with it.
About you
We use the Mifflin-St Jeor equation, the most accurate of the common formulas. Add your body fat percentage if you know it and we will refine the result.
Your maintenance calories (TDEE)
kcal per day
Your daily target
Pick a goal. These are starting points, not laws. Weigh yourself weekly and adjust by 100 to 150 kcal if the trend is not moving.
Formula estimates are usually within about 10 percent of measured values. Real intake needs vary with sleep, stress, illness and how much you move outside training. This is educational, not medical or dietary advice. If you have a medical condition, are pregnant, or are under 18, ask a qualified professional.
What these numbers mean
- BMRWhat your body burns at complete rest, just keeping you alive. It is the floor. Eating below it for long is how people lose muscle and stall.
- TDEEBMR plus everything you do: walking, training, digesting food, fidgeting. Eat this and your weight holds steady.
- TargetTDEE adjusted for your goal. A moderate deficit keeps muscle and is sustainable. A large one feels productive for three weeks and then reverses.
Protein on a vegetarian diet
The protein target above is 1.6 to 2 grams per kilogram of body weight, which protects muscle while you lose fat and supports building it when you gain. On a vegetarian diet this takes a little planning, not a supplement aisle. Dal, chana, rajma, paneer, curd, tofu, soya chunks, sprouts and milk cover it comfortably when they appear at every meal rather than once a day.
At Fitness Bootcamp every meal is cooked to hit these targets, which is one reason residents keep muscle while the fat goes.
Common questions
Why is my TDEE lower than I expected?
Most people overestimate how active they are. A gym session burns less than it feels, and a desk day burns very little. Pick the activity level honestly, then let two weeks of scale data tell you if the number is right.
Should I eat below my BMR to lose faster?
No. Very low intake makes the body shed muscle, lowers energy and training quality, and usually ends in a rebound. A deficit of 15 to 20 percent below TDEE is enough for most people, with protein kept high.
How is this different from the BMR calculator?
BMR is one piece of this result. This page gives you BMR, TDEE, a goal-based target and a macro split in one place, so you do not need both.
What if I know my body fat percentage?
Add it and we switch to the Katch-McArdle equation, which works from lean mass. It is more accurate for people who carry more or less muscle than average.
How fast should the scale move?
For fat loss, about 0.5 to 1 percent of body weight per week. For muscle gain, 0.25 to 0.5 percent per week for most people, more slowly the more experienced you are. Faster than that is mostly water and muscle going the wrong way.
Numbers are simple. Living them is the hard part.
Knowing your target is one thing. Hitting it every day, with food that is cooked for you, training that is coached, sleep that is protected and progress that is measured on independent lab reports and body scans, is what a four-week residential stay at Fitness Bootcamp is for. The result is on paper, and your own doctor can verify it.
See the residential programmeOr talk to us on WhatsApp first